This Anthro Life

This Anthro Life turned 8 years old in October 2021. That's a long time for a podcast. When recently invited to share what I've been working on for a newsletter, TAL's 8th birthday got me thinking about what I've learned working between anthropology and podcasting for almost a decade. I've fancied myself a public anthropologist for a while, but it has been podcasting, and working in an unusual medium (for anthropology) that has taught me some of the most important lessons for what public anthropology actually is.Music - Epidemic SoundsLenzer - A Fork FightYomoti - Fansi Pan

It's not everyday I get to talk with other anthropology podcasters, and even more infrequently that I get to talk with undergraduate anthropology podcasters. I'm joined on the show today by Gabriella Campbell, Gabriella is a senior at University of California Santa Barbara where she focuses on forensic anthropology, both contemporary and ancient. She's also the creator and host of That Anthro Podcast, a weekly interview show that explores the world of bioarchaeology, bones, forensics and more. Gabriella and I dig into what it's like to work in forensics while learning the trade. This includes some crucial and fascinating forensic recovery work she’s doing in response to the Monteceto mudslides.We dig into:- Applying forensic anthropology to the Montecito mudslides- Contemporary forensics vs ancient forensics- How to teach anthro earlier in kids' education, early education projects- On podcasting, creativity and learning to trust our instincts- Advice for undergrads - from an undergradCheck out:That Anthro PodcastThat Anthro Podcast InstagramMusic:Duracell - Jontha Links Epidemic SoundsEpisode Art: Adam Gamwell

A job search strategy is essential, but what if you don’t even know what to look for or what you want to do? A career plan is something you can do before job searching to define the kind of work you want to do and how to engage with like minded people, so you’ve got opportunities and pathways to work you’ll find fulfilling and meaningful, regardless of industry.While some old-school academics might see creating a career plan as selling out, Career Coach and Strategist Amy Santee and Design + Business Anthropologist Adam Gamwell, say you’re selling yourself short if you don’t. In this seminar we’ll share stories from our experiences and walk you through creating your own plan across defining your values, mapping your journey, finding your people and trying your voice.Whether you’re a student and looking for your first job, a mid career professor or industry insider and curious about what else is out there, a career plan is relevant for anyone.We’ll dig into defining your values as a starting point, mapping a vision of your future by looking at your past, how to take action on your plan, and learning to trust your intuition as much as the data you gather. Today's episode is a slice from a workshop series Adam Gamwell put together with Prof Jonathan Anjaria of Brandeis University. Amy Santee Career CoachingAmy's LinkedInJon AnjariaBrandeis University AnthropologyEpisode production and art: Adam GamwellMusic Epidemic Sounds:Sweet Talk - Tyra ChantyZanzibar - Jones Meadow

Dr. Meena Kaushik takes us through her story from the revolutionary idea in the late 1970s of applying semiotics to brand and market research to founding Quantum, which today is a global enterprise research organization in seven countries, through how they have digitally adapted insights research in the face of COVID.Meena Kaushik started her journey as an academic studying the symbolism of death rituals in Hinduism. She conducted extensive fieldwork amongst the Doms of Varanasi, a low caste community working in the city’s cremation grounds, for her Ph.D. in Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics.She ventured into qualitative market research by accident and fell in love. Her training in ethnography deepened how consumer behaviour, consumer culture and consumer psyche were being understood in India in the mid to late 1980s.A consulting stint with the Indian Market Research Bureau soon became a full fledged position and she helped found the qualitative division at MARG as a Director of Qualitative Research. Kaushik adapted anthropological methods, semiotics, and social psychology to qualitative market research problems in India, giving qualitative approaches a credibility they’d never had in the past.In 1990 she founded Quantum Consumer Solutions with Srilekha Agarwal and Meera Vasudevan, Asia’s first purely qualitative research firm. Today Quantum has operations in seven countries with 220 employees.TAL spoke to Dr. Kaushik about the birth of this new “qualitative consciousness” in post-liberalization India, and how to create value for qualitative insights in industries that have been traditionally dominated by numbers.We dig into:How she brought anthropologist and qualitative insights to market research in IndiaFairness and Skin Lightening Creams: How interdisciplinary social science can get a company to reframe brands around empowermentAcknowledge privileges, like the cultural preference for lighter skin, without ignoring or pandering to itWhy we should be talking about insights research rather than qualitative research, and how her company has adapted to digital ethnography and new forms of research since COVID rocked the worldDigital ethnography methods to create a “semiosphere” > a holistic view of how people make meaning in their livesAdvice for transitioning into market research, skills agencies look forAdapting from research as an output to design strategy, offering solutions on top of research insightsCommodities and the crisis of meaning: Why it’s essential for brands to have higher meaning and purpose in the lives of consumersTAL Correspondent and this episode's host: Madhuri Karak is Community Engagement Lead at Rare’s Center for Behavior & the Environment, managing a virtual learning platform for practitioners blending behavioral insights with design thinking to solve our biggest environmental challenges. She is currently a Mellon - American Council of Learned Societies Public Fellow and has a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology. You can find more of her work here.Organization: https://www.quantumcs.comInterview w/Kaushik: https://wow.outlookbusiness.com/meena-kaushik/CreditsProduction: Madhuri Karak and Adam GamwellMusic: Zanzibar - Jones Meadow, Epidemic SoundsArt: Adam Gamwell--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisanthrolife/message

