Cultural Anthropology
Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, many Iraqi academics were assassinated. Countless others received bullets in envelopes and instructions to leave their institutions (and in many cases the country) or get killed. Many heeded the warning and fled into exile. Having played such a pivotal role in shaping post-independence Iraqi society, the exile and internal displacement of its academics has had a profound impact. Tracing the academic, political, and social lives of more than 60 academics, Bullets in… read more about Bullets in Envelopes Iraqi Academics in Exile »
Micah Gilmer received his B.A. in African American Studies and Religious Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill and his Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke. After graduating with his doctorate in 2009, he served as Adjunct Assistant Professor of the Practice in Public Policy at UNC. He is currently a Senior Partner at Frontline Solutions, which he co-founded, as well as interim CEO of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation. Read more. read more about Cultural Anthropology Alumni Profile: Micah Gilmer »
This month we feature a collection of Duke-authored books that explore historical and current aspects of music in the United States and beyond. These books, along with many others written by Duke authors, are available at Duke University Libraries, the Gothic Bookshop or the Regulator Bookshop. The Song is You by Bradley Rogers Musicals, it is often said, burst into song and dance when mere words can no longer convey… read more about 10 Books About Music from Duke Authors »
Date : 23 June 2021 Time: 8:00 – 9:30pm (Hong Kong time, UTC +8) /2:00 – 3:30pm (Central European Time, UTC +2) The seminar will be held in English. Labour, in China as elsewhere, has become more unpredictable, and new forms of control, surveillance, and struggle are emerging around the world. Against this background, the digitialization and platformization of the economy and of society have made employment relations even more precarious, particularly in service sectors. In this webinar, based… read more about GLOBAL PLATFORM POLITICS: LESSONS FROM CHINA AND BEYOND »
Six Duke professors who have demonstrated excellence both in research and undergraduate education have been selected as the 2021 Bass Fellows. Harris Solomon, Fred W. Shaffer Associate Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Global Health, effective July 1, 2021 An award-winning medical anthropologist, Solomon holds appointments in the Department of Cultural Anthropology and the Duke Global Health Institute. His undergraduate courses address the social dimensions of medicine and health, and he also… read more about Congratulations to Harris Solomon selected as a 2021 Bass Fellow »
Rolling Stone article featuring quotes from Rebecca Stein, professor of cultural anthropology at Duke University and author of Screen Shots: State Violence on Camera in Israel and Palestine and Sophia Goodfriend, a cultural anthropology PhD candidate at Duke currently based in Jerusalem. ---------------------------- With her long, lush blond hair, almond-shaped blue eyes, and expertly manicured brows, influencer Natalia Fadeev bears a striking resemblance to model… read more about Why Are Israeli Defense Forces Soldiers Posting Thirst Traps on TikTok? »
Six Duke professors who have demonstrated excellence both in research and undergraduate education have been selected as the 2021 Bass Fellows. "These Bass Scholars blend scholarly excellence with a commitment to the transformative power of faculty-student engagement, said Gary Bennett, vice provost for undergraduate education. “Their ingenuity, creativity and commitment are exemplary, and we Duke faculty are fortunate to have them as colleagues and exemplars. " The chairs were created in 1996 when Anne T. and Robert Bass… read more about Six New Bass Fellows Honored for Excellence in Research and Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching »
Congratulations to Cultural Anthropology graduate student Joe Hiller who was awarded first place in the Graduate Division of the 2021 Andrew T. Nadell Prize for Book Collecting! His submitted collection is titled "Como un detective salvaje: Gathering Small Press, Experimental, and Untranslated Latin American Literature." Read more. read more about Graduate student Joe Hiller wins first place in Graduate Division of the 2021 Andrew T. Nadell Prize for Book Collecting »
On Friday nights, the small town of Floyd in southwestern Virginia (population 425) becomes a gathering spot to play and hear American traditional music. Decades ago, the Floyd Country Store started hosting an informal jamboree. Word spread, the crowds grew, and the store now boasts a state-of-the-art performance stage. “People come from all over the world every Friday night,” says Charles D. Thompson, Jr., professor of the practice of cultural anthropology and documentary studies and a senior fellow at the Kenan… read more about ROCK CASTLE HOME: A DISAPPEARING APPALACHIAN COMMUNITY SHARES ITS STORIES »
