Featured Archived
Seasons Episodes
Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
Table of contents
Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8
Announcement

After ten years of exploring humanity in all its diversity, SAPIENS has concluded its publishing chapter.

While the magazine has closed, its living archive endures—open to all and preserving the many ideas, voices, and discoveries that deepen our understanding of what it means to be human.

Offshoring Responsibility for Asylum-Seekers

Australia’s offshore detention and asylum processing centers on Manus and Nauru islands have elicited global criticism—and praise. Will they become the new model for other nations?

What Migrants Leave Behind

Piles of backpacks, empty water jugs, and even high heels left scattered on migrant trails leave visible markers of the desperation and endurance of those who traveled there.

What Makes a Refugee Vulnerable?

The way officials measure a person’s vulnerability could undercut the long-term success of refugees.

How Austerity Unravels Social Ties

The experiences of tight-knit neighborhoods in Mozambique suggest that strict belt-tightening often frays a nation’s social fabric.

How ICE’s Bogus Science Is Violating Human Rights

A forensic anthropologist explains why the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s use of X-rays to determine the age of asylum-seekers is wrong, legally and scientifically.

When Gaming the System Is the Only Way to Parenthood

Prospective parents often panic about the suitability of their homes, staging their lives and houses for inspection to comply with a host of unwritten rules. Very little of this helps get children into loving families.

Glacial Melting Isn’t Someone Else’s Problem

Many of us will never see a glacier, but we should all take responsibility for trying to halt their disappearance.

Natural Disasters Are Social Disasters

As climate change makes some hurricanes more intense, social inequalities are cast in sharp relief.

Can We “See” Climate Change?

Climate change skeptics point to ice and snow to seed doubt about global warming—but visible evidence of the changing climate is all around us.

Life and Death After the Steel Mills

In her study of a community devastated by industry’s flight, anthropologist Christine Walley raises questions about how to create and support meaningful work in a postindustrial world.