Anand Pandian is a professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. His recent books include A Possible Anthropology: Methods for Uneasy Times and Crumpled Paper Boat: Experiments in Ethnographic Writing. Pandian is currently working on a new book about indifference in contemporary American life—the everyday arrangements that allow cruelty to harbor in the most banal of circumstances. Follow him on Twitter @anandspandian. Any views stated on this site are Pandian’s own and do not express the position or views of The Johns Hopkins University.