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Seeing the relevance of Anthropology in Everyday Life

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The Irresponsible Neanderthal

January 30, 2019 by Carie Little Hersh Leave a Comment

The Irresponsible Neanderthal

An article grabbed my attention last year but it took a while for me to realize why. The title, “Neanderthals Self-Medicated for Pain” examined research findings analyzing Neanderthal remains: "You know, we've got a guy self-medicating either because he's got a dental abscess, which was bad, or a nasty gastrointestinal parasite, which was also bad, either way he wasn't a happy guy. And, here he is eating aspirin and we're finding penicillin mould in him" – Dr. Alan Cooper Three things strike me about the way this finding was discussed and made into headlines across major media outlets around the world. To start, this project is inexcusably cool (so long as you’re okay with scientists poking and prodding at your dead ancestors–that is not a universally accepted … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Biological Anthropology, Human Evolution, Medicine Tagged With: alternative therapies, ancient hominids, Anthropology, antibiotics, bioarchaeologists, biomedicine, complementary medicine, Culture, geneticists, George Lakoff, journalists, Language, medicinal herbs, medicine, Neanderthal, scientists, self-medicating, shamans

Wizards, Vampires, Klingons, and Other Alternative Cultures

August 16, 2018 by Carie Little Hersh 1 Comment

Wizards, Vampires, Klingons, and Other Alternative Cultures

On the last day of my introduction to anthropology class, we watch scenes from the documentary Trekkies. Students grin at the sincere folks dressed as Starfleet officers and Borg members, raise their eyebrows at Klingon language camp, and outright laugh at the backyard celebration of Captain Kirk’s birthday, in which a member brags that “this year a girl came”. But they always sober up when people begin discussing why Star Trek is so important to them. One group of women talks about how different they are in their lives and politics, yet they feel most at home and accepted when they are spending time together at the Star Trek conventions. Others talk about how Star Trek inspired careers in astrophysics or medicine. Most powerfully, perhaps, one woman describes how her father was raised … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture, Fiction Tagged With: All Souls Trilogy, Anthropology, art, Culture, Deb Harkness, diversity, ethics, fiction, Gail Carriger, gender, Harry Potter, Hogwarts, J.K. Rowling, Klingons, Language, legal anthropology, LGBTQ, mudbloods, muggles, nature, Outlander, Parasol Protectorate, power, race, racism, sex, Star Trek, Steampunk, Trekkies, Vampires, Wizards

An Anthropologist’s Obsession with Outlander

May 3, 2018 by Carie Little Hersh 139 Comments

An Anthropologist’s Obsession with Outlander

I have been on hiatus from blogging for some time, mainly due to two factors. First, I launched a public anthropology podcast, Anthropologist on the Street (huzzah!), which has been a fabulous excuse to spend hours talking to brilliant, and often funny, anthropologists and to force them to explain in plain English why their work is important. It’s like free college, but with fewer exams and hangovers. The second reason is because I recently discovered the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Eight books and 7500 pages later, I popped my head up to observe that my children had outgrown all their clothes and had resorted to eating grass, as mommy hadn’t bought groceries because MOMMY WAS READING. After feeding the darlings and reenrolling them in school, I dragged my husband into watching … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Fiction, Gender, Sex, & Sexuality, Identity, Social Systems Tagged With: #MeToo, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, An Echo in the Bones, Anthropology, Caitriona Balfe, Claire Fraser, Cultural Anthropology, Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber, Drums of Autumn, gender, humanism, Jamie Fraser, Outlander, Sam Heughan, Starz, The Fiery Cross, Voyager, Written in My Own Heart's Blood

The relevANTH Guide to Choosing a Culturally Sensitive Halloween Costume

October 14, 2016 by Carie Little Hersh 1 Comment

The relevANTH Guide to Choosing a Culturally Sensitive Halloween Costume

It's that time of year again, when millions of Americans hit the streets dressed as terrifying celebrities, food items, and ethically questionable depictions of others' cultural groups. To prevent West Side Story-like brawls this Halloween, and to save you from seeing the looks of horror in your neighbors' eyes when they open the door and realize you and/or your children have absolutely no moral compass, here's a quick guide to how to judge if your costume is culturally appropriate or whether you need to dig out some cardboard from the basement and get to work on some sad, last-minute, duct-taped robot costume. And as a special seasonal service, feel free to post photos of your costumes on Twitter (@relevANTH_com) and I'll give my expert anthropological opinion on how offensive it is, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: American Culture, Cross-cultural Interaction, Ethnicity, Holidays, Race Tagged With: Anthropology, costumes, Cultural Anthropology, culturally sensitive, Ethnicity, flowchart, guide, Halloween, politically correct, race, racism

There was “no racism before Obama”. Wait, what now?

September 29, 2016 by Carie Little Hersh Leave a Comment

There was “no racism before Obama”. Wait, what now?

