This flash ethnography reflects back on my first interview carried out at the start of a new ethnographic project. I recount the power of sound as an entry point into a refugee's experience as a newcomer in the urban Canadian prairies, as an Ethiopian woman's story about the ways that she heard the city revealed the ghostly quiet that bore down on her.
{"title":"In a city “Quiet Like a Ghost”","authors":"Susan Frohlick","doi":"10.1111/anhu.70002","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.70002","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This flash ethnography reflects back on my first interview carried out at the start of a new ethnographic project. I recount the power of sound as an entry point into a refugee's experience as a newcomer in the urban Canadian prairies, as an Ethiopian woman's story about the ways that she heard the city revealed the ghostly quiet that bore down on her.</p>","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/anhu.70002","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144740127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Based on ethnographic research, this article focuses on the subjective experience of people placed in isolation during the first wave of COVID-19 in Israel. The method is urgent ethnography and experimental ethnography combining anthropology, philosophy, and literature. Informed by 53 interviews with Israelis isolated due to COVID-19, diary excerpts, a field journal, and photographs, this study projects from the local story to Western culture. Specifically, I examine the differences between the subjective experiences of different individuals, tracing the cultural construction through which feelings of guilt and shame emerge as cultural roles. In doing so, I apply the neologism “slapping gazes” used to punish, rebuke, or impose social sanctions during the global crisis, and examine how they affect the isolated individuals by generating feelings of shame and guilt. I offer a solution in the form of “caressing gazes” as suggested in Martin Buber's work. Finally, as the recent protest against the regime overhaul in Israel has added relevance to the study, I also include the initial findings of an urgent ethnography thereof, as a potential basis for understanding cultural perceptions in Israel and the Western world during the pandemic, political crises, and beyond in that spirit.
{"title":"“Slapping gaze” vs. “caressing gaze”: The guilt of shame and the solution offered by Buber and Camus","authors":"Dr. Hagar Hazaz Berger","doi":"10.1111/anhu.70001","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.70001","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Based on ethnographic research, this article focuses on the subjective experience of people placed in isolation during the first wave of COVID-19 in Israel. The method is urgent ethnography and experimental ethnography combining anthropology, philosophy, and literature. Informed by 53 interviews with Israelis isolated due to COVID-19, diary excerpts, a field journal, and photographs, this study projects from the local story to Western culture. Specifically, I examine the differences between the subjective experiences of different individuals, tracing the cultural construction through which feelings of guilt and shame emerge as cultural roles. In doing so, I apply the neologism “slapping gazes” used to punish, rebuke, or impose social sanctions during the global crisis, and examine how they affect the isolated individuals by generating feelings of shame and guilt. I offer a solution in the form of “caressing gazes” as suggested in Martin Buber's work. Finally, as the recent protest against the regime overhaul in Israel has added relevance to the study, I also include the initial findings of an urgent ethnography thereof, as a potential basis for understanding cultural perceptions in Israel and the Western world during the pandemic, political crises, and beyond in that spirit.</p>","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144740179","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this essay, I center passing encounters that I had between 2005 and 2023 in the United States, Vieques, Cuba, and Grenada. “Passing” refers to the duration, direction, and form of encounter. Most lasted no longer than 15 minutes and were initiated by people offering me street-side greetings, impromptu advice, or seeking information. I offer the passing encounter, significant because of its brevity, as a site of convivial Black diaspora-making. I argue that bodies in proximity, intentional gestures, affective vocality, and word choice were used to navigate and, sometimes, repair rifts that cross-cultural discussions of race and gender could have occurred. I draw on Ruth Simms Hamilton's (2007) concept of circulatoriness, among others, to help me to establish why blackness and womanhood were available and important to co-dialogists and me in the endeavor toward conviviality.