This month, we present a collection of eight Duke-authored books covering a range of environmental topics including sea-level rise, species protection, renewable energy, and the ocean floor. These books, along with many others, are available at Duke University Libraries, the Gothic Bookshop or the Regulator Bookshop. Sea Level Rise by Orrin Pilkey "Sea Level Rise" lays out the consequences… read more about Eight Duke-Authored Books on the Environment »
Floyd Country Store Friday Jamboree (Photo: Richard Toller, licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0) On Friday nights, the small town of Floyd in southwestern Virginia (population 425) becomes a gathering spot to play and hear American traditional music. Decades ago, the Floyd Country Store started hosting an informal jamboree. Word spread, the crowds grew, and the store now boasts a state-of-the-art performance stage. “People come from all over the world every Friday night,” says Charles D.… read more about Rock Castle Home: A Disappearing Appalachian Community Shares Its Stories »
A new Trinity College of Arts & Sciences program offering peer mentoring to Ph.D. students in their first, second or third year at Duke will begin hosting meetings this fall, and has selected the inaugural class of fellows to lead those groups. Designed as small, interdisciplinary mentoring groups each facilitated by a peer fellow, the program aims to help students flourish in their respective doctoral programs – providing a confidential space to navigate frustrations, offering a diversity of perspectives, encouraging… read more about Trinity Launches Peer Mentoring Program for Early-Stage PhD Students »
Congratulations to Dr. Layla D. Brown-Vincent who will begin her appointment as an Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Africana Studies at Northeastern University this fall. She will be on fellowship leave during AY 21-22 as a Senior Research Fellowship at the KHK Center for Global Cooperation Research in Duisburg, Germany wrapping her first book project which she hopes to publish through Duke’s Radical Americas series and begin work on her new project based… read more about Congratulations to alumna Dr. Layla D. Brown-Vincent »
India’s surge of COVID-19 cases is amplifying the global burden of illness and death and straining the country’s healthcare system. As treatment supplies of oxygen and medicine run low, the workers caring for patients are increasingly overtaxed. Care work should be valued as an infrastructure of COVID-19 treatment, and hospital workers and families deserve greater support for their labor, says Harris Solomon, a medical anthropologist at Duke University. The following quotes are available for use in your coverage of the… read more about News Tip: Pandemic Response in India Should Focus on Care Workers, Too, Duke Expert Says »
What can a hydroelectric dam teach us about inequality, injustice, poverty and the environment? Quite a lot, it turns out, when the dam in question it sits on the border between one of the smaller countries in South America, Paraguay, and the global giant that is Brazil. Christine Folch, an assistant professor in Cultural Anthropology, has been studying the politics of the Itaipu Dam for the past 10 years, leading to the publication of her first book on the subject in 2019. Since arriving at Duke, she has engaged students… read more about Cultural anthropologist awarded Carnegie Fellowship for her work in Latin America »
Welcome to the end of semester digital ethnography collaboratively produced by students in Cultural Anthropology 302: Fieldwork Methods. This class, a requirement for all Cultural Anthropology majors and also popular with students in other majors, is a rigorous introduction to the core methodology anthropologists utilize in ethnographic research: participant observation, or more colloquially, “deep hanging out.” Through participating, observing and talking to people in what is often an unfamiliar (to the anthropologist… read more about Duke in the Time of Covid »
Thursday, April 22, 2021 - 4:00pm to 5:30pm Online Event Contact Rogers, Sarah sarah.rogers@duke.edu 919-668-2401 Please register here The explosive rise of Amazon poses questions about labor rights and surveillance, privacy and logistics, and monopoly practices and the new economy among many others. Join us for a discussion with three experts - an anthropologist, a journalist, and an antitrust expert - about Amazon and its role in our lives and the world. Read more. read more about Unpacking Amazon: Consumerism, Labor Rights, Monopoly »