Phil Surles is a cultural anthropologist and consultant who focuses on branding. He works with companies to change their culture for the better and focuses on integrating anthropology into industry. From art school to anthropology to industry Phil discusses how he combined all of his passions into his consulting work. Phil, Astrid, and Adam discuss what it means to be an anthropologist working in industry and ethical issues that may arise. Phil is also working on a new platform called Mindshare where businesses can tap into the expertise of human scientists for expert interviews, consulting and more.On today’s EpisodeHow to study anthropology with the intention of going into industry, not academiaTo intervene or not intervene-- the anthropologists ethical dilemmaHow anthropologists can bring their ethics and methodology to industry and change it for the betterWhat is a public intellectual and how does it relate to thought leadership and activismWhere to Find Phil Surles:TwitterLinkedInMindshareEpisode CreditsMusic (Epidemic Sounds)Intro: Embody by BallpointOutro: Tried in Fire by BallpointEpisode art- Sara SchmiederProduction- Sara Schmieder, Elizabeth Smyth, and Adam Gamwell--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisanthrolife/message

If Dr. Hellen Fisher isn’t a household name in your house (yet), her work certainly is. Helen is a biological anthropologist and basically the reason you can date online. She’s an expert on romantic love, gender differences, the evolution of human emotions and attraction. She has also been the Chief Scientific Advisor for Match.com and was instrumental in their offshoot, Chemistry.com. She has explored how love patterns are actually deeply coded in our physiology and neuropsychology. We talk about how to understand sex, love, and dating across human behavior, patterns in courtship, and the evolution of bonding.But beyond this, Helen is a wildly popular author, TED speaker and public intellectual. To this end brings to the table a wealth of insight into how to translate anthropological insights in ways that feel meaningful to people today.Hellen discusses her career path, how she strayed from the field of academia, became an accredited author and eventually an advisor to Match.com We discuss how to handle media attention, the tactics of public speaking, and how to connect to your audiences.In this episode we focus on:Fisher’s formula for making anthropology matter in the mainstreamThe biological anthropology of how we find love and who we are attracted toThe ways in which we can apply/sell anthropology in a context outside of academiaEffective tactics of public speaking and audience engagementGuest Bio: Helen Fisher is a biological anthropologist who studies human behavior, love, and attraction. She has been the Chief Scientific Advisor for Match.com for ten years and was instrumental in their offshoot, Chemistry.com. Additionally Fisher is known for her TedTalks and is even a Ted All-Star but not only is she popular on the TedTalk circuit she also has appeared in several YouTube videos and has written books about love and relationships. Some of her books include Anatomy of Love (2016), Why We Love (2004), and Why Him Why Her? (2009).Where to Find Helen Fisher:helenfisher.comPew Research on online datingMusic: Epidemic SoundsGirl Like You (Instrumental Version) - Flux VortexSweet Talk (Instrumental Version) - Tyra ChanteyEpisode Art: Sara SchmiederEpisode Production: Elizabeth Smyth, Sara Schmieder, Sarah McDonough, Adam GamwellLeave a Review for our Book Give Away! (We've got one copy of Ghost Work with your name on it! - Leave us a review at one of the sites below and email a screen shot to thisanthrolife@gmail.com so we know it's you).This Anthro Life - Anthropology Podcast | Podchaser‎This Anthro Life on Apple Podcasts--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisanthrolife/message

TAL Correspondent Sara Schmieder brings us an all new interview about the power of cemetery restoration, race in the American South, and bringing legacy to light.Dr. Ryan Smith is a professor of religious history, material culture, and historic preservation at Virginia Commonwealth University. His latest book Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries (2020) explores the history and reclamation of sacred cemeteries through the lens of race. By working with friends groups from various Richmond cemeteries he charts their evolution over time and how abandoned cemeteries have been reborn. Dr. Smith also authored Robert Morris’s Folly: The Architectural and Financial Failures of an American Founder (2014) and Gothic Arches, Latin Crosses: Anti-Catholicism and American Church Designs in the Nineteenth Century (2006).In this episode we discuss:· What it means to be a friend of a cemetery· How cemeteries are being revived and protected· Segregation and cemeteries· The importance of sacred spaces for Black, Jewish, and other marginalized communitiesLinks:https://www.richmondcemeteries.org/https://friendsofeastend.com/https://shockoehillcemetery.org/Episode Art: Sara SchmiederProducers: Sara Schmieder, Adam GamwellMusic: Epidemic SoundsBam Bam – YomotiShades of Purple – Gregory David--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisanthrolife/message

