National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
AnthroCurrents – October 3, 2014
A biweekly look at recent stories on anthropology and practicing anthropologists in the popular media
- Anthropologist Ashraf Ghani is the new president of Afghanistan, and the American Anthropological Association offers its congratulations on the Huffington Post.
- We know anthropologists are already helping out with the Ebola crisis in Africa. NPR reported this week on Ann Kelly’s call that anthropologists are sorely needed to help with the crisis. Kelly is one of the authors of a series of pieces on the outbreak that can be found at Somatosphere.
- Al Jazeera published a fascinating piece on the soaring popularity of wrestling in Senegal. Young men are sometimes leaving school and employment for their shot at fame and fortune. This is a storyline that we in the West should find familiar, but it certainly clashes with the popular “follow your dreams” message that we often give to our children.
- The New York Times reported on a debate between anthropology’s David Graeber and libertarian CEO of Paypal, Peter Thiel. The topic was the future of technology, and both parties are of the opinion that technological innovations have not lived up to their promise. They diverge quite sharply in their definitions of what that promise could have been (and should be in the future).
- Sarah Blaffer Hrdy comments on the subject of maternal filicide in this article in the Washington Post. It’s a topic that could use some cross-cultural comparison, but the biological perspective is also an interesting one.
- If you enjoy the Bigfoot legend as much as I do, you will want to read this article in the Missoula Independent. An immense amount of lore has been complied explaining the mythical creature’s diet, behavior, and migratory patterns.
- Single parents with kids are having sex as often as singles without kids. One of the authors of this study is anthropologist Peter Gray out of the University of Nevada. You may remember an article several months ago that theorized that babies cry at night in order to keep mom too tired to conceive immediately. Try again, babies, we weren’t born yesterday.