{"title":"Conviviality and the enticement of a Black diaspora","authors":"Kim Cameron-Domínguez","doi":"10.1111/anhu.70000","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.70000","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this essay, I center passing encounters that I had between 2005 and 2023 in the United States, Vieques, Cuba, and Grenada. “Passing” refers to the duration, direction, and form of encounter. Most lasted no longer than 15 minutes and were initiated by people offering me street-side greetings, impromptu advice, or seeking information. I offer the passing encounter, significant because of its brevity, as a site of convivial Black diaspora-making. I argue that bodies in proximity, intentional gestures, affective vocality, and word choice were used to navigate and, sometimes, repair rifts that cross-cultural discussions of race and gender could have occurred. I draw on Ruth Simms Hamilton's (2007) concept of <i>circulatoriness</i>, among others, to help me to establish why blackness and womanhood were available and important to co-dialogists and me in the endeavor toward conviviality.</p>","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144740228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this essay, I describe my experience of looking to anthropological and other social scientific scholarship to try to come to terms with the changes of identity and worldview that often accompany early sobriety. I argue for an “anthropological humility” that acknowledges the limitations of cultural analysis in representing and interpreting life changes, like addiction recovery, with existential dimensions. I reflect on the figure of Sir Lancelot in Robert Creeley's poem “Bresson's Movies” and his predecessor George Oppen's phrase “the meaning of being numerous” to express what Gregory Bateson (1971) called a shift from symmetrical to complementary ways of being in addiction recovery.
{"title":"The meaning of being numerous","authors":"Brendan H. O'Connor","doi":"10.1111/anhu.12542","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.12542","url":null,"abstract":"<p>In this essay, I describe my experience of looking to anthropological and other social scientific scholarship to try to come to terms with the changes of identity and worldview that often accompany early sobriety. I argue for an “anthropological humility” that acknowledges the limitations of cultural analysis in representing and interpreting life changes, like addiction recovery, with existential dimensions. I reflect on the figure of Sir Lancelot in Robert Creeley's poem “Bresson's Movies” and his predecessor George Oppen's phrase “the meaning of being numerous” to express what Gregory Bateson (1971) called a shift from symmetrical to complementary ways of being in addiction recovery.</p>","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144740093","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Priyanka Borpujari, Ian M. Cook, Çiçek İlengiz, Fiona Murphy, Julia Offen, Johann Sander Puustusmaa, Eva van Roekel, Rich Thornton, Susan Wardell
<p>Anyone can review creative anthropology. The review process for creative work does not rely on every reviewer having technical knowledge of the genre. It involves engaging at a subjective and experiential level, as well as via a rigorous scholarly lens you might be more used to. Peer reviewing creative anthropological work is an invitation—a kind of meeting place where thought and form intertwine, opening space not just for critique but for mutual imagination. (Look at ‘Empathy and Dialogue: Embracing the Art of Creative Review’ in this <i>Anthropology and Humanism</i> issue to learn more about the philosophical underpinnings and politics of creative review.) A good review is also a care review. Care is operationalized through thinking together; that is, thinking <i>with</i> the author instead of against them—a collaboration of sorts that moves against the grain of judgmental, evaluative forms of review. Creative anthropology thrives on exploration, and so should your review—but how?</p><p>To provide a formative, engaged review, there are multiple layers that you might want to consider, each offering a different way to evaluate, understand, and respond to the piece. This multi-layered approach allows you to appreciate the work's richness and the intentions behind it, while also providing constructive feedback that helps the creator refine and develop their ideas. In the below section, we break down five of these layers including the experiential, scholarly, anthropological, subject expert, and technical layers.</p><p>A review can aim to use associative thinking, a way of drawing connections—between ideas, concepts, or experiences, or with other art, scholarly work, or popular culture—that may not be immediately obvious but help to illuminate the work in a new light. Asking questions of the author/creator is also a valuable strategy, in order to shift into this mode. What might you suggest the author themselves reflect on, in order to advance the piece? Can you distinguish between major comments that you think are essential for the success of the piece, and more open-ended reflections? We ask the reviewer to look at the text as a creative endeavor that is open to diverse readings, meaning there is less focus on giving the author things to fix, correct or add, and more focus on assisting the author to walk this creative process of revision by sharing ideas or asking questions.</p><p>Peer review, especially for creative work, is a way of breathing life into the practice of feedback—of inviting dialogue rather than prescribing fixes. It is less about judgment and more about fostering a space where work can resonate, catch light, shift shape. The task here is not to refine or correct but to engage openly with the textures of the work, to notice where it lands, where it surprises, where it might wander or pause. This approach allows us to sidestep the urge to perfect, instead inviting the work to reach deeper or perhaps to tilt its gaze.</p><p>The m
