Anthropology Today最新文献

Since 2015, Milan has experienced significant growth, driven by mega-events and large urban regeneration projects. This development has not eliminated certain contradictions however, with social polarization in Milan increasing even after the pandemic. This article analyzes the redevelopment of a key Milan landmark, Loreto Square, from an anthropological perspective. While the project rhetoric emphasizes creating a new green and sustainable area, it also reveals opposing urban strategies based on the privatization of public space and land rent. The article concludes by highlighting the central role of spaces characterized by institutions as ‘urban voids’ in shaping the identity of contemporary cities.

This editorial examines the critical importance of listening as a fundamental social art, as much in global and everyday politics as within anthropology and other academic discourses. Herzfeld argues that true listening – beyond mere turn-taking – is increasingly endangered by polarization, institutional legalism, and self-censorship. Drawing on examples from anthropological fieldwork, recent academic controversies, and global political tensions, he advocates for a ‘militant middle ground’ that embraces disagreement as essential for knowledge creation and mutual understanding. This position rejects both extreme relativism and rigid scientism, instead promoting a dynamic engagement with different viewpoints while acknowledging the inherent partiality of all human knowledge. He thereby argues that anthropology's experiential approach through fieldwork offers a model for cultivating the humility and the willingness to embrace uncertainty necessary for productive dialogue in a world that has increasingly forgotten how to listen.

This article explores how ride-hailing apps have been adapted to local social practices in Oran, Algeria. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2024, it examines how drivers and passengers navigate between digital coordinates and socially meaningful landmarks in a city where official street names – whether colonial French or post-independence Arabic – rarely match how people actually find their way around. Rather than eliminating personal connections, as ride apps typically do elsewhere, in Oran, these technologies necessarily foster social relationships. The article demonstrates how the crucial phone call between driver and passenger establishes a quasi-familial bond that transforms an anonymous digital transaction into a personal commitment. This adaptation of ride-hailing technology reveals broader patterns in how residents navigate between digital and traditional ways of knowing urban space, while highlighting how new technologies become embedded in existing social relationships. The case of the Heetch app in Oran shows how apparently ‘global’ technological systems are necessarily localized through specific social and cultural practices.

The euthanasia of Marius, an 18-month-old giraffe at Copenhagen Zoo in 2014, triggered intense global debate about zoo management practices. This article examines how the zoo's explicit display of clinical detachment through public dissection reveals the complex dynamics of human-animal relations in contemporary conservation institutions. Drawing on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork, I demonstrate how zoos cultivate ‘fascination’ as a carefully managed form of attachment that enables rather than prevents detachment from animals. Through analysis of the Marius case, I show how fascination operates as more than simple enchantment − it disciplines public understanding of nature and produces specific forms of ethical responsibility. The European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA) policy of culling healthy animals reflects a clinical logic that starkly contrasts with impassioned public responses, illuminating how engagement and detachment co-constitute each other in zoo spaces. This co-constitution enables certain kinds of response-ability while disabling others, revealing how conservation institutions shape possibilities for multispecies relations.

To answer Gayatri Spivak's question, ‘Can the subaltern speak?’ this article examines a historic case in which Indigenous women from Brazil filed a claim of illegal trafficking before the Russell Tribunal on human rights. By means of the ‘soft’ litigation of international human rights mechanisms, the tribunal provided a platform for marginalized victims and witnesses to provide testimony before a global audience. The case opened new legal pathways and influenced the growth of Indigenous women's associations throughout the country, including the creation of AMARN, founded by the plaintiffs, and now Brazil's oldest Indigenous association. The example demonstrates that the capacities of the speaker alone are inadequate to answer Spivak's question. A listening audience, and the historical conditions in which the speech interaction takes place, are of equal, if not greater, importance. For the vulnerable to speak, there must be an arena in which they can do so and be heard.

Building on Part 1, Part 2 of this article extends the analysis of algorithmic policing to include acoustic gunshot detection systems and explores the broader political economy of policing in America. It examines the development and deployment of ShotSpotter technology, its effectiveness, and the controversies surrounding its use. The article then synthesizes insights from the various algorithmic policing tools discussed across both parts to analyze how the imperatives of Silicon Valley venture capital and startup culture are reshaping law enforcement. It explores the historical context of American policing and how new technologies are altering police-community relations. The article concludes by discussing the global spread of algorithmic policing, potential future developments in AI-enabled law enforcement, and the role anthropology can play in critically examining and shaping the future of policing in the age of algorithms.

This article explores the complex interplay among food, culture, and health. It examines how dietary habits have evolved, from hunter-gatherer societies to the globalization of Western diets, and their profound effects on cultural traditions and human health. While global markets reshape local diets, anthropological evidence suggests nutrition programmes work best when they build on cultural food knowledge rather than replace it. Our findings point to a pressing need for public health approaches that recognize food's role beyond mere sustenance – though implementing such culturally aware interventions remains challenging in practice.