Society for Cultural Anthropology
@culanth.bsky.social
Challenging the boundaries of the discipline since 1983. Account managed by a volunteer team of Contributing Editors. Posts this week by Social Media Team.
Hoping to join anthropology & activism in protest of the U.S. illegalization system, I decided to break the law. On Dec. 10, 2013, 7 activists & I rose early. We chained ourselves together & laid down in the snow outside the Elizabeth Detention Center, a 300-bed facility operated on behalf of ICE.
January 16, 2026 at 1:17 PM
Hoping to join anthropology & activism in protest of the U.S. illegalization system, I decided to break the law. On Dec. 10, 2013, 7 activists & I rose early. We chained ourselves together & laid down in the snow outside the Elizabeth Detention Center, a 300-bed facility operated on behalf of ICE.
RIP German anthropologist Johannes Fabian, who passed away last Tuesday. Fabian was most widely known as the author of "Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object" (1983), a then-radical & still-influential critique of anthropological writing, knowledge-making & fieldwork relations. RIP.
January 15, 2026 at 10:39 PM
RIP German anthropologist Johannes Fabian, who passed away last Tuesday. Fabian was most widely known as the author of "Time and the Other: How Anthropology Makes its Object" (1983), a then-radical & still-influential critique of anthropological writing, knowledge-making & fieldwork relations. RIP.
Fiona McCormack’s essay, “Marine Inequality, Borderization, and the Radical Potential of Kinship,” engages with climate, capitalism, and decolonial critique, examining how marine spaces materialize global inequalities through regimes of extraction, governance, and labor.
December 26, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Fiona McCormack’s essay, “Marine Inequality, Borderization, and the Radical Potential of Kinship,” engages with climate, capitalism, and decolonial critique, examining how marine spaces materialize global inequalities through regimes of extraction, governance, and labor.
In conforming to the official standards of family in the presence of the state while privately engaging in potentially subversive acts of alternative kin-making, new manifestations of kinship form in what Ikeuchi conceptualizes as fugitive kinships.
December 26, 2025 at 3:45 PM
In conforming to the official standards of family in the presence of the state while privately engaging in potentially subversive acts of alternative kin-making, new manifestations of kinship form in what Ikeuchi conceptualizes as fugitive kinships.
In “My Neighbor the Gringo,” @aangelini.bsky.social and Gareth A. Jones explore the different meanings of convivência in Rio de Janeiro’s self-built communities transformed into tourist accommodations over recent decades.
December 24, 2025 at 4:23 AM
In “My Neighbor the Gringo,” @aangelini.bsky.social and Gareth A. Jones explore the different meanings of convivência in Rio de Janeiro’s self-built communities transformed into tourist accommodations over recent decades.
Based on fieldwork in London, interviews with global activists, and analysis of corporate materials, Sohini Kar’s essay, “The Financial Activist,” draws on Lauren Berlant’s theory of inconvenience to show how activists learn to live with and inconvenience financial systems,
December 24, 2025 at 4:17 AM
Based on fieldwork in London, interviews with global activists, and analysis of corporate materials, Sohini Kar’s essay, “The Financial Activist,” draws on Lauren Berlant’s theory of inconvenience to show how activists learn to live with and inconvenience financial systems,
Sending you into the weekend with a new two-part pedagogy piece on Teaching Orientalism, from @girishdaswani.bsky.social and @isisnaucratis.bsky.social:
December 19, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Sending you into the weekend with a new two-part pedagogy piece on Teaching Orientalism, from @girishdaswani.bsky.social and @isisnaucratis.bsky.social:
In our journal article "Touched By Deep Time," Lachlan Summers thinks with those who continue to suffer long after living through one of Mexico City's earthquakes. For many, structural volatility continues to reverberate in a sort of earthly seasickness. journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
December 17, 2025 at 10:14 PM
In our journal article "Touched By Deep Time," Lachlan Summers thinks with those who continue to suffer long after living through one of Mexico City's earthquakes. For many, structural volatility continues to reverberate in a sort of earthly seasickness. journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
Instead of a wrapping up the year with most-read, most-cited, or any of those metrics, we want to hear a more qualitative review. What were your favorite books or articles that you read this year? The most memorable? The ones that you're thinking about the most?
December 17, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Instead of a wrapping up the year with most-read, most-cited, or any of those metrics, we want to hear a more qualitative review. What were your favorite books or articles that you read this year? The most memorable? The ones that you're thinking about the most?
“We sometimes have our heads in the stars, but we really do need to have our feet firmly planted on the ground.” This article shows how astronomers engage different scales from the grounds of southern Africa—like this future (maybe) telescope site in Madagascar:
December 16, 2025 at 4:31 PM
“We sometimes have our heads in the stars, but we really do need to have our feet firmly planted on the ground.” This article shows how astronomers engage different scales from the grounds of southern Africa—like this future (maybe) telescope site in Madagascar:
Can't believe it's almost been a year since kicked off 2025 with this series on rethinking facts from Latin America - still relevant, still waiting for you to read: www.culanth.org/fieldsights/...
December 16, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Can't believe it's almost been a year since kicked off 2025 with this series on rethinking facts from Latin America - still relevant, still waiting for you to read: www.culanth.org/fieldsights/...
Here's one for all the readers! 📚🤓📚📑 Join us for our last SCA Fridays of the year as we reflect on, appreciate, and read from publications from 2025.
