Teaching
Linguistic Anthropology
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Unit 1
Language and Identity
Language shapes the way we think about, understand, and communicate who we are individually and as members of the many intersecting groups that define us. This unit will allow students to consider how identity is demarcated and sustained by language and ways of speaking both among members of the same group and between different populations.
Sapiens articles
Combatting Stereotypes About Appalachian Dialects
Far from being “the rude language of the mountains,” the diversity of Appalachian dialects reveals a complex history of cultural change.
Can an iPhone App Help Save an Endangered Language?
As the world’s Indigenous languages fade away at an alarming rate, some people are turning to technology to preserve their ancestors’ native tongues—and the cultural knowledge held in them.
Keywords
View All in Communication
![Two people crouch down to create colorful chalk art on a street. Intricate designs and language characters surround a central circular moti]()
![Two pairs of scissors, two rocks, and two slips of paper rest on a pale-yellow surface.]()
![An officer dressed in black, wearing a baseball-style hat and balaclava, with a machine gun slung across his chest, stands before a gray concrete building.]()
![A person stands inside a moving flame of yellow light while sparks fly out in all directions. A second person stands on the left side holding an umbrella against the sparks.]()
![In a pitch-black environment, a person with black smudges on their face wears a fur pelt and holds a lit torch.]()
![On a wood-paneled floor, four barefoot people wearing different outfits in shades of red, yellow, and blue dance in front of a gray wall. Captured in motion, and therefore blurry, each has several of their dance moves overlapping and visible at once.]()
Tackling the Impossibility—and Necessity—of Counting the World’s Languages
A language scientist delves into historic and current efforts to catalog the planet’s 7,000-plus languages, uncovering colorful tales and Herculean challenges.
Playing Rock, Paper, Scissors Across the Red-Blue Divide
As toxic polarization deepens in the U.S., some global conflict prevention experts are now addressing political violence at home. An anthropologist shares three key insights from a community action program in Wisconsin.
When a Message App Became Evidence of Terrorism
Beginning in 2016, the Turkish government accused anyone with the messaging application ByLock of terrorism. An anthropologist investigates the risks of this kind of digital evidence.
A Call for Anthropological Poems of Resistance, Refusal, and Wayfinding
SAPIENS is seeking poetry submissions for a curated collection that will publish next year. Deadline: September 1, 2024.
How Accurate Is the Stone Age Thriller Out of Darkness?
An archaeologist with expertise in human origins assesses the accuracy of a 2022 film about Homo sapiens who encounter Neanderthals.
Making Anthropological Poetry Reel
In featuring three SAPIENS poems, students in a digital anthropology seminar infused video reels for Instagram with vivid history and powerful emotions.
View All in History
![A person dressed in a red Santa Claus suit with white trim kneels on a military runway while speaking into a handheld radio. In the background are two rows of large military airplanes.]()
![A person wearing a dark blue shirt and a red umbrella hat walks through a lush field of tall green grasses.]()
![A line of cattle travel across a dry desert landscape, kicking up dust.]()
![A U-shaped cove encircled by rugged peaks covered in green forest opens to an ocean in varying shades of blues that extends to the horizon where colossal white clouds sit.]()
![An old bucket coated in multicolored limestone sits in front of a limestone-covered wall out of which protrudes a faucet dripping water that falls into the bucket.]()
![A large moose stands in the shallow waters of a lake at sunset, with the water reflecting vibrant golden and orange hues.]()
Unwrapping Operation Christmas Drop
An anthropologist takes a critical eye to a long-running holiday tradition: a U.S. military mission that drops toys and supplies throughout Micronesia.
It’s Time to Replace “Prehistory” With “Deep History”
A team of archaeologists working in Southeast Asia is pushing toward a deeper understanding of history that amplifies Indigenous and local perspectives to challenge traditional archaeological timelines.
An Imagined Monograph for Nongqawuse
A 19th-century prophetess reportedly bore a serious message from the ancestors to her Xhosa people amid British colonial assault. The written archives judged her—but much still remains unknown and unacknowledged.
How and When Did Humans First Move Into the Pacific?
New archaeological research reveals insights into the first-known seafarers to brave ocean crossings from Asia to the Pacific Islands more than 50,000 years ago.
Her Dirge
A poet-historian reflects on women’s labor carrying memories and the past.
Do Moose “Belong” in Colorado?
As moose populations multiply in the Southern Rocky Mountains, decision-makers are questioning whether the animals are endemic or invaders. Archaeology can offer answers—and potential solutions.
View All in Identity
![A photo shows the back of a person in a dark suitcoat standing at a podium and speaking to a large, captive, seated audience. Most onlookers wear red MAGA hats and Trump T-shirts.]()
![A man with long, dark hair tied in a braid holds up a small child to a mirror, which reflects the child’s pensive face.]()
![Amid a rocky landscape, a grove of gnarled olive trees stands under a nearly cloudless blue sky.]()
![A person wearing a long-sleeved black maxi dress and a red headscarf holding a green umbrella walks on a public street with a silver truck and several people in black hats, helmets, and khaki uniforms in the background.]()
![On the left, smoke billows out from the top of several large smokestacks on a long sandy shore that a few people are walking along. On the right, over dark blue water, an orange sunset illuminates a pier in the distance.]()
![A large, brown sculpture depicts a cluster of people looking outward, one cradling a child in their arms. A village and blue sky are visible in a distant horizon.]()
Five Reasons Why Trump Won Again
In an effort to address toxic polarization in the U.S., an anthropologist of the “Trumpiverse” explains MAGA supporters’ thinking in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Finding Our Way Forward—by Remembering
In a personal essay, a mixed-race and Native anthropologist draws strength from his ancestors.
