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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 2d

Delighted to share that Athena Swan have conferred a Silver Award on our Department!

This recognises our efforts to advance #GenderEquality in our community. Thank you to so many in our Department for their work towards this application!

@advancehe.bsky.social

#AthenaSwan #Anthropology

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 2d

Day 1 of our recent Gibraltar field school:

🗺️ site orientation in the Upper Rock Nature Reserve
📋practice behavioural data collection
😋and a dinner in Casemates Square!

Find out more about our residential field courses: durham.ac.uk/departments/...

#Anthropology #StudyAnthropology #Fieldwork

Photo collage showing four photos from a field trip to Gibraltar in 2025. Left photo shows students walking across a rope bridge, top right shows students observing a macaque, central right shows students and staff enjoying dinner together at a long table. Bottom right is a photo of three macaques, including an infant.

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 8d

Learn more in this news story: www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

REF 2029 sub-panels announcement - Durham University

www.durham.ac.uk

Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 8d

Congratulations to our Prof Jo Setchell, appointed to the REF (Research Excellence Framework) 2029 sub-panel on #Anthropology and #DevelopmentStudies!

This expert sub-panel will assess #research quality in Anthropology and Development Studies, across UK higher education institutions.

Selfie of Prof Jo Setchell standing in a mountainous landscape on a blue-skied, sunny day.

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 12d

Find out more in this news story: www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

Professor Nayanika Mookherjee awarded top Anthropology honour - Durham University

www.durham.ac.uk

Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 12d

The Royal Anthropological Institute has awarded our Prof Nayanika Mookherjee with the Rivers Memorial Medal, one of the highest accolades in #anthropology!

This recognises her outstanding contributions to anthropology, with an emphasis on fieldwork and a significant body of theoretical literature.

Photo collage. Top left photo is of the Rivers Memorial Medal. Bottom photo is a group of smiling people, with Nayanika in the centre holding her medal. Top right is text saying "24 Sep 2025: Professor Nayanika Mookherjee awarded Rivers Memorial Medal!"

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 14d

Congratulations to one of our PhD students, Emily! 👏🎉 Read more in the new blog post Emily's linked to below!

#Anthropology

Emily Jeffries @emilymljeffries.bsky.social · 14d

Back in April, I was lucky enough to win the Best Student Long Talk award at EHBEA 2025 @ehbea.bsky.social @peerj.bsky.social have a new blog up all about the conference awardees, which features a little bit about me. A big well done to all the other awardees. peerj.com/blog/post/11...

PeerJ Award Winners at EHBEA 2025 | PeerJ Blog

peerj.com

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 16d

Watch the full interview here: youtu.be/4FjzeHBbKNk?...

How Anthropology Can Kick-start Your Career: Hear From Durham University Alum Lucy Faber

YouTube video by DurhamUniversity

youtu.be

Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 16d

Ever wondered what #Anthropology is and how it can kickstart your career?

Our BSc Anthropology alum Lucy Faber spoke to Prof Rob Barton on exactly this topic! Learn how Anthropology gives you the skills & perspective to thrive in the workplace ☝️

🎞️ Full interview on YouTube - link in bio/thread!

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · 19d

🎓 Interested in studying #Anthropology at the 'University of the Year'?

Check out our undergrad courses: www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

- and our postgrad taught courses! www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

Congratulations to our global university community on this success! 👏 Read more below 👇

Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Sep 8

It's a wrap! Team BONES finishes the field season and departs
Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Kenya.

Our Department's Fire Kovarovic stops for the traditional post-field-season photo on the equator 🌍

#Anthropology #Fieldwork #Palaeoanthropology #DUresearch #DurhamUni

Dr Fire Kovarovic stands next to a large sign in the shape of the African continent. On the sign it says "You are on the Equator", "Ol Pejeta Conservancy Kenya", and "Latitude: 0-0-0 Alt: 5990ft-1826m".

Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Sep 5

🎙️ 'Betwixt The Sheets': History of Celibacy 🎙️

aka a #HistoryHit #podcast ft. our Emeritus Professor Sandra Bell and Professor Elisa Sobo! Together they've edited a book: 'Celibacy, Culture, And Society: #Anthropology Of Sexual Abstinence'.

🎧 Listen to learn more: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...

BBC Sounds - Betwixt The Sheets, History of Celibacy

Why celibacy meant power for Queen Elizabeth I, the Church—and 'No Nut November' today.

www.bbc.co.uk

Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Sep 3

(3/3) Read 'The Belonging Report' here 👇: www.durham.ac.uk/media/durham...

www.durham.ac.uk

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Sep 3

(2/3) Abigail's post presents insights from 'The Belonging Report', which Abigail co-authored. They found that Durham Uni students from NE England had a lower sense of belonging compared to other students. The Uni has since incorporated their findings into its new Access and Participation Plan.