December 15, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Here's one for all the readers! 📚🤓📚📑 Join us for our last SCA Fridays of the year as we reflect on, appreciate, and read from publications from 2025.
From our latest journal issue, Ina Zharkevich on the invisible slow violence of debt, which haunts Nepali migrants unable to repay loans that they hoped would enable them to pursue life in the U.S.
December 12, 2025 at 8:43 PM
From our latest journal issue, Ina Zharkevich on the invisible slow violence of debt, which haunts Nepali migrants unable to repay loans that they hoped would enable them to pursue life in the U.S.
In our series on unbuilding, Simón Uribe examines concrete and corrosion from building roads to managing waterways in Colombia—like this retaining wall. Read more here: www.culanth.org/fieldsights/...
December 12, 2025 at 5:39 PM
In our series on unbuilding, Simón Uribe examines concrete and corrosion from building roads to managing waterways in Colombia—like this retaining wall. Read more here: www.culanth.org/fieldsights/...
What happens when we bring our sketchbooks and sketching practice with us into the field? Or into the classroom?
December 8, 2025 at 10:27 PM
What happens when we bring our sketchbooks and sketching practice with us into the field? Or into the classroom?
Congratulations 🎊 👏 💐 to Leniqueca Welcome for winning this year's SCA Cultural Horizons Prize for her article, "On and In Their Bodies: Masculinist Violence, Criminalization, and Black Womanhood in Trinidad"
December 3, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Congratulations 🎊 👏 💐 to Leniqueca Welcome for winning this year's SCA Cultural Horizons Prize for her article, "On and In Their Bodies: Masculinist Violence, Criminalization, and Black Womanhood in Trinidad"
Have *you* checked out our latest journal issue? Full table of contents here, articles available open access at journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
December 3, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Have *you* checked out our latest journal issue? Full table of contents here, articles available open access at journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
A big shout out to our two Bateson Book Prize 🏆 Honorable Mentions! Congrats to @chloeahmann.bsky.social and Jean Dennison for these phenomenal books from @uchicagopress.bsky.social and @uncpress.bsky.social:
November 25, 2025 at 11:01 PM
A big shout out to our two Bateson Book Prize 🏆 Honorable Mentions! Congrats to @chloeahmann.bsky.social and Jean Dennison for these phenomenal books from @uchicagopress.bsky.social and @uncpress.bsky.social:
Now that #AAA2025 is a wrap—time for an award 🏆 thread! Congratulations @lmesseri.bsky.social for winning this year's Gregory Bateson Book Prize!! Awarded for In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles. More info here @dukepress.bsky.social: dukeupress.edu/in-the-land-...
November 24, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Now that #AAA2025 is a wrap—time for an award 🏆 thread! Congratulations @lmesseri.bsky.social for winning this year's Gregory Bateson Book Prize!! Awarded for In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles. More info here @dukepress.bsky.social: dukeupress.edu/in-the-land-...
It's that time of year!! 🎁❄️📚📚🤓
That's right! The latest issue of Cultural Anthropology is out now! Check out all eight new research articles open-access here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca
That's right! The latest issue of Cultural Anthropology is out now! Check out all eight new research articles open-access here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca
November 18, 2025 at 8:53 PM
It's that time of year!! 🎁❄️📚📚🤓
That's right! The latest issue of Cultural Anthropology is out now! Check out all eight new research articles open-access here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca
That's right! The latest issue of Cultural Anthropology is out now! Check out all eight new research articles open-access here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca
Coming up this Saturday! Our annual Culture@Large event—now with New Orleans walking tour! Join historian Rashauna Johnson for an event you won't want to miss this AAA. (Talk open to all, tour requires registration)
November 17, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Coming up this Saturday! Our annual Culture@Large event—now with New Orleans walking tour! Join historian Rashauna Johnson for an event you won't want to miss this AAA. (Talk open to all, tour requires registration)
Are you on your way to New Orleans for this year's AAA? Join us, @amethno.bsky.social, and the Society for Visual Anthropology for a multimodal exhibiton and reception on Thursday!
November 17, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Are you on your way to New Orleans for this year's AAA? Join us, @amethno.bsky.social, and the Society for Visual Anthropology for a multimodal exhibiton and reception on Thursday!
"Many in the West have dismissed [the war in Sudan] as another African war that does not concern them, but in fact, this war and its genocide are emblematic of the complex, new imperialisms sweeping the globe and taking democracy with them."
November 12, 2025 at 5:53 PM
"Many in the West have dismissed [the war in Sudan] as another African war that does not concern them, but in fact, this war and its genocide are emblematic of the complex, new imperialisms sweeping the globe and taking democracy with them."
In “Waste Donations,” Kevin Yildirim explores how interdependencies are forged within precarious urban conditions through the auspices of charitable giving. 1/2
October 26, 2025 at 1:57 PM
In “Waste Donations,” Kevin Yildirim explores how interdependencies are forged within precarious urban conditions through the auspices of charitable giving. 1/2
In “Morally Immunizing Debts,” Ferda Nur Demirci explores how underground mineworkers in Soma, a lignite-coal basin in Turkey’s North Aegean region, forge new approaches to self and intimate other through readily available consumer loans and ongoing financial obligations.
October 25, 2025 at 11:45 AM
In “Morally Immunizing Debts,” Ferda Nur Demirci explores how underground mineworkers in Soma, a lignite-coal basin in Turkey’s North Aegean region, forge new approaches to self and intimate other through readily available consumer loans and ongoing financial obligations.