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Cultural anthropologists seek to understand the diverse ways people live today, including how they think, act, create, struggle, make meaning, and organize their societies.

A person wearing a white hat, red-and-black backpack, and holding two hiking poles walks down a sandy trail lined with high grasses.
essay / In Flux

Conflicting Times on the Camino de Santiago

Augusta X. Thomson
As increasing numbers of pilgrims walk the Camino, a European network of historic pilgrimage routes, those who journey to “slow down” their lives often don’t recognize the burdens of tourism on locals.
Three people stand in a line holding lit candles. The person in the center holds a piece of paper with a red triangle colored in with marker on the left side, and three horizontal stripes—black, white, and green—on the right. In the white area, text written in red marker reads, “MSJC family in solidarity.”
op-ed / Viewpoint

The Responsibility of Witnesses to Genocide

Jennifer Lynn Kelly
Palestinian narratives of their own dispossession are routinely dismissed—making witnessing Israel’s ongoing onslaught on Palestine that reignited in 2023 an urgent task. But witnessing is not enough.
Several people wearing matching brown jumpsuits sit on a long brown bench, holding landline phones and facing a large clear wall. On the other side of the first window, a person with a white headscarf on cries while holding a phone.
essay / Human Rights

How Israeli Prisons Terrorize Palestinians—Inside and Outside Their Walls

Basil Farraj
An anthropologist in the West Bank explains how Israel’s prison regime dehumanizes Palestinians, who nevertheless dream of freedom and resist erasure.
Taken from under the frond of a leafy overhang, waters near the shore of a beach gently ripple under the bright orange glow of the setting sun.
poem / Reflections

Bila Mwili

Alma Simba
A poet-historian in Tanzania remembers those who have passed but who are still nearby.
A header image on a cellphone of several people wearing military uniforms and holding hands is above a yellow logo and white text that reads, “Israel Defense Forces.” White text underneath reads, “Official IDF Twitter account. We tweet real-time information and updates in 7 languages—choose yours.”
essay / Human Rights

The Viral Atrocities Posted by Israeli Soldiers

Sophia Goodfriend
Tracing 75 years of Israeli war photography, an anthropologist explains how images that reframe disproportionate violence as proof of victory have intensified in the war on Gaza that erupted in 2023.
A large, tan cardboard box sits on a shelf with a label that reads “C2” below it. On two small pieces of black tape on the box’s front side, white letters read “Infant” and “Name Once Known.”
poem / Human Rights

Infant, Name Once Known

Jenny L. Davis
A poet-anthropologist of the Chickasaw Nation honors infant remains historically used in teaching collections at the University of Illinois.
A person with short black hair looks away from the viewer out of a window on the room’s back wall. Between the person and the window is a narrow bed with blue, pink, and red linens.
video / Human Rights

What It’s Like to Grow Old on the Margins

Magdalena Zegarra Chiappori
In a brief documentary, an anthropologist provides a glimpse into the precarious lives of poor older Peruvians whose experiences mirror those of countless elders around the world.
With several people around them, a person wearing an olive green headwrap and white long-sleeved shirt cradles a beige cat who is facing the viewer. They are in a building topped with an ornately decorated gold dome.
column / Entanglements

For the Love of Cats in Turkey

Gideon Lasco
On a visit to feline-friendly Turkey, an anthropologist considers what long-standing practices of caring for cats reveal about human societies.
At sunset, a large, gently rippling body of water reflects yellow, orange, and pink light. Small lights scatter along dark silhouetted mountains on the horizon.
poem / Reflections

Fishing for Dust

Mesak Takhelmayum
A poet-historian from Manipur, India, shapes tensions between violence and beauty into an allegory, calling residents and readers alike to stay awake.
An older person wearing a black headscarf and embroidered skirt sits on the ground, resting against a concrete wall.
essay / Human Rights

Living as Stateless Palestinians in Jordan

Michael Vicente Pérez
Israel’s war on Gaza that erupted in 2023 continues a long history of systemic displacement of Palestinians. Over 2 million Palestinian refugees currently live in Jordan in indefinite exile, tens of thousands without citizenship in any country.
A crowd of people, with several taking pictures on cellphones, surround a damaged structure in a public square. The small building, with its tiling cracked and wooden seating splintered, has a large arrangement of white flowers in front of it.
poem / Identities

