An anthropologist in the U.S., struggling with how the fashion industry shapes her daughter’s self-image, turns to insights about bodies and self-worth from her fieldwork with Indigenous Kichwa women in Ecuador.
Anthropologists are studying the global supply of human hair—a billion dollar industry for wigs, weaves, toupees, and more—that relies on hair pickers who gather discarded strands from streets and drains to make ends meet.
A desire for lighter skin tones is deeply entrenched in many parts of the world, but it comes with equally deep risks to health and society.
Adornments such as tattoos, piercings, and lip plates help to define our social identities. But what those modifications mean is in constant flux.
New studies write the history of a famous Siberian cave and unearth the oldest jewelry in the region.
Humans have crafted garments for more than 40,000 years—and prehistoric tools suggest that warmth wasn’t their only concern.
