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Two people in suits stand talking in front of a large white facade that says “Panama Canal."

Uncovering an Archaeology of U.S. Empire in Panama

An anthropologist investigates how archaeology helped the U.S. colonize the Panama Canal Zone—just as the current U.S. government threatens to retake it.
Dos personas vestidas con traje están hablando delante de una gran fachada blanca en la que se lee “Panama Canal".

Descubriendo una arqueología del imperio estadounidense en Panamá

Una antropóloga investiga cómo la arqueología ayudó a Estados Unidos a colonizar la Zona del Canal de Panamá —justo cuando el actual gobierno estadounidense amenaza con retomarla—.
Standing at a lookout spot adjacent to a stone wall, a small group holding a blue umbrella looks across a large body of water at the opposite shore.

Why Do Swallows Fly to the Korean DMZ?

An anthropologist discovers diasporic flights—including her own—that begin at and return to the waters of the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea.
Wispy white clouds float in a blue sky above a range of sharp-peaked, snow-capped mountains.

Forest as Kin and Pantry in the Himalayas

In the Sikkim and Kalimpong Himalayas in Northeast India, supply chains are often interrupted by changing monsoon systems that damage highways. Responding to uncertainty, communities are reclaiming ancestral foodways—drawing inspiration from the past to move into the future.
At the base of a tree with a thick trunk, a shirtless man holds a bunch of smoldering vegetation that gives off a large cloud of smoke.

How Societies Morph With the Seasons

An evolutionary anthropologist details seasonal changes among foraging communities—and distills how the fixed political structures of industrialized societies are an outlier in human history.
A black-and-white photograph shows people in dark suits and ties performing on a fashion runway. In the center, a person wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a plaid women’s suit holds a small dog. Above the performers, a sign reads “love ball.” Photographers aim their cameras at the performers.

Shading U.S. Empire in Puerto Rico’s Ballroom Scene

A linguistic anthropologist explores the queer Ballroom scene in San Juan—and how performers are incorporating critiques of colonialism into the art form.
A view of two mounds of dirt with a deep groove in the center extends from the foreground into the distance. Bright green fields lie on either side and a dark-gray mountain range hovers in the background under a bright blue sky.

How Cultural Knowledge Sustained Desert Farms in the Ancient Andes

An archaeologist who studies past farming practices in the north coast of Peru argues these offer models for navigating current climate crises.
The sun peaks out from behind a wooded mountain, its rays casting a slanting contrast of light and shadow on the snowy valley below. In the foreground stands a lone silhouetted tree with bare branches.

Earworm

A poet-anthropologist listens to an accidental field recording from Kashmir: What might be dismissed as noise becomes a way to unsettle the settled—making audible dispossession and theft, stealth and refusal.
Two cellular phones sit on a small wooden shelf beside family photos and other mementos.

Caring Across Distance—One Call at a Time

An anthropologist explores how a phone call home may seem simple but carries layers of meaning for migrating nurses and their families in India.
Beneath a cloudy gray sky, three people work with measuring tools and archaeological sifting screens near an excavation pit in sandy ground. Behind them, rows of yellowish-brown corn and trees grow.

Excavating the Traces of Ice Age Foragers

A filmmaker showcases archaeologists unearthing tiny lithics that evidence the presence of hunters from 13,000 years ago in what is today Michigan.
Beneath a blue sky with big white fluffy clouds, a corner of a fence in a green field is painted to look like the American flag, with red and white stripes and white stars on a blue background.

Reclaiming Collective Life in a Fractured U.S.

After Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential election win, an anthropologist set out across the U.S. to understand the nation’s deepening divides. In the new book Something Between Us, he grapples with these rifts and how to repair them.
A person wearing a bright-pink jacket, brown slacks, tennis shoes, and a tan, brown, and black hat crouches on a patch of brown dirt with a small instrument in one hand and a bag in the other, collecting a sample from an archaeological site.

Ancient Tools in East Asia Reveal Middle Paleolithic Innovation

An archaeologist explains his team’s insights into how Quina scrapers in southwest China overturn long-standing assumptions about the region’s humans more than 50,000 years ago.
A beige cylindrical object with lines and marks carved on its surface rests on a soft green surface.

When Wartime Plunder Comes to Campus

An archaeologist considers whether students should learn from antiquities looted from Iraq.
A statue of a woman clasping her hands in a prayer-like gesture, her head surrounded by a halo of illuminated stars, stands in front of a large stained-glass window featuring blue and purple shapes with accents of red and green.

Why Are People Worshipping the Virgin Mary as a Goddess?

Amid a goddess worship revival, some feminists are revering the mother of Jesus as a deity, defying Christian doctrines and confronting the use of Mary as a handmaiden of patriarchy.
In a room with a chalkboard and bright-red walls, a woman stands next to a person wearing a white-colored device that covers the eyes and is strapped onto the head. A third person in a pastel green shirt looks on.

How Virtual Reality Is Restoring Liberia’s Culture

Traveling Treasures is a new project led by a team of anthropologists that puts Liberians directly in touch with their dispersed cultural heritage through immersive technologies designed to bridge continents and histories.
A man silhouetted against purple, red, orange, and yellow glass blocks bows with his hands clasped before a candle.

In Japan, Rethinking What It Means to Care for the Dead

Facing an increasing aging population and other societal shifts, people are looking beyond traditional family-based mortuary practices.