When Deafness Is Not Considered a Deficit

In the Peruvian Amazon, the Maijuna peoples created their own sign language—which hints at the importance of community in the evolution of language.

What Parsnips Taught Me About Nature

One anthropologist’s research on Community Supported Agriculture—which saw him wrestling with parsnips and talking to leeks—spurs thoughts on closing the gap between Western urban life and the natural world.

The FBI’s Repatriation of Stolen Heritage

When the bureau’s Art Theft Program teamed up with a cultural anthropologist to investigate one man’s private collection, they began a yearslong project to return cultural objects and human remains to their rightful homes.

Is Celebrity Attention Helping or Hurting Amazonian Peoples?

As stars around the world petition Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to protect Indigenous peoples from the COVID-19 pandemic, anthropologists debate whether the call for action reproduces longstanding racist claims.

Rethinking Easter Island’s Historic “Collapse”

Controversial new archaeological research casts doubt on a classic theory of this famous island’s societal collapse.

Why Capitalize “Indigenous”?

The Associated Press Stylebook and The Chicago Manual of Style do not capitalize the term Indigenous when it is used to refer to people. But SAPIENS does. The editorial team explains why.

Yoik

Like smoky spirals, two cultures weave together in a SAPIENS contest-winning poem by an anthropologist who worked with Sámi reindeer herders in the Arctic Circle.

When Marine Mammals Clash With Archaeological Heritage

On California’s San Miguel Island, seals and sea lions are taking a heavy toll on the area’s cultural treasures.

Native American Children’s Historic Forced Assimilation

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the United States government used family separation and schools to try to erase Native American children’s traditional cultures and languages. A newly published archive of photographs visually documents some Indigenous peoples’ struggle for survival.

The Double Life of Coca

In South America, countries struggle to protect traditional uses of coca while decreasing its currency in the addiction- and crime-addled cocaine trade.