{"title":"Reviewing creative anthropology guidelines","authors":"Priyanka Borpujari, Ian M. Cook, Çiçek İlengiz, Fiona Murphy, Julia Offen, Johann Sander Puustusmaa, Eva van Roekel, Rich Thornton, Susan Wardell","doi":"10.1111/anhu.12541","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.12541","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Anyone can review creative anthropology. The review process for creative work does not rely on every reviewer having technical knowledge of the genre. It involves engaging at a subjective and experiential level, as well as via a rigorous scholarly lens you might be more used to. Peer reviewing creative anthropological work is an invitation—a kind of meeting place where thought and form intertwine, opening space not just for critique but for mutual imagination. (Look at ‘Empathy and Dialogue: Embracing the Art of Creative Review’ in this <i>Anthropology and Humanism</i> issue to learn more about the philosophical underpinnings and politics of creative review.) A good review is also a care review. Care is operationalized through thinking together; that is, thinking <i>with</i> the author instead of against them—a collaboration of sorts that moves against the grain of judgmental, evaluative forms of review. Creative anthropology thrives on exploration, and so should your review—but how?</p><p>To provide a formative, engaged review, there are multiple layers that you might want to consider, each offering a different way to evaluate, understand, and respond to the piece. This multi-layered approach allows you to appreciate the work's richness and the intentions behind it, while also providing constructive feedback that helps the creator refine and develop their ideas. In the below section, we break down five of these layers including the experiential, scholarly, anthropological, subject expert, and technical layers.</p><p>A review can aim to use associative thinking, a way of drawing connections—between ideas, concepts, or experiences, or with other art, scholarly work, or popular culture—that may not be immediately obvious but help to illuminate the work in a new light. Asking questions of the author/creator is also a valuable strategy, in order to shift into this mode. What might you suggest the author themselves reflect on, in order to advance the piece? Can you distinguish between major comments that you think are essential for the success of the piece, and more open-ended reflections? We ask the reviewer to look at the text as a creative endeavor that is open to diverse readings, meaning there is less focus on giving the author things to fix, correct or add, and more focus on assisting the author to walk this creative process of revision by sharing ideas or asking questions.</p><p>Peer review, especially for creative work, is a way of breathing life into the practice of feedback—of inviting dialogue rather than prescribing fixes. It is less about judgment and more about fostering a space where work can resonate, catch light, shift shape. The task here is not to refine or correct but to engage openly with the textures of the work, to notice where it lands, where it surprises, where it might wander or pause. This approach allows us to sidestep the urge to perfect, instead inviting the work to reach deeper or perhaps to tilt its gaze.</p><p>The m","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"49 2","pages":"88-92"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/anhu.12541","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143252822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Priyanka Borpujari, Ian M. Cook, Çiçek İlengiz, Fiona Murphy, Julia Offen, Johann Sander Puustusmaa, Eva van Roekel, Richard Thornton, Susan Wardell
<p>Imagine the moment you first encounter a piece of creative ethnography—a poem, a performance, an image—that speaks to the heart of human experience in ways that traditional academic texts rarely do. It moves you, challenges you, perhaps unsettles you. But what happens next? Do you simply appreciate the work and walk away, or is there something deeper at stake in this encounter? What if, instead, we view this moment as an invitation—a call to engage in the same kind of rigorous dialogue that shapes the world of scholarly research, but with a spirit of openness and collaboration?</p><p>Creative work, like traditional scholarship, thrives on exchange, and peer review, is not just a procedural task. It is an act of co-creation, a chance to enter into conversation with the work and its creator, to shape and be shaped by the process. What if we could reimagine peer review not as a box-ticking exercise, but as a space for creative and intellectual growth—for both the reviewer and the reviewed?</p><p>This is where we begin: with the idea that peer review, when applied to creative anthropology, can be a transformative practice, one that pushes beyond the rigid confines of conventional academic evaluation and into something more expansive, more generous. But how do we get there? How do we move from skepticism to possibility, from critique to collaboration?</p><p>Creative work in anthropology is far from a new phenomenon. For as long as there have been anthropologists, there have been those who've felt the itch to push beyond academic forms, to scratch at the edges of what's possible, to seek out other ways of evoking the complexity of life. These anthropologists have always been there, quietly or boldly experimenting with mediums outside the standard forms of the journal article and monograph—exploring poetry, visual art, performance, film. But still, we know there are those who will scoff, who will say this isn't “real” anthropology. And we also know that “creative” as a term is loaded with its own set of assumptions, its own baggage—romanticized, dismissed, misunderstood, or misused.</p><p>Perhaps we might call these works “non-standard,” or “experimental,” or simply “other” but we think that would disregard the long presence of the creative in anthropology. Some are breaking new ground; others are drawing from established artistic genres but are still perceived as unconventional within the discipline proper. But here's the thing—there's a long history in anthropology of seeing writing itself as more than just a way to present findings. Writing is part of the process, a way of thinking through the work, of evoking the experiences of life. So why wouldn't these forms of writing, or alternative modes of communication, open up new ways of knowing? Creative texts aren't just about describing the world more evocatively; they too are about exploring, analyzing, and theorizing.</p><p>We're not suggesting that creative anthropology is superior to the traditio