Welcome to the (sur)reality that is the American election of 2016. The latest in a series of Perplexing Statements that People Believe Despite Immeasurable Evidence to the Contrary was uttered by an Ohio Trump campaign chair, Kathy Miller: “I don’t think there was any racism until Obama got elected. We never had problems like this.”  Miller, who has since resigned, went on to paint a picture of a nation whose streets were paved with gold, and whose history was as accurate and factual as that of the land of Oz: “If you’re black and you haven’t been successful in the last 50 years, it’s your own fault. You’ve had every opportunity, it was given to you,” she said. “You’ve had the same schools everybody else went to. You had benefits to go to college that white kids didn’t have. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: American Culture, Culture, Race Tagged With: #blacklivesmatter, Anthropology, Barack Obama, Black Lives Matter, discrimination, history deniers, institutional racism, Kathy Miller, Peggy McIntosh, race, racism, social justice, Trump campaign chair, Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of White Privilege, white privilege

Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and the Election Hunger Games

May 4, 2016 by Carie Little Hersh Leave a Comment

Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and the Election Hunger Games

With Donald Trump defending the size of his hands, Ted Cruz dropping out of the race the week after recruiting former opponent Fiorina as a running mate, Hillary Clinton marketing a fundraising “woman card” to take advantage of Trump’s misogynistic gaffe, and Sanders supporters arguing that voter fraud is to blame for his losses in New York and Arizona, the 2016 presidential campaign has been nothing if not entertaining. But just ask Katniss Everdeen—whether you find the games entertaining or deadly depends very much on where you are in the system. Welcome to the 58th quadrennial American Presidential Hunger Games. The term “Bread and Circuses, or “Panem et Circenses”, was used by Roman author Juvenal to describe the political strategy that kept the diverse and contentious Roman … [Read more...]

Filed Under: American Culture, Law and Politics, Social Systems Tagged With: American politics, Anthropology, Bernie Sanders, Bread and Circuses, Catching Fire, Discipline and Punish, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Michel Foucault, Mockingjay, outsiders, Panem et Circenses, party politics, populism, presidential election, rebellion, revolution, Suzanne Collins, Ted Cruz, The Hunger Games, voters, voting, Woman Card

Stop Blaming Parents for Our Society’s Failures

April 23, 2016 by Carie Little Hersh 1 Comment

Stop Blaming Parents for Our Society’s Failures

Yet another parenting article popped up in my Facebook feed this week. Not a How-To parenting article, which is annoying enough, but a You’re-Doing-Everything-Wrong parenting article. Generation X’s Parenting Problem, published in 2015 but making the rounds again now, is a diatribe about how today’s parents are doing everything wrong. Life was so great when we were kids. Parents today are stressed-out maniacs who need to relax. We turned out fine. Kids these days have it too easy. If only parents today followed their parents’ and grandparents’ choices, everything would be great. The problem is, we don’t live in our parents’ or grandparents’ world. Just like the insipid and ubiquitous memes about how "My childhood was awesome: I was beaten with a belt and I learned respect", these … [Read more...]

Filed Under: American Culture, Culture, Ecology, Food and Foodways, Kinship, Parenting, Social Systems Tagged With: “Generation X’s Parenting Problem”, Anthropology, blame, capitalism, carcinogens, child development, criminalizing parents, ecology, economy, food toxicity, Generation X, housing, industrialism, kinship, parental leave, parenting, plastics, social institutions, social welfare, socialism, stress, support structures, toxic, toys

How creating your own ritual can bring surprisingly deep meaning

November 9, 2015 by Carie Little Hersh 3 Comments

How creating your own ritual can bring surprisingly deep meaning

New Year’s Eve of 2007 was grim. My husband and I hosted a party of battered friends, most of whom were under the age of 35. Within the group, two were recovering from cancer, two were the primary caregivers and spouses of those recovering from cancer, and one was grieving the loss of a husband who had died unexpectedly, leaving her a single parent of a 2 year old son. Others were wrestling with “normal” life stuff: struggling to conceive, feeling overwhelmed at work or frightened by the job market, helping ailing parents, or striving to finish their education. All were stricken with the amount of suffering the others in the room had experienced, and had spent the year supporting each other: dropping off meals, visiting hospitals, attending funerals, or traveling to offer support. In … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Ritual, Symbol Tagged With: Anthropologist for Hire, Anthropology, Arnold Van Gennep, Bar Mitzvah, Catholicism, Claire Farrer, Communion, Cultural Anthropology, Liminal Phase, Liminality, Marriage, Meaning, Miranda Wedding, Navy Ritual, New Year's Eve, Rites of Passage, Ritual, Sex and the City, Symbols, Thunder Rides a Black Horse, Transformation, Victor Turner, Wedding

So What Exactly is ANTHROPOLOGY?

August 21, 2015 by Carie Little Hersh 12 Comments

I had no idea what anthropology was when I began college, I just knew I loved the course titles.  “Language and Culture”. “Gender, Sex, and Sexuality”. “Religion and Modernity”. The cultural anthropology classes covered everything, everywhere, from race to medicine to law to food, from the Caribbean to Africa to Southeast Asia to Kansas. The archaeology classes covered history around the globe, from the birth of nation states to ancient trade routes to the way people made cloth, and everything in between. The biological anthropology classes examined the biology of humans and our ape cousins, and how we adapted over time to survive in amazingly diverse settings. The linguistic anthropology classes examined how we are physically designed for language to the innumerable forms that language … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology, Culture, Public Anthropology blog

Dr. Carie Little Hersh

Dr. Carie Little Hersh is an American cultural anthropologist, former attorney, and teaching professor in Anthropology at Northeastern University. This is her personal blog about anthropology and its relevance to everyday life.

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Disclaimer

As someone who was an attorney for between 3-7 minutes, I feel compelled to state that the views on this blog are mine and don’t reflect those of my employer.

 

relevANTH is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

 

Bonus Disclaimer: References to specific products and services on this podcast do not constitute or imply an endorsement and the views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily state or reflect those of either relevANTH or Dr. Hersh.

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