Griko’s Poetic Whisper
In two poems, an anthropologist speaks to the timelessness and constant change of the minority language Griko in the Italian landscape.
08.03.2019
A poet-anthropologist from India recalls a checkpoint encounter in Sri Lanka, just months after the Easter Sunday bombings.
Between the Lines
A poet-anthropologist in Israel looks to his students and their surroundings, calling for “seekers of peace” to create lifelines across social and geopolitical divides.
Poems of Witness and Possibility: Inside Zones of Conflict
Anthropological poems from around the globe speak to people’s creative will, resistance, and resilience—and the significance of our shared humanity.
View All in Language
![Two people crouch down to create colorful chalk art on a street. Intricate designs and language characters surround a central circular moti]()
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![Amid a rocky landscape, a grove of gnarled olive trees stands under a nearly cloudless blue sky.]()
![Dark gray clouds hang in a pale blue sky. With orange light shining from behind them, these clouds seem to touch dark rolling hills scattered with trees and buildings.]()
![A close-up image features a circular street sign with random black symbols such as an exclamation mark and hashtag and a red circle and strikethrough over them.]()
![A picture features a sky with a large, slightly orange, billowing cloud at its center that morphs on its left side to look like the side profile of dark-skinned woman’s face. To the left of her is a bright-blue sky with clouds.]()
Tackling the Impossibility—and Necessity—of Counting the World’s Languages
A language scientist delves into historic and current efforts to catalog the planet’s 7,000-plus languages, uncovering colorful tales and Herculean challenges.
Do You Want to Write for SAPIENS?
A free online webinar by SAPIENS Editor-in-Chief Chip Colwell to learn about how to write for the magazine and its peer publications.
Griko’s Poetic Whisper
In two poems, an anthropologist speaks to the timelessness and constant change of the minority language Griko in the Italian landscape.
Speaking in Tongues
A scholar from Nagaland in India offers visceral, familial insights on language and culture loss in her Indigenous tribal community.
Why I Ask My Students to Swear in Class
An anthropologist uses explicit insults to get students thinking about gender and power in everyday language. Plus, a brief explainer on the slang term “sus.”
Indigenizing What It Means to be Human
SAPIENS offers a curated collection of poems and stories that center Indigenous values, worldviews, and insights, creatively reimagining anthropology and the human experience.
View All in Preservation
![A person in a dark-blue velvet coat stands face to face with a replica of an ancient dark-colored statue of a man and places their hands on its chest.]()
![Amid a rocky landscape, a grove of gnarled olive trees stands under a nearly cloudless blue sky.]()
![A colorful tapestry depicting a traditional scene of Jesus’ birth, with people in robes and headscarves, rests awkwardly on strewn rubble and debris.]()
![In a science lab, a masked person wearing a white hazmat suit, face shield, and bouffant cap holds small objects under the glass hood of a silver metal workstation.]()
![Four people, one wearing a red baseball cap and another a blue shirt, ride a boat on a khaki-colored river surrounded by dense forest.]()
![Shrouded in darkness, a round stone structure on the photo’s right side is illuminated by a light installed on the left side.]()
Can Embracing Copies Help With Museum Restitution Cases?
Many museums are wrestling with returning looted or unethically obtained ancient objects. An archaeologist considers how a shift in public attitudes toward plaster and 3D copies could make a difference.
Griko’s Poetic Whisper
In two poems, an anthropologist speaks to the timelessness and constant change of the minority language Griko in the Italian landscape.
The International Order Is Failing to Protect Palestinian Cultural Heritage
As Israeli forces destroy sites and monuments in Gaza, an archaeologist explains how international organizations charged with protecting cultural heritage should intervene—but have not.
The Hidden Ancestry Extracted From an Ancient Pendant
An anthropologist explains how new forensics tools offer unprecedented answers to questions about who likely held or wore Stone Age objects.
Writing Indigenous Oral Tradition to Fight a Dam
In the northern Philippines, the Isnag are documenting their Traditional Stories to sustain their culture and fight a legal battle against dams that would inundate their homelands.
Piecing Together the Puzzle of Oman’s Ancient Towers
In recent years, the Omani government has invested in archaeology and heritage tourism to boost its economy—renewing interest in mysterious 4,000-year-old towers that dot the Southeastern Arabian landscape.
Professor Talking Points
- Linguistic anthropology studies the role of language in creating, sustaining, and changing cultures and societies.
- Linguistic anthropological work allows for a deeper understanding of how language provides a framework for making sense of who we are in relation to others and how collective identities are formed and defined in part by the languages people speak and the way they speak them.
Academic Articles
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Bailey, Benjamin. 2008. “The Language of Multiple Identities Among Dominican Americans.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 10 (2): 190–223.
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Benor, Sarah Bunin. 2011. “Mensch, Bentsh, and Balagan: Variation in the American Jewish Linguistic Repertoire.” Language and Communication 31 (2): 141–154.
Student Discussion Questions
- What do the four articles tell us about why language is an important keystone of identity? How do the four examples differ from one another?
- What kinds of power dynamics are in play where language and identity are concerned?
- How do people who belong to the same overarching group show that they are different from others through their use of language?
- What role does technology play in keeping languages alive today? What are some potential pros and cons of using apps to keep languages alive?
Activities
- Ask the students to write a one-page essay on how their everyday language both reflects and shapes their identities.
Additional Resources
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Article: The Conversation’s “How the Loss of Native American Languages Affects Our Understanding of the Natural World”
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TED Talk: Sheikha Al Mayassa’s “Globalizing the Local, Localizing the Global”
Unit By
Eshe Lewis (2020)
Teaching
Linguistic Anthropology
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Unit 2
Language and Diversity
