Anthropology and Humanism最新文献

The purpose of this paper is to look deeper into the connection between divinities, and interpret how a shift in necessity of mortals is reflected through a shift in the attributes the divine were worshipped through. In this process, it becomes more clear as to how the people of ancient Greece viewed their gods and goddesses. Through comparing literary descriptions with archaeological evidence and artistic representations, a more realistic picture of life in ancient Greek cult worship and festivals emerges. In this, we can understand not only how mortals viewed their divinities, but how their worship acted as connections between people; through worship and communal gatherings the divine brought people together in extraordinary ways. This information is useful to anyone studying history, archaeology, mythology, and anthropology. This is also extremely relevant to the philosophy of religion. By looking past surface-level assumptions and digging deeper into ancient literary descriptions, we possess the ability to uncover the deeper meaning that lies hidden within them. This studies the pantheon through time and space in conjunction with cultural, environmental, and social links that tie in with physical attributes. This anthropology of the gods as fluid figures is argued.

This volume of creative encounters, Homing beyond Boundaries, explores the lived meanings of home as expressed by Ethiopian migrants navigating displacement, war, and longing. Originating from a public dialogue at Antropologidagene in Trondheim, the project centers on poetic expressions of “homing” as embodied, affective experience rather than abstract theory. Set against the backdrop of Ethiopia's Tigray conflict (2020–2022), three contributors—Ethiopian migrants studying in Norway—share their homing journeys through stories of food, family photographs, and the fragile presence of hope. The poetic format invites readers into a shared space of recognition and resonance, illuminating the fractured, sensory textures of exile, and belonging.

By the early 2000s, and especially after September 11, 2001, the increasing surveillance on non-sovereign subjects intensified. One clear example is Texas's recent practice of busing migrants to northern cities, especially to Chicago. This article traces the emergence of this practice and analyzes the political and economic discourse surrounding it. Scholarship on border theorizing has suggested that the border has thickened, been externalized inward as well, and the policies implemented at the border are similar to those at the core of the nation-state. In this article, I argue that this strategy is part of a broader process of internal rebordering, where migrants are relocated within the country to enforce exclusion while sustaining urban economies. Migrants are often viewed as unwanted or burdensome, yet they quickly find jobs across a range of economic sectors in Chicago. By examining statements and practices from state officials and local communities, I demonstrate how internal rebordering reveals contradictions in immigration policy—exclusionary narratives coexist with a structural dependence on migrant labor—and links the busing of migrants as a novel state practice to certain genealogies in history.

This essay contemplates the emotional and intellectual experience of conducting fieldwork on violence. It explores the cognitive dissonance that ethnographers must navigate as they exist in a field site, which can also be a global tourist destination. Focusing on the horror of witnessing contemporary femicide in the Buenos Aires urban margins, it weaves in and out of the past and present, wealthy and poor, periphery to the center, to ultimately land on a chance encounter with a taxi driver who survived forced disappearance during Argentina's military dictatorship. Taking place during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, “disappearance” and “reappearance” also serve as ways for thinking about the ephemeral nature of fieldwork and how our research can vanish and reappear over the course of years or overnight.

In May 2024, the body of Farruko Pop—a Q'eqchi’-Maya singer and social media influencer—was found buried in a shallow grave in Guatemala City. Although he was just 18 years old and from a small rural community, his murder made front-page news and became the major subject of commentary and speculation in the country. This open-ended narration of that event explores the uncertainties of life and death facing young indigenous people in contemporary Guatemala. Drawing on contemporaneous observations of how the case was talked about in print media, social media, and word-of-mouth, I reconstruct the social and cultural implications of the murder. If on the one hand, the case illustrates the multiple and continuing forms of violence that Indigenous people face in Guatemala; on the other, the reasons the case became front-page news suggest how some young people are finding the means and opportunity to contest the conditions that enable those forms of violence. I highlight how Maya cosmology—in particular its conceptualizations of dreaming and death—in conjunction with access to new media technologies affords people from these communities new imaginaries for how to live in contemporary Guatemala.

Muslim cuisine in many Indian contexts is frequently “othered” through various sociocultural mechanisms. Unlike the vegetarian diet which is often associated with upper-caste Hindu practices, traditional Muslim cuisine typically includes meat dishes, particularly beef, which remains taboo in Hindu traditions. The film review explores how the protagonist of The Great Indian Family (2023) navigates these complex social boundaries, portraying his confusion and eventual adaptation to new food practices as a metaphor for broader questions of religious identity, belonging, and cultural hybridity in modern India. It also examines his struggle to reconcile conflicting religious identities, particularly through dietary practices, showcasing how food functions as a powerful marker of religious and cultural identity in India.

Wild edible mushrooms (WEM) are integral to the cultural practices of indigenous communities across the world. Their utilization is essential to effective forest management practices and sustainability within local communities. The intergenerational transmission of traditional knowledge plays a vital role in regulating resources, sustaining ecological balance, and ensuring cultural continuity. This paper seeks to document the ethnomycological knowledge of the Kurmi-Mahato community, including an analysis of the local traditional practices and cultural significance of wild edible mushroom species. Ethnomycological hikes and participatory research involved fieldwork with 25 families, documenting fifteen species of wild edible mushrooms. A comprehensive index was developed to assess the cultural significance of WEM, identifying species with high cultural relevance and potential for community engagement in mycophilic activities. Drawing on the anthropology of care, the results suggest the traditional use of WEM is influenced by age, economic activities, and the household's distance from forests. This study contributes to the medicinal exploration of mushrooms, as well as bridges the gap between local ecological knowledge and biodiversity to preserve the intangible cultural heritage. Ultimately, this work leads to a deeper understanding of the factors influencing WEM on cultural significance, and traditional local knowledge of the communities and their environmental management.

This essay reflects on the recent return to the literary within anthropological thinking and writing and places it in conversation with wider dynamics. To do so, we outline the general conditions of this movement, describe the features that constitute a spectrum of literary anthropological works, argue that these features may enable distinctive modes of anthropological engagement with affective economies, political rationalities, and the crisis of critique in social science, and offer some preliminary guidelines for crafting ethnographic projects in these directions. We aim to call attention to a movement that is still emerging and provide initial provocations for further discussion and debate.