Anthropology & Religion Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/section/anthropology-religion/ a magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship Sat, 17 Jan 2026 02:17:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://www.publicbooks.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/cropped-favicon-2-300x300.png Anthropology & Religion Archives - Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/section/anthropology-religion/ 32 32 Humans Are Nature’s Eccentrics—Laughing and Crying Show Why https://www.publicbooks.org/humans-are-natures-eccentrics-laughing-and-crying-show-why/ Wed, 14 Feb 2024 16:00:42 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=55190 Remarkably, the acts of laughing and crying reveal there are no givens for individual behavior nor blueprints for human society.

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]]> Who’s Afraid of al-Andalus? https://www.publicbooks.org/whos-afraid-of-al-andalus/ Wed, 29 Nov 2023 16:00:32 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=54248 In Spain, the Catholic Church tries to erase the era of Muslim rule in the Iberian Peninsula called al-Andalus. Two authors problematize the church's efforts.

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]]> Can a Revolution Endure Even after It Fails? https://www.publicbooks.org/can-a-revolution-endure-even-after-it-fails/ Thu, 26 Oct 2023 15:00:52 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=53877 For a few years in Oman, revolutionaries freed slaves, founded water cooperatives, and sent women to school. Then came the counterrevolution.

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]]> “It Is Not How You Feel”: Batja Mesquita on How Different Cultures Experience Emotions https://www.publicbooks.org/it-is-not-how-you-feel-batja-mesquita-on-how-different-cultures-experience-emotions/ Thu, 02 Feb 2023 16:00:47 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=51216 "We define ourselves more by certain emotions. I've never heard anybody say, 'I'm trying to get over my embarrassment and I feel so inauthentic.'"

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]]> Andrea Hornick and Timothy Ingold: Designs for the Anthropocene https://www.publicbooks.org/andrea-hornick-and-timothy-ingold-designs-for-the-anthropocene/ Tue, 06 Sep 2022 15:00:25 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=49925 “We bring our own creativity into what we see—the seams get filled in, smoothed over, by our looking.”

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]]> Marshall Sahlins’s “Original Affluent Society” 50 Years Later https://www.publicbooks.org/marshall-sahlins-original-affluent-society-at-50/ Wed, 13 Jul 2022 15:00:48 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=49077 Capitalism seeks wealth to meet desires. But foraging societies follow “the Zen road to affluence”: not by getting more, but wanting less.

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]]> The 21st-Century Social Scientist https://www.publicbooks.org/the-21st-century-social-scientist/ Wed, 29 Jun 2022 15:00:39 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=48935 “If we want technologies that will not undermine our humanity, social analysts must join with other researchers.”

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]]> How to Be a Prophet? https://www.publicbooks.org/white-evangelical-racism-and-faith-based-social-justice/ Tue, 15 Mar 2022 15:00:47 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=47734 The US Religious Right wins elections, but advances nationalism and white supremacy. Why, then, should the Religious Left seek to emulate them?

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]]> Borders Cast Long Shadows on Nations: Talking with Malini Sur https://www.publicbooks.org/malini-sur-jungle-passports-india-bangladesh-border/ Wed, 02 Mar 2022 16:00:42 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=47458 “Borders continue to gather life’s promises, even when walls and checkpoints brutally divide nations and societies.”

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]]> Embracing George? https://www.publicbooks.org/george-w-bush-immigration-portraits/ Tue, 01 Feb 2022 16:00:10 +0000 https://www.publicbooks.org/?p=47307 In painting immigrants, George W. Bush seeks to ingratiate himself with the American public. But his crimes must be remembered.

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