All stories

Two people hug in a bathroom, with one seated on a closed toilet and the other kneeling on a tan-and-brown tiled floor. Two standing onlookers flank the image’s foreground.

How Eugenics Shaped the U.S. Prenatal Care System

Black women in the U.S. are far more likely to die from complications related to pregnancy and birth than White women. Two scholars explore how the discrediting of Black midwives helped create these racial disparities—and call for alternative models of prenatal care.
A person wearing a white dress whose skirt is made of ribbons, each with a name written on it, leans back with their eyes closed. They are on grass with a Black Lives Matter banner on the ground beside them and a circle of drummers and bystanders around them.

The Urgency of Envisioning a World Without Police

An anthropologist working in Baltimore argues that safety for Black communities requires an end to policing. That also means taking a hard look at how policing intersects with patriarchy and intimate partner violence.
A close-up image features the hands of a person wearing a black top with a colorful beaded necklace cradling a wooden pipe with a face carved into its top end.

Collaborating So a 200-Year-Old Pipe Can Continue Its Work

A museum curator and a First Nations leader explain how a treaty pipe, sold at auction, exemplifies a new path for repatriations in Canada.
Faces of various hominins span a large wall, each above a descriptive text block. From left to right, the faces get less hairy and lighter in skin tone.

How Power Pervades Portrayals of Human Evolution

An evolutionary scholar examines racist and sexist depictions of human evolution that continue to permeate science, education, and popular culture.
A photograph features a child with a cochlear implant sitting on a wooden chair at the end of a hallway. They are looking down at a handheld device they are using.

Who Pays the Price When Cochlear Implants Go Obsolete?

Some cochlear implant users can’t afford to keep up with compulsory technology upgrades. After becoming dependent on the devices, they’re losing their hearing and feel abandoned by manufacturers.
A photograph shows an adult and child watching a black truck pass in front of a memorial of flowers and stuffed animals. The truck has several Canadian flags flying from it and carries a black banner with white text that reads, “Just now found but were never forgotten.”

Advocating for Archaeology’s New Purpose

Archaeologists can help communities retake what colonialism and racism tried to erase through a new goal of “archaeological reclamation.”
A photograph features a metal statue of a man on an elevated platform in a grassy circle in the center of a park. Orange and yellow flowers surround the platform.

How the Early Battle Over Race Science Was Lost

Celebrated 19th-century biologist Ernst Haeckel pushed race science as his little-known protégé Nikolai Miklucho-Maclay defended Indigenous rights. A biological anthropologist reflects on the impacts of their ruptured relationship.
A photograph features a dirt path leading deeper into a dark, wooded area densely packed with green leafy trees.

The Path

A poet-anthropologist reflects on the musings of an older Noni woman from Cameroon who critiques anthropology’s past as a handmaiden of colonialism in responding to her daughter’s chosen profession. The young anthropologist offers her wise, heartfelt reply.
A close-up photograph features a sculpture depicting a person wearing a headwrap and dress leaning on a tombstone at a gravesite etched with the numbers “1941–1945.”

When Life Imitates Art in Ukraine

Photographs from Russia’s war on Ukraine dissolve an archaeologist’s fondness for a Soviet-era sculpture.
A battalion of soldiers gather around a cannon firing a missile that leaves a plume of smoke in its wake.

Is War Inevitable? Consider the Ancient Maya

Two archaeologists show how investigating tactics, weaponry, and the logistics of battle helps answer questions about social conflict in the human experience.
A photograph features a large crowd of people marching in a street. People in the front row hold up a large, long yellow banner with black text that reads “WOMEN OF COLOR FOR REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS.” Other people also carry signs with different slogans.

Broadening Demands for Reproductive Justice

An interview with anthropologist Dána-Ain Davis digs into abortion rights and reproductive justice after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Two ancient stone buildings and columns stand on the sand under a blue sky with clouds. A broken slab of stone with hieroglyphs lies on the ground.

Egyptology Has a Problem: Patriarchy

An Egyptologist reflects on the angry responses she’s received to her recent book, The Good Kings, and what they reveal about male power and minority rule.
A person bathed in green light stands under falling water in front of marble walls with bottles on a shelf behind them.

I Carry My Grief With Me, but I Also Carry My Joy

The domino effect of anguish and loss unmoors, but a Black poet-anthropologist carries their joy as ritual—in the palms of their hands, soft, delicate.
A young protester with curly dark hair and wearing a black shirt raises their fist in front of a group of people holding signs.

Riot

A poet-bioarchaeologist of the African diaspora spotlights the aims of protestors who rise up against anti-Black violence, injustice, and white supremacy.
A group of people hold up signs on the side of a road. Their shirts and signs say “count every vote.”

Archaeologists Should Be Activists Too

More and more archaeologists are working to uncover the voices of groups that were marginalized in the past.
Black and Indigenous Futures in Archaeology

Unsettling the Past: Radically Reimagining Archaeological Knowledge

This webinar explores how Black and Indigenous knowledge systems can reshape how archaeology is practiced.