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.

What Does the American Dream Have to do With the COVID-19 Vaccine?

An anthropologist explains how conspiracy theories and recent protests in the U.S. over COVID-19 vaccines can’t be untangled from American dreams of freedom and prosperity.

Anarchism in Practice Is Often Radically Boring Democracy

Anarchists have been an easy scapegoat for violent events in recent months. But anarchism, as a political philosophy, is fundamentally about collective deliberation and responsibility.

How Imperialism Gave Us 2020

News headlines suggest that the problems of 2020 were unprecedented, but the collision of a pandemic and racial violence is nothing new under imperialism.

What Rez Dogs Mean to the Lakota

Dogs on Native American reservations can be dangerous, but they have a long history and traditional role in many Indigenous communities. Remembering that is key to avoiding future violence.

The Cookout (and All Other Manners of Heavenly Black Things)

An anthropologist’s poem crafts a dream of freedom, peace, and joyous celebration for Black folks who have died as a result of anti-Black and anti-queer violence.

What White Power Supporters Hear Trump Saying

The term “political correctness” can be readily deployed as a racist dog whistle—one that President Donald Trump has been blowing with increasing vigor since his election in 2016.

The Public Problem With Counterterrorism

Ethnographic research with people who have survived terrorist attacks and with those who protect the public reveals how little these two groups understand each other.

Combating Anti-Black Racism in Brazil and Beyond

An interview with anthropologist Christen A. Smith provides insights into resisting police violence and creating safe societies for people of African descent.

How Rats Are Overturning Decades of Military Norms

An anthropologist explores how the use of rats to clear ordnance in Cambodia is changing the culture of mine clearance.

Siege

A Black anthropologist’s poem speaks to anti-Blackness, white supremacy, police brutality and murder, and trans/queer hate and violence.