After much debate, the members of boy band BTS are set to begin their mandatory military service. The conscription of the boy band superstars is expected to cost South Korea billions of dollars in lost revenue. … More Pop Stars to Privates: The Impact of a Superstar Boy Band’s Military Conscription
What happens to your used clothing donations may not be what you expect… heard about the interesting life of second-hand clothing for the first time in my first anthropology course, Culture and Society. The story of used clothing is a perfect example of political economy and globalization. … More The Consequences of Clothing: The Dirty Side of Second-hand Clothing Donations (and 4 Helpful Alternatives)
I wanted to share with you some thoughts on a very interesting and informative book I’ve been reading—Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-First Century, by Dorothy Roberts.In this book, Dorothy Roberts deconstructs ideas of race as a biological truth and explains how race has been created and evolved overtime to fit political and social agendas, especially white supremacy. She also describes the ways in which beliefs of biological race are still prevalent in U.S. American society, and how these ideas perpetuate inequality. … More Book Discussion: Fatal Invention by Dorothy Roberts
Alternate Post Title: Social Distancing Data in Delightful Denton County Next up on “today I learned” — Google is using smartphone data to track the effectiveness of COVID-19 social distancing protocols all over the world, and they are posting the results on this website. This information is interesting to me for several reasons: Smartphone data … More Looking at COVID-19 Smartphone Mobility Data – Social Distancing in My County
“There’s something so special about human interaction. I’ll never take it for granted again.”
I took those words deep into my heart. And they got my thoughts churning as well…
Human interaction is special. This is one of the reasons why I fell in love with anthropology. This is one of the reasons we are drawn to each other. This is one of our reasons for living.
They say you don’t know what you have until its gone, right?
For now, we are going to have a lot less of it. But it doesn’t hurt to remember some of the reasons that humanity and all the ways we connect are special and beautiful. … More Why We Won’t Take Human Interaction for Granted Again
Not too long ago I came across a story from my local ABC News station, WFAA, on my Facebook news-feed. The story was about the continuing spread of the new coronavirus, which originated in Wuhan, China. Against my better judgement, I went to the article’s comments.
In the case of an epidemic, rumors and stereotypes are known to lead to scapegoating, which leads to further racism and discrimination. Differences in culture and ways of living are viewed as threats to one’s own existence. Fear of disease can be easily exploited to spread xenophobia for political or other gain. … More Racism Going Viral: The Coronavirus and Xenophobia
The AAA Statement on Humanity and Climate Change put forth in 2015 lists “eight points for understanding the impacts of climate change from an anthropological perspective.” Within these points is an emphasis on the human causes of climate chance, the effects on vulnerable populations, and the ways an anthropological point of view could potentially help lesson some of climate change’s harmful effects. … More Anthropology and Climate Change
While watching coverage of the Hong Kong protests on Tuesday, I heard a U.S. American correspondent say something like “Americans hearts do, and should, go out the Hong Kong protesters.”I’ve watched quite a bit of coverage on the protests, and I eventually lost track of the exact video clip that I heard this statement from. Nonetheless, the quote has been stuck in my thoughts. In the U.S., many citizens take pride in our country’s democracy and all that it stands for. But what about the rest of the world? This led me to the questions “how universal is democracy?” and “what can anthropology tell us about democracy throughout the world?” … More A Look at Current Events: Anthropology and Democracy
The United Nations has declared 2019 to be the Year of Indigenous Languages, and will support a number of functions and movements related to this theme this year. Here is what you need to know about the 2019 Year of Indigenous Languages, from a general anthropological perspective. … More 2019 is the Year of Indigenous Languages
Long time, no see! I’m happy to be back on my blog again. While searching for books to inspire my blogging in 2019, I came across an awesome site called Five Books. In short, this site interviews authors and other experts in various fields to get the best book recommendations for almost every topic you … More Books to Feed My Blog
The Cultural Courier 