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Anthropology Magazine

Expanding worlds by exploring everything human.

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A whale’s tail appears above the water, creating white foam as it splashes on the ocean’s surface. A small bird flies in the background.

Protecting Ancestral Waters Through Collaborative Stewardship

The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, along California’s Central Coast, would be the first of its kind in the U.S. to be nominated by Native peoples.
An ancient circular stone structure lies exposed under the ground surface. In the distance, light-red and tan mesas and flat desert expanses lie under a piercing blue sky with scattered fluffy white clouds.

Digging Into an Ancient Apocalypse Controversy From a Hopi Perspective

When producers for a popular Netflix series sought a permit to film on public lands in the U.S. Southwest, many Native leaders objected. A Hopi tribal official, Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa, shares his views.
A close-up image features two stained-orange hands holding a cluster of objects that look like small, orange strands.

The Land of Dreams

In a dystopian short story, an anthropologist imagines an alternate world in which Kashmiris are forbidden to dream.
A man with long, dark hair tied in a braid holds up a small child to a mirror, which reflects the child’s pensive face.

Finding Our Way Forward—by Remembering

In a personal essay, a mixed-race and Native anthropologist draws strength from his ancestors.
A white cartoon speech bubble on a red background is wrapped in barbed wire.

Speaking Truth to Israel Requires More Than Academic Freedom

Educators and students critical of Israel’s war on Gaza face censorship, harassment, and dismissal. An anthropologist who researches coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians argues such critics need more than free speech protections.
A person wearing a gray T-shirt and tan baseball cap pushes buttons on a camera that is attached to a tree in the forest.

Payangko, or Echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi)

After a 60-year haitus, an Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna was seen in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains. A poet-anthropologist reflects on the echidna’s message through the storied lens of the people of Yongsu Sapari.
A person wearing a rust-colored hooded coat and a black face mask stands in front of a large facility while holding a red sign that reads: “It’s Been a Long Time Coming but I Know a Change Is Coming!”

Inside Amazon’s Union-Busting Tactics

An anthropologist reports on the impediments to labor organizing—and why it’s still worth trying.
A close-up view features an art exhibit composed of multiple photographs arranged side by side. The photos show people riding a horse, receiving medical care, and speaking at a women’s event.

Fighting for Reproductive Rights in Retirement

An anthropologist conducts research in an Arizona retirement community, where older women share hard-won insights about how limitations on sexual and reproductive freedom impacted their lives.
A large group of people walks down a tree-lined street, with some holding colorful flags.

Can Ancient DNA Support Indigenous Histories?

A biological anthropologist reflects on how scientific research can be used to reaffirm or undermine Indigenous land ties in Argentina.
A person in a dark-blue velvet coat stands face to face with a replica of an ancient dark-colored statue of a man and places their hands on its chest.

Can Embracing Copies Help With Museum Restitution Cases?

Many museums are wrestling with returning looted or unethically obtained ancient objects. An archaeologist considers how a shift in public attitudes toward plaster and 3D copies could make a difference.
A large metal sign with the letters S.O.S. carved through it stands in a shallow lake in front of a blue sky with pink clouds.

Can Art Save the “Post-Apocalyptic” Salton Sea?

In this Mad Max–like California landscape, artists and activists are inventing renewable alternatives to the capitalist system that’s developing but also destroying the region.
A historic black-and-white photograph shows a small group of workers on the floor of a pin manufacturing plant tending to rows of machines.

How Allocating Work Aided Our Evolutionary Success

Societies divide labor by gender and age. A biological anthropologist considers when and why this behavior arose.
A tawny, black-spotted lynx wearing a radio collar sprints across a rocky, beige landscape studded with tufts of green grass.

Bringing Back the World’s Most Endangered Cat

A social scientist goes behind the scenes at a breeding center in Portugal to explore the challenges and ethical dilemmas of reintroducing the Iberian lynx.
A woman’s legs and a man’s leg are shown against the backdrop of a stage where red, white, and blue colors are prominent. The man wears a black cowboy boot and black pants. The woman wears a cream-colored skirt and dark-blue high heels.

The Shortcomings of Height in Politics

Why is height a focal point for some politicians? An anthropologist explores the significance of height—explaining how cultural perceptions influence and distort political dynamics in the U.S.
Amid a rocky landscape, a grove of gnarled olive trees stands under a nearly cloudless blue sky.

Griko’s Poetic Whisper

In two poems, an anthropologist speaks to the timelessness and constant change of the minority language Griko in the Italian landscape.
An officer dressed in black, wearing a baseball-style hat and balaclava, with a machine gun slung across his chest, stands before a gray concrete building.

When a Message App Became Evidence of Terrorism

Beginning in 2016, the Turkish government accused anyone with the messaging application ByLock of terrorism. An anthropologist investigates the risks of this kind of digital evidence.
Amid a political rally where red, black, and green colors are prominent, a smiling woman wearing glasses, a khaki shirt, and a black headscarf holds aloft a sketch of a person’s face that says, “Khan Is Hope.”

