AnthroCurrents – July 11, 2014

A biweekly look at recent stories on anthropology and practicing anthropologists in the popular media

Do-Gooders

• Pacific Standard published an in-depth article on Nancy Scheper-Hughes and her research into the global organ transplant trade. The article is informative and balanced, no matter which side of the Scheper-Hughes fence you come down on.
• Adam Taylor of the Washington Post writes about the Western preoccupation with saving Africa. Within the article is a preview of the documentary Framed by Kathryn Mathers (anthropologist) and Cassandra Herrman. It’s definitely worth your time: “Africa does not need a savior. America needs a savior.”

Extreme Buck-Passing

• Do you roll your eyes every time someone connects a particular human behavior with our hunter-gatherer past? Then you will be delighted to read this article by the Globe and Mail that calls out this irritating brand of theorizing.
• UCLA Anthropologist Jeff Brantingham is getting a lot of coverage regarding his work on crime-prediction software used by the LAPD. The piece published by the Guardian Liberty Voice includes a comparison between predicting crime and…. hunter gatherers hunting gazelles. We’ll have to let that one slide: it’s a comparison, after all, and not the given reason for crime itself. (Did you notice that the LAPD police captain’s name is Malinowski? Even Brantingham didn’t see that coming.)

Better Late than Never

• AnthroCurrents did not exist when the New Republic did this piece on anthropologist Jason Pine’s fieldwork with meth makers and users, but a recent post on Vice’s Motherboard discussing the increasing use of legal drugs like Adderall tipped me off.