At the Intersection of Sarinah Plaza, Thamrin Street

Moh. Faiz Maulana
A poet-anthropologist in Indonesia criticizes extremist militants who use religion to commit violence.
A person wearing a black baseball cap and a shirt covered in a collage of different images of a man’s face walks down a presentation hall. A screen showing many people elsewhere is to their right and a poster with a graphic of a gun hangs over a booth in front.
essay / Viewpoint

Among Gun Rights Activists, Fears About Survival Reign

Morwari Zafar
An anthropologist delves into what the rising ranks of local firearm-touting militias in Virginia reveal about intensifying political polarization in the U.S.—and what these shifts might mean for the 2024 presidential election.
Two people—one in a white T-shirt and the other in burgundy robes—work together to hang a string of white pieces of cloth with black writing on them.
essay / Material Culture

Replacing Plastic Prayers With Biodegradable Blessings in the Himalayas

Kalzang Dorjee Bhutia, Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa, Ang Dolma Sherpa, and Pasang Yangjee Sherpa
As synthetic prayer flags and scarves pollute the Himalayan region, a team of scholars and activists work to spread sustainable materials drawn from Indigenous knowledge.
A person wearing a long-sleeved black maxi dress and a red headscarf holding a green umbrella walks on a public street with a silver truck and several people in black hats, helmets, and khaki uniforms in the background.
poem / Reflections

08.03.2019

Sanjna Girish Yechareddy
A poet-anthropologist from India recalls a checkpoint encounter in Sri Lanka, just months after the Easter Sunday bombings.
Shot from above, a close-up photograph features a cluster of flowers with white petals and yellow centers with green blades of grass growing out of a rough, rocky plot of brown soil.
poem / Human Rights

Expert Witness Reviews Exhibits for Asylum Proceedings, Franco-González Class Member

Whitney L. Duncan
A poet-anthropologist who has been an expert witness in asylum proceedings for Mexican nationals resists dehumanizing legal and political language to make space for the humanity of asylum-seekers.
Taken from an upward angle, a photograph features a shirtless person wearing a red, blue, yellow, and black feathered headdress, colorful bracelet, and several beaded necklaces. They are holding a yellow and green flag.
essay / Wayfinding

Reading the Future of an Amazonian Mine

Sebastián Vacas-Oleas
In Ecuador, Shuar people, an Indigenous group in the region, face increasing threats to their ways of life from industrial mining. But some find strength and courage to resist through knowledge gained by using hallucinogenic plants.
On a wood-paneled floor, four barefoot people wearing different outfits in shades of red, yellow, and blue dance in front of a gray wall. Captured in motion, and therefore blurry, each has several of their dance moves overlapping and visible at once.
poem / Reflections

Making Anthropological Poetry Reel

Esteban M. Gómez
In featuring three SAPIENS poems, students in a digital anthropology seminar infused video reels for Instagram with vivid history and powerful emotions.
On the left, smoke billows out from the top of several large smokestacks on a long sandy shore that a few people are walking along. On the right, over dark blue water, an orange sunset illuminates a pier in the distance.
poem / Wayfinding

Between the Lines

Josh Yarden
A poet-anthropologist in Israel looks to his students and their surroundings, calling for “seekers of peace” to create lifelines across social and geopolitical divides.
Between tall wooden walls, a child peers over a short wooden door. A pitch-black background is behind her.
poem / Reflections

A Mausoleum of Our Everydays/Nai nsang negu herouki

Haidamteu Zeme Newme
A humanities and social science doctoral student from Manipur, India, takes readers on a journey through ordinary moments interwoven with violence.
A crowd of adults and children wearing T-shirts, flip-flops, and denim shorts or sarongs looks at a water tap with the word “Italy” stamped on its side and a giant silver lock on it.
poem / Wayfinding

Strange Future

Ojo Taiye
A Nigerian eco-activist and poet wonders what future lies ahead in the face of climate change impacts and resistance to large-scale emission reductions.
A large, brown sculpture depicts a cluster of people looking outward, one cradling a child in their arms. A village and blue sky are visible in a distant horizon.
essay / Expressions

Poems of Witness and Possibility: Inside Zones of Conflict

Christine Weeber, Ather Zia, and Toiba Naseema
Anthropological poems from around the globe speak to people’s creative will, resistance, and resilience—and the significance of our shared humanity.
A person with short gray hair wearing a pink, long-sleeved shirt and black pants hits a small swinging punching bag.
essay / Phenomenon