The Rise of Aunties in Pakistani Politics

Middle-class, conservative women in Pakistan have found a political voice as supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party—putting them at odds with the secular women’s movement their own daughters support.
A dark shelf leaning against a wall covered in gold-tinted wallpaper displays the personal items of a missing loved one, including a portrait of the person dressed in a black suit and tie, a photograph, a red plastic hard hat, and books.

For Families of Missing Loved Ones, Forensic Investigations Don’t Always Bring Closure

An anthropologist working in Azerbaijan looks beyond forensic science to understand the value of culturally specific ways people navigate uncertainty in protracted conflict zones.
A young person holding a red sack stands atop an enormous heap of trash, backdropped by white smoke from burning garbage and mountains in the distance.

Albania’s Waste Collectors and the Fight for Dignity

An anthropologist shines a light on Romani and Egyptian recyclers whose work has been made illegal, calling for a new way of viewing humanity’s garbage.
A stylized painting of a person’s head—with wide eyes, red lips, and a headscarf—is covered in various numbers and symbols, and set against a black background.

Grappling With Guilt Inside a System of Structural Violence

Criminals and Gangmembers Anonymous, a 12-step recovery program, has proliferated in California’s carceral system. An anthropologist investigates the program, which sees criminality as a chronic addiction that can be treated through intervention.
Amid a crowd, a woman with dark auburn hair and a black jacket embraces a child who faces away from the camera and wears a jacket with blue cartoon monkeys on it.

Inside Russia’s Campaign to Steal and Indoctrinate Ukrainian Children

An anthropologist investigates an insidious side of Russia’s genocide against Ukrainians meant to shatter families: snatching children and occupying their minds.
Clear water streams down moss-covered rocks amid thick, luxurious vegetation with broad tropical leaves and bright red and yellow flowers.

Coastal Eden

A poet interrogates the garden of Eden origin story by reimagining it against the backdrop of East Africa’s coastal environment.
A serene lake is surrounded by a dense forest of evergreen trees. The calm, blue water reflects the clear sky above.

On the Tracks to Translating Indigenous Knowledge

A team of researchers will journey by railway to Lac Seul First Nation in Canada to better understand alternative ways of seeing the world.
A person stands inside a moving flame of yellow light while sparks fly out in all directions. A second person stands on the left side holding an umbrella against the sparks.

A Call for Anthropological Poems of Resistance, Refusal, and Wayfinding

SAPIENS is seeking poetry submissions for a curated collection that will publish next year. Deadline: September 1, 2024.
A narrow, paved trail cuts through a grassy field and ends at a small white building in the distance that has a cross on its roof.

Buried in the Shadows, Ireland’s Unconsecrated Dead

A visual anthropologist reflects on the history of cillíní, unmarked and mostly hidden burial sites in Ireland where loved ones continue to care for the dead.
A blurred, black-and-white image features a person from the shoulders up looking to their left against a pitch-black background.

Nameless Woman

Archives often render marginalized people’s histories invisible. In response to such erasure, a poet writes a letter to explore the experience of historically enslaved African and Creole women in Tanzania and Mauritius—and the ways in which they may have navigated their lives.
A weathered hand grabs a tree branch laden with fresh green olives.

A Palestinian Family’s History—Told Through Olive Trees

A new book chronicles a Palestinian family’s life and connections to their land over decades under Israeli occupation in the West Bank.
People wearing brown and tan coats shop in front of a woman in a pink outfit beneath a neon blue sign that reads SHEIN (pronounced “she-in”).

Can “Made in China” Become a Beacon of Sustainability?

In the epicenter of fast fashion, a small cohort of Chinese eco-friendly designers is amplifying the call for a less wasteful and environmentally destructive clothing culture.
A colorful tapestry depicting a traditional scene of Jesus’ birth, with people in robes and headscarves, rests awkwardly on strewn rubble and debris.

The International Order Is Failing to Protect Palestinian Cultural Heritage

As Israeli forces destroy sites and monuments in Gaza, an archaeologist explains how international organizations charged with protecting cultural heritage should intervene—but have not.
A silhouetted woman sits in a chair in the center of a dark room looking directly at the camera. Close-up images of another woman are projected onto screens on the three walls surrounding her.

Spotlighting Black Women’s Mental Health Struggles

An anthropologist discusses her film that honors and grieves the loss of Kime, a friend who passed away after experiencing physical and state violence.
An overhead view shows a street intersection filled with a mix of pedestrians, bicycles, rickshaws, motorcycles, and cars facing in various directions.

Being a “Good Man” in a Time of Climate Catastrophe

An anthropologist follows a group of men who work in India’s rickshaw industry, revealing how their practices of masculinity and mutual aid shape their responses to intensifying flood disasters and political divides.
An open window separates a pitch-dark room on one side from an illuminated teal exterior and light blue curtains blowing in the breeze on the other.

The Visit

SAPIENS’ 2024 poet-in-residence imagines a wordless conversation with a troubled figure from the past and considers legacies of marginalization during the figure’s life and in archives.