Why the poorest people in the world spend fortunes burying their dead
Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera. — ProPublica
Behind closed doors in Washington, top advisers made a series of decisions that had devastating repercussions for the poorest country on earth. We went to South Sudan and found people who died as a result.
Haitian Immigrant’s Tragic Death Shines a Light on the Human Cost of Ending Temporary Protected Status – The Root
Methodology in Research on the Rainbow Body: Anthropological and Psychological Reflections on Death and Dying
The rainbow body research project, engaging claims of spiritual attainment and personal transformation, enables us to examine key features of anthropological research. Engagement with communities of discourse exposed aspects of the artificial emic–etic divide, allowing the anthropological study of religion to advance methods in religious studies. The study of paranormal phenomena cannot be isolated from societal contextualization. In this instance, a study of death and dying, contextualized in a traditional community, required unique features of engagement for the researcher who would be present to the social dynamics surrounding the death of a person of high repute.
Fabrics of Africa: 40+ Fabrics That Weave Culture, Color, and Heritage of Africa - Kenyalogue
Africa’s vibrant story isn’t written only in words—it’s woven, dyed, stamped, and embroidered into cloth. From the sun-soaked looms of Ghana to the hand-pounded bark cloths of Uganda and the geometric raffia of the Congo, African fabrics carry the colors, symbols, and spirit of their people. “Fabrics of Africa” is a curated journey through the ... Read more
Extinctiopolitics: Existential Risk Studies, the Extinctiopolitical Unconscious, and the Billionaires’ Exodus from Earth
One of the most prominent intellectual attempts to grapple with human extinction in recent decades is existential risk studies.
Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed
Compulsory ujamaa villages in Tanzania, collectivizatio…
The words we choose matter: recognising the importance of language in decolonising global health
Recognition of the relevance of colonial history to the contemporary practice of global health is not new, but the recent increase in visibility and prominence given to it by global health institutions and flagship journals is welcome when accompanied by meaningful reflection and action.1
On Dying Well: Ben Sasse and the Vocation of Suffering
Ben Sasse’s recent announcement reveals to us both goods and virtues that show in his dying a glimmer of light, a stirring of hope, and the possibility of spring even in one’s final winter.
Day of the Dead (Dia De Los Muertos)
Day of the Dead is a celebratory holiday to remember the dead. Explore the vibrant traditions, tasty dishes, and everything that brings this day to life!
Creating Caring Institutions: Politics, Plurality, and Purpose
How do we know which institutions provide good care? Some scholars argue that the best way to think about care institutions is to model them upon the family or the market. This paper argues, on the...
Why some young Black Christians are practicing hoodoo
The ancestral religious practices of the African diaspora were forced underground by the White...
Community groups' 'vital' disaster recovery work undervalued, report finds
A new Western Sydney University report finds grassroots organisations are often the first and last responders, but often face burnout.
Embers of society: Firelight talk among the Ju/’hoansi Bushmen
Much attention has been focused on control of fire in human evolution and the impact of cooking on anatomy, social, and residential arrangements. However, little is known about what transpired when firelight extended the day, creating effective time for social activities that did not conflict with productive time for subsistence activities. Comparison of 174 day and nighttime conversations among the Ju/’hoan (!Kung) Bushmen of southern Africa, supplemented by 68 translated texts, suggests that day talk centers on economic matters and gossip to regulate social relations. Night activities steer away from tensions of the day to singing, dancing, religious ceremonies, and enthralling stories, often about known people. Such stories describe the workings of entire institutions in a small-scale society with little formal teaching. Night talk plays an important role in evoking higher orders of theory of mind via the imagination, conveying attributes of people in broad networks (virtual communities), and transmitting the “big picture” of cultural institutions that generate regularity of behavior, cooperation, and trust at the regional level. Findings from the Ju/’hoan are compared with other hunter-gatherer societies and related to the widespread human use of firelight for intimate conversation and our appetite for evening stories. The question is raised as to what happens when economically unproductive firelit time is turned to productive time by artificial lighting.
Deep Response: An Emergency Education in Post-Consumer Praxis
You see the climate destabilization, biodiversity loss, resource scarcity, toxic bioaccumulation, and climate injustice happening all around us. You aren't the type to bury your head in the sand or shrug it off and so you roll up your sleeves. But where to start? How to ensure your work doesn't...
7. Death, and how tech forgot about mortality / Michael Kibedi / FFConf 2024