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Sep 3

(1/3) Check out this blog post below by one of our BA #Anthropology alumni, Abigail Lewis! Abigail is now Access and Participation Programme Coordinator at Durham Students' Union.

wonkhe.com/blogs/for-so...

For some students, home doesn't feel like home

Drawing on lived experience research, Abigail Lewis explores the realities of class-based exclusion and how institutions can respond

wonkhe.com

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Aug 29

Learn more in our news story: www.durham.ac.uk/departments/...

Primate thumbs and brains evolved together, new study finds - Durham University

www.durham.ac.uk

Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Aug 29

New #research co-authored by our Prof Rob Barton reveals that in primates, longer thumbs and larger brains evolved together 🧠

Read the #OpenAccess paper here: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

#DUresearch #Anthropology #PrimateEvolution #CognitiveEvolution #DurhamAnthropology

Human dexterity and brains evolved hand in hand - Communications Biology

Thumbs and brains coevolved in primates. Across living and extinct species, longer thumbs predict bigger brains, highlighting the neural cost of dexterity.

www.nature.com

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Aug 27

(2/2) Some of the skeleton is still in the muddy wallow where the elephant died, but other parts have been carried off by carnivores. These carnivores left tell-tale marks of their activity on the gnawed bones. This knowledge helps with interpretations of the #fossil record. 🦴

#anthropology

Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Aug 27

(1/2) A recently deceased male elephant provides an opportunity to study the dispersal of large mammal remains!

Pictured here: our Department's Fire Kovarovic, Briana Pobiner (NMNH Smithsonian), Kari Lintulaakso (Finnish Natural History Museum LUOMUS) and Isaack Kipkoech (Ol Pejeta Conservancy).

Photo of four people standing in front of a muddy wallow where the skeletonised remains of an elephant are visible.

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Reposted by Durham University Anthropology

Jeremy Kendal @jeremykendal.bsky.social · Aug 27

Physical copies of this 71-chapter tome now exist. Do encourage your library to buy a copy…also doubles as excellent door stop! Co-edited with Jamie Tehrani and @rachkendal.bsky.social. @oxunipress.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social

The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution hard copy

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Aug 22

In Kyoto: Prof Hannah Brown is a RIHN Visiting Research Fellow researching bushmeat, zoonotic disease, and ‘local knowledge’ between #anthropology and #ecology. She will work with Associate Professor Hongo, the FASHLOKS project and engage with others at RIHN.

More: www.chikyu.ac.jp/rihn_e/news/...

Prof Hannah Brown smiles at the camera and stands in front of a set of stepping stones curving away across a small pool. In the pool is a glass-walled room.

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Aug 20

🔍 Snaps from a one-day workshop on how to identify mammal bones, evidence of carnivore damage and weathering recorded on them!

Dr Fire Kovarovic, Dr Ogeto Mwebi and Dr Briana Pobiner delivered this workshop, attended by staff at Ol Pejeta conservancy. Thanks Nelly Maiyo for helping us organise it!

Classroom with many people gathered around a table, as part of a workshop. The attendees are analysing different mammal bones and skulls. Behind the three workshop instructors is a powerpoint screen with text reading: "Scenario: You are on a bush walk with tourists and encounter these bones. What would you tell them?".

Reposted by Durham University Anthropology

Tom Yarrow @tomyarrow.bsky.social · Aug 15

Really pleased my paper (with Paolo Heywood) 'On the problem of continuity' just got accepted by JRAI. It proposes a theory of culture beyond the inventive assumptions that often dominate analyses and over-determine ethnography. DM or email if you're interested to see the accepted draft.

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Durham University Anthropology @durhamanthropology.bsky.social · Aug 14

#InTheField in Kenya 🚙 Packing the field vehicle to head out of Nairobi to Ol Pejeta wildlife conservancy for a few weeks of #fieldwork!

L-R: Our Fire Kovarovic, Ogeto Mwebi (National Museums of Kenya), Briana Pobiner (Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History)

#anthropology #DUresearch

Three anthropologists stand smiling at the camera. Behind them is the open back of a field vehicle. In the background are many trees.

Reposted by Durham University Anthropology

Hannah Brown @mamatommy.bsky.social · May 8

Our latest plug for the value of anthropological theory in applied contexts. Writing led by my colleague Andrea Kaiser Grolimund @swisstph.ch with collaboration from the Alive Africa project team. Funding: @erc.europa.eu Does One Health need an ontological turn? www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Does One Health need an ontological turn?

One Health has gained global prominence in recent years. Alongside its emergence, there have been extensive social science critiques. In this contribution, we make the case for the value of recent ...

www.tandfonline.com

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