In today’s episode Adam Gamwell and Astrid Countee are joined by multispecies anthropologist John Hartigan jr. John is an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Austin. In his latest work, Shaving the Beasts: Wild Horses and Ritual in Spain, John studies the social lives of wild horses in Spain and Catalonia and the Spanish ritual dating back to the 1500s of “Rapa das Bestas”- in which villagers heard wild horses together into public ceremonial rings and shave their manes and tails. Why is an anthropologist studying horses you ask? John’s work dives into the complex social lives of these horses, what happens with human ritual causes violence and social breakdown - in this case amongst horses - and asks the question of how we can learn about human culture from other species?In this episode we focus on:What studying nonhuman species like plants and horses tells us about being humanHow to do rapid ethnographic fieldworkHow the sociality of humans shapes and is shaped by other speciesWhy ecology needs anthropology and vice versaWhere to Find John Hartigan:John Hartigan Jr. is an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Austin who focuses on multispecies ethnography, media, and race. He has done fieldwork in Spain, Mexico, Peru, Colombia, and Detroit, Michigan. Hartigan’s latest book is Shaving The Beast: Wild Horses and Ritual in Spain, in which he explores the ritual of rapa das bestas in Galicia, Spain where villagers heard wild horses together to shave their manes and tails. Through multispecies ethnography, Hartigan tells the story of this ritual through the horses’ eyes, experiencing the traumatic event as he tells the story of the horses and their society. Hartigan has also authored Care of the Species: Cultivating Biodiversity in Mexico and Spain (2017), Racial Situations: Class Predicaments of Whiteness in Detroit (1999), Odd Tribes: Toward a Cultural Analysis of White People (2005), What Can You Say? America’s National Conversation on Race (2010), and Aesop’s Anthropology: A Multispecies Approach.Twitter: https://twitter.com/aesopsanthroMusic: Epidemic SoundsTilden Parc - The Weekend (Instrumental Version)Nebulas [ocean jams]Episode Art: Sara SchmiederLeave a Review for our Book Give Away!This Anthro Life - Anthropology Podcast | Podchaser‎This Anthro Life on Apple Podcasts--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisanthrolife/message

BOOK GIVEAWAY!! Leave a Review of This Anthro Life for a chance to win a copy of Ghost Work! Leave us a written review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser by May 8, 2021, and email us a screenshot (so we know it's you) at thisanthrolife@gmail.com.We'll randomly pick four winners out of the group from anyone who submits a review by May 8th, 2021. Now just a heads up: We're only counting serious reviews where you write something thoughtful. We'll take five stars of course if you want to just help out, but please no writing "I'm just doing this to get a free book." Feel free to share what you love about the podcast, why you find it valuable, How long you been listening or what keeps you listening? Remember, reviews help others discover the show and help us shape the content based on what you find valuable, so thanks for participating, we can't wait to hear from you!Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/this-anthro-life-216403Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id871241283Mary Gray is an anthropologist whose work explores how technology informs work, a sense of identity, and human rights. Gray applies these concepts as the Senior Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research and as the Faculty Associate at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Additionally she remains in a faculty position at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. Gray has also authored books such as In Your Face: Stories from the Lives of Queer Youth and Out In the Country: Youth, Media, and Queer Visibility in Rural America but her most recent book, coauthored with Siddharth Suri Ghostwork: How to Stop Silicon Valleyfrom Building a New Global Underclass focuses on how task based work is being utilized by bigger businesses and how this represents a change in the way we conceptualize work.In this episode we focus on:What is Ghost Work?The gap between what a person can do and what a computer can doAlgorithmic crueltyThe future of work and what that means for contract laborTech not as devices, but as conduits for social connectionHow to bring empathy into the workplaceWhere to Find Mary Gray:Website:https://marylgray.org/Twitter:https://twitter.com/marylgrayLinkedin:https://www.linkedin.com/in/marylgraymsr/Music: Epidemic SoundsDylan Sitts - Ice Cold Beverage91 Nova - LushworkBlue Steel - Up HereEpisode Art: Adam GamwellPhotograph in Episode Art: Adrianne MathiowetzEpisode Production: Elizabeth Smyth, Sarah McDonough, Adam Gamwell--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisanthrolife/message

Oscar Barrera is a Business Anthropologist based out of Veracruz, Mexico who brings a global mindset to helping businesses turn hurdles into opportunities for positive change. He is an expert in innovation, change management, and strategy. In this episode in partnership with Experience By Design podcast cohosts Adam Gamwell and Gary David dig into Oscar's story to learn the steps he took in moving from academia to business. We also dig intofollow along case stories of how Oscar used the social sciences to help businesses see and solve organizational problems, find new marketing opportunities, and help people craft new narratives that empower them to be the heroes of their own storieswhy we believe it is not only ethical to bring the social sciences into business, but why it is fundamentally necessary to do sohow to get started learning the world of businessThis episode is jam packed with great stories and advice!Connect with Oscar on LinkedInOscar's website (Spanish): Antropología Corporativa--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisanthrolife/message