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.

More Than a Mountain

In this podcast episode, listeners learn about Dzil Nchaa Si’an, a sacred mountain in Arizona that Apache tribal members depend on and deeply value. The mountain has also become a site of resistance.

#MeToo Anthropology and the Case Against Harvard

When anthropologist John Comaroff at Harvard University was put on unpaid leave for allegations of sexual misconduct, a network of colleagues rallied to support him—revealing how entrenched systems in academia often allow sexual violence and other power-based abuse to continue.

Egyptology Has a Problem: Patriarchy

An Egyptologist reflects on the angry responses she’s received to her recent book, The Good Kings, and what they reveal about male power and minority rule.

What Egyptian Pharaohs Can Tell Us About Modern Tyrants

A new book connects the dots between ancient Egyptian kings’ power plays, patriarchy, and the current rise of authoritarianism around the world.

The Hard Labor That Fuels the Hair Trade

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.

5 Questions About the History of Humanity

In this upcoming free live event, archaeologist and author David Wengrow will discuss his New York Times bestselling book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (co-authored with the late anthropologist David Graeber).

Repatriation Has Transformed, Not Ended, Research

A myth persists that when museums and other institutions return ancestral remains to Indigenous communities, it is in opposition to research—that needs to change.

The Voice of Diaspora

A poet-archaeologist of the African diaspora encourages seeing the multiple meanings of identities and being open to interpretation.

What Does It Mean to Decolonize Heritage?

A new study led by an anthropologist and a heritage sites protection specialist offers a path forward for decolonizing heritage management in Rwanda—and beyond.

They’ll Steal Your Eyes, They’ll Steal Your Teeth

In a fictionalized story based on long-term ethnographic research, an anthropologist of the African diaspora interrogates a history of colonialism, exploitation, racial inequality, power, and types of local talk in Madagascar.