Paul Rabinow, UC Berkeley professor emeritus of anthropology and world-renowned anthropologist, died April 6 at the age of 76 in his Berkeley home. Rabinow spent about 41 years at UC Berkeley between 1978 to 2019, serving as the director of anthropology for the Contemporary Research Collaboratory and as the former director of human practices for the Synthetic Biology Engineering Research Center. Read more. read more about UC-Berkeley Professor Emeritus Paul Rabinow dies at age 76 »
Marshall D. Sahlins, a brilliant and witty anthropologist who, starting in the 1970s, explored how individuals shape and are shaped by their cultures — a point he had already put in practice a decade earlier as the inventor of the “teach-in” against the Vietnam War — died on April 5 at his home in Chicago. He was 90. His son, Peter Sahlins, a historian at the University of California, Berkeley, confirmed the death. Read more. read more about Marshall D. Sahlins, Groundbreaking Anthropologist, Dies at 90 »
Launched by the Academy of American Poets in April 1996, National Poetry Month reminds us of the integral role poets play in our culture. For the 25th anniversary of this annual celebration of poets and poetry, we highlight six poets among the university's faculty who have published collections of poetry. The works of these poets, along with many others, are available at Duke University Libraries, the Gothic Bookshop or the Regulator Bookshop. In addition, Duke University Press is offering a… read more about Celebrate National Poetry Month with Six Duke Faculty Poets »
We are stunned by the anti-Asian mass shootings in Atlanta and Acworth on March 16, 2021. Our hearts go out to the victims and their families who have suffered from this senseless act. Eight innocent lives were brutally taken away by a gunman, six of them women of Asian descent. This is not an isolated incident and comes out of the current-day repetition of long-standing racist sentiments targeting various minority communities fueled by political rhetoric. Read and sign the complete statement. read more about Statement of Solidarity Against Anti-Asian Violence »
Please register here for this event. Ethnographic Sense: Composing the Contemporary Friday, April 9, 2021, 2:00-3:30 PM (Eastern Time) What does it mean to write from the inside of our current condition—a global pandemic that has kept us home for a year, even as events unfold across the nation and the globe. How can we “make something” of the present, when conditions for doing ethnography have fundamentally changed? Read more. read more about Ethnographic Sense: Composing the Contemporary »
The Office for Faculty Advancement has awarded seed grants to 14 faculty-led projects exploring new ideas and expanding existing initiatives to promote an equitable and inclusive academic environment at Duke. The theme for this cycle was "Confronting Racism and Bias: Fostering an Inclusive Community." Faculty Advancement Seed Grants provide a financial head start for novel faculty development initiatives within academic units. 2021-22 Faculty Advancement Seed Grants Art, Art History and Visual Studies Anti-Racist Pedagogy… read more about Seed Grants Help Faculty Lead the Way in Confronting Racism and Bias »
Dr. Layla Brown-Vincent by That Anthro Podcast • A podcast on Anchor Welcome to another episode of That Anthro Podcast, where we dive into all things anthropology. This episode was just as much of a treat to record as it is to listen to, Dr. Layla Brown-Vincent is a captivating scholar, storyteller, and professor. Dr. Brown-Vincent is an Assistant Professor of Africana Studies at U Mass Boston, but holds a Phd in Cultural Anthropology. Read more. read more about Dr. Layla Brown-Vincent by That Anthro Podcast »
The Office for Faculty Advancement has awarded seed grants to 14 faculty-led projects exploring new ideas and expanding existing initiatives to promote an equitable and inclusive academic environment at Duke. The theme for this cycle was "Confronting Racism and Bias: Fostering an Inclusive Community." Faculty Advancement Seed Grants provide a financial head start for novel faculty development initiatives within academic units. Read more. read more about Seed Grants Help Faculty Lead the Way in Confronting Racism and Bias »
Duke University's Trinity College of Arts and Sciences seeks candidates for three tenure/tenure-track professorships in the study of Native, Indigenous, and/or First Nations people of the Americas. Candidates should be at the assistant or associate professor level; distinguished candidates at the full professor level will also be considered. These hires are part of a sustained commitment by Trinity College of Arts and Sciences to increase the expertise and representation of Native American and Indigenous studies across core… read more about Open Rank Tenure Track Faculty Positions - Study of Native, Indigenous, and/or First Nations people of the Americas »