Table of contents
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.

Middle Ground

A poet-bioarchaeologist of the African diaspora confronts echoes of the Middle Passage in contemporary anti-Black environments.

Are We So Different?

A poet-anthropologist of the African diaspora responds to anti-Black racism and the question of race.

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.

When Asked if the World Would End They Answer No

An Indigenous anthropologist-poet visits Woody Island in Alaska, formerly the site of the Kodiak Baptist Orphanage in the early 20th-century, where her great-grandfather lived before being sent to the Carlisle Indian School.

Matrilines

An Indigenous anthropologist-poet searches for ancestors while acknowledging the need to adapt.

Matryoshka Song

An Indigenous anthropologist-poet speaks to the Russian colonization of Alaska from 1784–1867 and how stereotypes and histories shape the lives of Indigenous women.

Kenyan Mothers Take on Police Violence

In Nairobi, members of the Mothers of Victims and Survivors Network, who have lost family members to police violence, are turning their grief into determined activism.

When “Voluntary” Return Is Not a Real Option for Asylum-Seekers

An anthropologist explains why successful integration into Austrian society—long argued to be a condition for acceptance—is not enough to guarantee asylum-seekers and migrants a safe home in the country.

What Will It Take to Stop Swimming in the Waters of Racism?

The Southern African concept of ubuntu offers a crucial lesson for the U.S.: By recognizing our interconnections and actively undoing systemic racism, we can all become more fully human.

Why the Camp Grant Massacre Matters Today

Vigilantes attacked a peaceful encampment of Apache people in Arizona 150 years ago. Now their descendants are fighting to protect their homeland from a proposed copper mine at Oak Flat.