Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

When Women Say “Ta-Ta” to Ta-Tas

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · 10d

As Breast Cancer Awareness Month begins, anthropologist Arianna Huhn describes her experience fighting breast cancer and her decision to “go flat," in an essay for @sapiens.org. #breastcancerawareness #goingflat

www.sapiens.org/culture/wome...

An anthropologist fighting cancer navigates the social pressure in the U.S. to get breast reconstruction after a mastectomy.

Sophie Chao Guest Post: Words and Worlds - School for Advanced Research

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Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · 15d

Anthropologist Sophie Chao writes a beautiful reflection on the power & responsibility of narrative in this guest post for SAR (@sarsf.bsky.social) based on time spent together in an immersive creative nonfiction seminar w/@sapiens.org. #anthropology #narrative sarweb.org/blog-words-a...

Anthropologist Sophie Chao shares a guest post. An environmental anthropologist, she reflects on ecological crisis, Indigenous knowledge in West Papua, and the ethics of storytelling. Exploring defore...

sarweb.org

Cold-Water Swimming Brings New Life to Aging Bodies

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · 17d

Just wrapped up my course "Working with Authors" through the University of Chicago. Key takeaways: editors do SO MUCH MORE than simply "fix errors." Freelance editing is all about the power of relationships. Managing our time & talents benefits everyone! I strive for mutuality & momentum. #editing

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · 18d

As temperatures drop, most of us head indoors! But some people find joy & pleasure in a cold-water plunge! A researcher in Cambridge interviews regulars at the Jesus Lido community pool to find out why. A new piece I edited for @sapiens.org. #successfulaging

www.sapiens.org/culture/cold...

A researcher at a community pool in Cambridge finds out why so many people over 60 are finding joy and pleasure in a cold-water swim.

Anthropologists working in Indonesia explore how mistrust among on-demand drivers—toward companies and one another—is a form of power.

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · 25d

Amid deadly protests in Indonesia, take a deep dive into why there's been so much mistrust among delivery drivers, on-demand mobile app companies & the government, told through the lens of anthropologists Sheri Lynn Gibbings, Elan Lazuardi & Robbie Peters. #Indonesia

www.sapiens.org/culture/indo...

The Power of Mistrust

Reclaiming Tanzania’s Deep Past—Together

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Sep 3

Professor Katie Ranhorn writes beautifully on working with an "archaeologies of the heart" as an approach to studying deep history in communities within #Tanzania. #archaeology #paleontology #representation #localhistories #communityarchaeology #eastafrica www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...

A U.S. archaeologist reflects on the power of community-driven research in Tanzania to reshape how the story of human origins is told.

When Tiger Conservation Overlooks Human Lives

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Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Sep 3

What happens when environmental conservation efforts overlook the rights and needs of humans? Anthropologist Amir Sohel explains how tiger protection in the Sundarbans often ignores forest-dwelling people who live alongside tigers. #anthropology #humantigerconflict

www.sapiens.org/culture/tige...

An anthropologist looks at how tiger conservation efforts in the Sundarban region of West Bengal often ignore forest-dwelling communities.

The Philippines Is Not a Small Country

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 27

Just finished reading "The Philippines is Not a Small Country," Gideon Lasco's excellent book of personal essays on a wide-range of topics, from tattoos to food, selfies to drug addiction, it's all there, nearly every subject of interest to humanity! Great read! www.goodreads.com/book/show/55...

This book is an exploration of the Philippines as a bea…

www.goodreads.com

Archaeological Fiction and a Scientist's Dilemma

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 27

Have you ever read "The Clan of the Cave Bear"? If so, you're one step closer to thinking like a scientist. Anthropologist @emilylenajones.bsky.social explains why for @sapiens.org in this beautiful personal essay on the overlap between #fiction & #science. www.sapiens.org/archaeology/...

An archaeologist reflects on the role of fiction to imagine the deep past—and inspire future generations of archaeologists.

The Many Lives of a Face Mask

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Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 26

How did the COVID-era surgical facemask become a fashion statement in Pakistan? Read all about it in this fascinating essay by anthropologist Zainab Najeeb! It was a pleasure editing this piece and learning more about modesty #fashion for @sapiens.org. #anthropology

www.sapiens.org/culture/face...

An anthropologist explores how the surgical face mask went from a health precaution to a fashion choice among women in Peshawar, Pakistan.

What’s it like when your job involves wading through others’ suffering? I was left weeping and hopeless

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 26

Tonight, I watched a young man lay down a prayer mat in a parking lot next to the Goodwill in Skokie and perform the evening prayer as the sun set. #prayer

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 25

When I was a digital newsroom editor, I witnessed the impact of vicarious trauma on mostly young, intrepid freelancers who took on stories way beyond their capacity to cope with what they'd encounter in the field: www.theguardian.com/science/2023...

Psychologists call it ‘vicarious trauma’ – the result of witnessing too much misery, even if you’re not experiencing it first hand. And it can affect anyone, from war correspondents to legal professio...

www.theguardian.com

My bold, dead mother was back. Or was grief playing tricks? | Psyche Stories of Change

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 20

I adore Pasqual's in the plaza! The meal I had there was one of the best of my trip. No reservation required but we waited about 45 minutes to get a table. So worth it!

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Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 20

A personal essay on my encounter with a psychic medium, how it healed me in what felt like an instant. It's still hard to comprehend what actually occurred, so I wrote about it: #healing #grief #motherlove psyche.co/stories-of-c...

It was just like her – my bold, dead mother – to show up in my life again. Or was grief playing tricks on me?

psyche.co

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 20

To make the strange familiar, or make the familiar strange? A great question on the work of anthropologists raised by journalist Brian Goldstone, speaking on his new book, "There Is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America." #housingcrisis #Shomelessness

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 20

People used to travel to "see the world." Now they travel for the world to see them, thanks to social media. An insight from Gideon Lasco's fascinating essay collection, "The Philippines is not a Small Country." #travel #socialmedia #performance

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 19

Played my first game of Mah Jong in Skokie with other enthusiasts and it was a blast—still so much learn. Time to get my first Mah Jong card for 2025. It’s good through April.

When People—and Files—Talk Back to Bureaucracy

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 19

i'm on the lookout for high-protein meals that don't take too long to prep: so far, it's been lemony chickpea salad w/feta, tuna patties, cabbage & carrots, lentil salad w/feta, soft-boiled eggs, honey-sesame-soy chickpea slaw with cilantro & chopped peanuts, roasted marinated eggplant with tofu.

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 19

"Enter the Reception Room, and you will see a mismatched jumble of old furniture washed by the dim blue emitting from fluorescent overhead lights." On the surrealism & absurdity of bureaucratic drudgery. #India #anthropolgy @allegralab.bsky.social @sapiens.org www.sapiens.org/culture/bure...

Two ethnographic filmmakers enter India's government maze, where citizens make claims on the state while imagining alternate bureaucratic encounters.

Salt and Paper in Bureaucratic Jerusalem

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 14

On quieter, less obvious forms of state violence: "Salt and Paper in Bureaucratic Jerusalem." www.sapiens.org/culture/isra...

As genocidal violence continues in Gaza, Israel uses quieter, bureaucratic means to displace and dispossess Palestinians in East Jerusalem.

The Tangled Roots of Corruption in Today’s South Africa

Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein @travelfarnow.bsky.social · Aug 14

An epic essay on the tangled roots of corruption in South Africa from legal anthropologist and decolonial scholar Nicole van Zyl for @sapiens.org. www.sapiens.org/culture/corr...

A legal scholar turned anthropologist connects South Africa’s colonial and apartheid past to what she witnesses shadowing parole officers.