Taking on Parkinson’s Disease—With Boxing Gloves and Punching Bags

Julia K. Sloane
In a California gym, people living with Parkinson’s practice noncontact boxing to redefine their experience of the disease and maintain a sense of self.
In sepia tones, a slightly blurry image features two people wearing head coverings and tunics seated against a blank wall. The one on the left holds up a piece of paper with a person’s face printed on it.
poem / Reflections

Earlier I Had Nightmares, Now I Have Insomnia

Toiba Naseema
A Kashmiri poet-anthropologist records the restless despair many feel under Indian occupation.
Three people stand on a grassy field holding signs with pictures of young people’s faces pasted on them. Also on the signs, in colorful text, are two phrases: “Invest in Us” and “End the War on Drugs” with the word “Drugs” crossed out and the word “Blacks” added before it.
interview / Viewpoint

How Racism Shapes the U.S. Opioid Epidemic

Marlaina Martin
Public health officials say opioid use and related deaths have reached a crisis point in the U.S. An interview with anthropologist and psychiatrist Helena Hansen unpacks the racial disparities in how drug addiction is interpreted, portrayed, and treated.
Photographed from behind, two children wearing flip-flops hold hands and walk on a dirt trail between rows of tall trees. The taller child wears a skirt, and the other wears capris and a polo shirt.
poem / Reflections

A Long Road Ahead

Toiba Naseema
SAPIENS’ 2023 poet-in-residence questions where peace of mind can come from for Indian-occupied Kashmir.
With human figures painted as dark silhouettes, a large mural depicts a soldier wearing a helmet and large backpack reaching toward two children holding flags with orange, white, and green horizontal stripes. They stand against a bright yellow, orange, and red background with three black helicopters—one displaying the same flag—flying overhead.
poem / Human Rights

This Militarization

Toiba Naseema
A poet-anthropologist conveys her life when she was coming of age under the increasing mobilization of military forces in Indian-occupied Kashmir.
Taken through a wire fence, a photo shows a few people passing by a yellow building with several works of graffiti written on its wall and piles of square stone blocks in front of it.
poem / Counterpoint

Documenting the Kashmir Conflict Through Poetry

Toiba Naseema
SAPIENS’ 2023 poet-in-residence sketches the history she speaks to in three poems from Indian-occupied Kashmir.
A person wearing a sleeveless shirt with a white paper attached that reads “Assefa” holds up a white sneaker with three black stripes in front of a blue structure with a digital time clock on it.
essay / Material World

Why Shoes Do Not Make the Runner

Hannah Borenstein
East African runners wearing “super shoes” have outpaced global marathon records. But the shoe fervor—alongside older stereotypes about African runners’ “natural” abilities—means athletes’ hard work often gets sidelined.
A crowd watches a parade float shaped like a building with rainbow-colored windows and a heart made of rainbow handprints. Text reads, “justice community equality” and words on a blue roof read, “United Church of Christ, UCC.org/lgbt.” A small sign propped up against the float reads, “Amen. Advocate for Marriage Equality.”
essay / Kinship

Being LGBTQ+ in U.S. Protestant Churches

Benjamin Hollenbach
As homophobic and transphobic rhetoric sweeps the U.S., some churches are increasingly welcoming LGBTQ+ parishioners who participate in religious life and help reconcile Christianity with a spectrum of sexual and gender identities.
In a building’s large, carpeted atrium, several people in button-down shirts, khakis, and slacks lie on the floor. People on the perimeter hold up two signs, one that reads, “No Business as Usual While Canada Funds Genocide” and another that says, “Ceasefire Now!”
essay / Ask SAPIENS

Anthropologists on Palestine

Amid the war on Gaza and long before, anthropologists have been speaking out against Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Here’s a curated list of their perspectives as scholars and activists.
A Samoan man from behind in a kind of theater stares at a screen with Samoan children peeking past palm fronds.
podcast /

Can We Understand One Another?

The Mead-Freeman controversy draws to a close, with some answers to who was right and who was wrong. But, in the end, can anyone ever really understand cultures different from their own?
A photograph looks down a gray gravel road with two yellow lines down its center. The road cuts through a dark forest of tall, green, leafy trees with a single ray of sunshine getting through the forest’s canopy.
essay / Letters

Best of SAPIENS 2023

In another year of exceptional challenges and hardships, anthropologists tackled a range of issues and questions about what it means to be human. Here are some of SAPIENS’ best from this year.