{"title":"Empathy and dialogue: Embracing the art of creative review","authors":"Priyanka Borpujari, Ian M. Cook, Çiçek İlengiz, Fiona Murphy, Julia Offen, Johann Sander Puustusmaa, Eva van Roekel, Richard Thornton, Susan Wardell","doi":"10.1111/anhu.12536","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.12536","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Imagine the moment you first encounter a piece of creative ethnography—a poem, a performance, an image—that speaks to the heart of human experience in ways that traditional academic texts rarely do. It moves you, challenges you, perhaps unsettles you. But what happens next? Do you simply appreciate the work and walk away, or is there something deeper at stake in this encounter? What if, instead, we view this moment as an invitation—a call to engage in the same kind of rigorous dialogue that shapes the world of scholarly research, but with a spirit of openness and collaboration?</p><p>Creative work, like traditional scholarship, thrives on exchange, and peer review, is not just a procedural task. It is an act of co-creation, a chance to enter into conversation with the work and its creator, to shape and be shaped by the process. What if we could reimagine peer review not as a box-ticking exercise, but as a space for creative and intellectual growth—for both the reviewer and the reviewed?</p><p>This is where we begin: with the idea that peer review, when applied to creative anthropology, can be a transformative practice, one that pushes beyond the rigid confines of conventional academic evaluation and into something more expansive, more generous. But how do we get there? How do we move from skepticism to possibility, from critique to collaboration?</p><p>Creative work in anthropology is far from a new phenomenon. For as long as there have been anthropologists, there have been those who've felt the itch to push beyond academic forms, to scratch at the edges of what's possible, to seek out other ways of evoking the complexity of life. These anthropologists have always been there, quietly or boldly experimenting with mediums outside the standard forms of the journal article and monograph—exploring poetry, visual art, performance, film. But still, we know there are those who will scoff, who will say this isn't “real” anthropology. And we also know that “creative” as a term is loaded with its own set of assumptions, its own baggage—romanticized, dismissed, misunderstood, or misused.</p><p>Perhaps we might call these works “non-standard,” or “experimental,” or simply “other” but we think that would disregard the long presence of the creative in anthropology. Some are breaking new ground; others are drawing from established artistic genres but are still perceived as unconventional within the discipline proper. But here's the thing—there's a long history in anthropology of seeing writing itself as more than just a way to present findings. Writing is part of the process, a way of thinking through the work, of evoking the experiences of life. So why wouldn't these forms of writing, or alternative modes of communication, open up new ways of knowing? Creative texts aren't just about describing the world more evocatively; they too are about exploring, analyzing, and theorizing.</p><p>We're not suggesting that creative anthropology is superior to the traditio","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"49 2","pages":"83-87"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/anhu.12536","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143253515","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editors' note: A vision for anthropology and humanism's next three years","authors":"","doi":"10.1111/anhu.12535","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.12535","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"49 2","pages":"78-82"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143252684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dervish House","authors":"Stephen William Foster","doi":"10.1111/anhu.12540","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.12540","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144740128","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Thick poetry: Soho after dark","authors":"Dr. Joshua M. Bluteau","doi":"10.1111/anhu.12539","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.12539","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"50 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144740231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Franz Boas Papers, Volume 2. Franz Boas, James Teit, and Early Twentieth-Century Salish Ethnography, 1894-1922. Edited by Andrea Laforet, Angie Bain, John Haugen, Sarah Moritz, and Andie Diane Palmer. 1056 Pages, 9 photographs, 13 illustrations, 3 maps, 44 figures, index. Hardcover. $120.00. EBOOK (PDF). $120.00. April 2024.","authors":"Sergei Kan","doi":"10.1111/anhu.12538","DOIUrl":"10.1111/anhu.12538","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53597,"journal":{"name":"Anthropology and Humanism","volume":"49 2","pages":"249-251"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143243949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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