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Several people stand on a grassy cliff with green shallow water off to their left and blue water and a mountain range in the distance.

Can Archaeology Help Restore the Oceans?

On the Channel Islands, archaeologists draw lessons in sustainability from historic Chumash fishing practices.
A photograph features several stone pillars, some tilting towards others, with etched angular and circular designs on their visible front side. Blue skies and mountains lie in the background.

Heritage Forensics Is Tackling Devastating New Forms of Cultural Erasure

In the Caucasus, researchers are using aerospace technology to expose the clandestine obliteration of Armenian cultural heritage. These new methods of archaeology will prove necessary in the global fight against authoritarianism.
A protestor holds a blue, green, and red patterned flag while wearing a face mask with the same pattern.

In Spain, Scapegoating Spikes During the Pandemic

An anthropologist and a Rroma activist investigate the rise in prejudice and abuse toward Rroma people during the COVID-19 crisis.
A colorful illustration shows two hands toasting with beers, people spitting water at each other, a person floating on a yellow tube in the water in front of boats lined up together, and two people laughing.

Unmasked: Illustrating COVID-19 in Okoboji

An anthropologist and comic artist collaborated to bring to life the cultural squabbles and social complexities of the first pandemic year in Okoboji, a tourist town in northwest Iowa.

What Kenya’s Killer Cops Reveal About Police Culture

Anthropologists studying police violence in Nairobi are uncovering systemic problems that shed light on brutal law enforcement tactics around the world.
A person wearing a pink shirt and a light-pink hijab stands in a dark space with their face illuminated while pointing to images of data on a large screen.

Does Green on COVID-19 Maps Mean What You Think?

COVID-19 “heat maps” are intended to help the public evaluate health risks during the pandemic. But the guidelines the CDC and other institutions use to create these maps can lead to confusion. Two linguistic anthropologists help make sense of what these maps really mean.
A black-and-white sketch of a man with short hair, glasses, and a mask rests in front of bouquets of yellow and white flowers and a white ribbon with Chinese characters on it.

How Dr. Li Wenliang Went From a Whistleblower to a National Hero

The Chinese doctor who tried to warn the world about the coronavirus but was silenced by authorities—and soon died of the virus—has become a protagonist in a nationalist tale about the Chinese Communist Party’s successful pandemic response.
A person wearing bright blue gloves stands on rocks next to a body of water holding dirty individual masks that have become waste.

Should You Feel Bad About Your Pandemic-Era Plastic Waste?

Anthropologists in Hong Kong explore how COVID-19 has intensified consumers’ reliance on single-use plastics—revealing the limits of individual action in the face of a global crisis.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, an elementary teacher kneels on a blue mat in a classroom with a group of young children in front of them. They are all wearing masks and holding up their hands.

The Nightmare of Pandemic-Era Teaching

Two researchers pull the curtain back to provide a look at the alarming reality of elementary teachers in the United States who are working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Excavation of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Contemplating Pompeii’s sudden demise in A.D. 79, an anthropologist asks what future generations will uncover when they sift through the pandemic’s remains.

A Letter From COVID-19

An anthropologist imagines COVID-19 as a wise representative of Earth who is sharing a vital message with humans.
Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform - In responding to the Ebola epidemic, local religious leaders, such as those shown here from Forécariah prefecture (Guinea) near Sierra Leone, allied with international public health workers to help disseminate information about prevention.

Can Social Scientists Help Control Epidemics?

New collaborative efforts, such as the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform, are allowing anthropologists and other scholars to help align public health efforts with the on-the-ground knowledge and lived experience of people facing epidemics.
A pastor reaches out to his global congregants online to emphasize the importance of pandemic lockdowns.

Can the Holy Spirit Be Livestreamed?

What worshipping online during the COVID-19 pandemic has meant to African Australians.
pandemic mobility mucus

Mucus Passports: Mobility in the Time of COVID-19

In an experimental essay, an anthropologist sends pandemic dispatches about her journey from Delhi to Jakarta via Dubai, recording the absurdities and vulnerabilities of travel during these times.
Orang Rimba covid-19 - An Orang Rimba man named Nyeruduk stands in front of a tent on a rubber plantation in Sumatra.

Social Distancing in a Sumatra Rainforest

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Orang Rimba, hunter-gatherers in Sumatra’s rainforests, are trying to preserve traditions—including isolating the sick and keeping away from outsiders—despite being displaced from much of their ancestral lands.
COVID-19 vaccine protestors - Protestors gather outside Dodger Stadium, a mass vaccination site in Los Angeles, in January.

What Does the American Dream Have to do With the COVID-19 Vaccine?

An anthropologist explains how conspiracy theories and recent protests in the U.S. over COVID-19 vaccines can’t be untangled from American dreams of freedom and prosperity.