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.
Skeletal evidence shows Britain’s ancient Anglo-Saxon society as more genetically diverse than once thought. Language and culture served as a social glue, archaeologists argue, not ancestry.
When the Guinea Pig Goes GourmetIn recent years, the guinea pig has gone from a humble and ceremonial food eaten in the Andes to a delicacy among urbanites. What’s behind this change in tastes?
The Macabre and Magical Human-Canine StoryZooarchaeologists and geneticists are exploring how wolves and domestic dogs have been humanity’s predator, prey, and partner.
A Letter From COVID-19An anthropologist imagines COVID-19 as a wise representative of Earth who is sharing a vital message with humans.
What Dog Breeds Say About RaceIn the Philippines, the practice of placing dogs into hierarchies based on breeds can be traced back to a problematic colonial legacy of ranking people based on race.
Unlikely BlessingsWhen the unthinkable happens, how do we even speak? A poet-anthropologist finds a way through a poem written during his infant son’s chemotherapy treatments, caught in the haunting terrain between hope and despair.
How Cellphones Make and Break Human ConnectionsAn ethnographic study of U.S. high schoolers highlights their ambivalence toward communication technologies.
Arrival WatersA poet-anthropologist’s initial arrival in Guatemala decades ago yielded a new beginning—and a limitless illumination.
Mucus Passports: Mobility in the Time of COVID-19In an experimental essay, an anthropologist sends pandemic dispatches about her journey from Delhi to Jakarta via Dubai, recording the absurdities and vulnerabilities of travel during these times.
What Problems Does Organic Cotton Solve?Organic cotton agriculture in India fails, resoundingly, to produce as much cotton as conventional methods. But what if that’s not the point?
