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.
Sports have been tied to power as long as they’ve been played. For modern-day athletes, how does their power extend beyond the field?
Confronting the Specter of Cultural AppropriationFrom Halloween costumes to haute couture, ethnic foods to movies, the danger of appropriating another culture seems to be everywhere. How do we weigh the difference between celebrating and stealing someone else’s culture?
How Globalization Has Broken the Chain of ResponsibilityIn today’s accelerating and overheating world, the gap between the people affected by change in local environments and the people in charge is growing ever wider.
Why Political Ambiguity Appeals to the MassesA movement in 1990s India illuminates the allure of vagueness from our leaders.
In the Wake of Hurricane Maria, Memes Carry More Than a Little TruthAfter a catastrophe, a community’s spirit can be seen in the memes that go viral online.
The Shameful Persistence of White Supremacy in the United StatesThis loathsome worldview continues to have an outsize impact on U.S. culture. Can Black Lives Matter and other progressive movements do anything about it?
Is the United Nations Broken?Anthropologists turned the U.N. into a field site. Their studies highlight the U.N.’s fragility, but we shouldn’t give up on the organization just yet.
The Ku Klux Klan and the Value of ShameWe should not try to erase our nation’s history of racism. But we should feel ashamed of it.
Eating People Is Wrong—But It’s Also Widespread and SacredCan transcendence be attained by embracing the strongest taboo of all?
The Sound and Fury of the Huey HelicopterHistory has produced a lot of famous war machines, but only a few of them have become icons.
