Month: July 2017

Episode 5 God, Politics, and Anthropology – with Rev. Dr. Miranda Hassett

Anthropologist on the Street
Anthropologist on the Street
Episode 5 God, Politics, and Anthropology - with Rev. Dr. Miranda Hassett
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Rev. Dr. Miranda Hassett (photo courtesy of Rev. Hassett)

Rev. Dr. Miranda Hassett received her Ph.D. in anthropology before becoming an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church. In her book, Anglican Communion in Crisis: How Episcopal Dissidents and Their African Allies are Reshaping Anglicanism, she explores how political polarization drove a global wedge in the Anglican church, driving some conservative white American Episcopalians to break from the broader American church, instead allying with conservative African congregations. Rev. Hassett continues using anthropological methods today to better understand her congregants at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in Madison, Wisconsin, and discusses how anthropology can help people foster more meaning in their lives.
Continue reading Episode 5 God, Politics, and Anthropology – with Rev. Dr. Miranda Hassett

Episode 4 A New Kind of Family with “The Guys Next Door” with Amy Geller and Allie Humenuk

Anthropologist on the Street
Anthropologist on the Street
Episode 4 A New Kind of Family with "The Guys Next Door" with Amy Geller and Allie Humenuk
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The Guys Next Door poster
(photo courtesy of A Squared Films)

The Guys Next Door, an award-winning feature-length documentary film features Erik and Sandro, whose friend Rachel offers to be a surrogate for their two children. Although filmmakers Amy Geller and Allie Humenuk are not anthropologists, their film sparks conversation about core anthropological issues of kinship, social networks and gift giving, gender roles and parenting.

Amy and Allie have created a touching portrait of family life that humanizes the lives of lesser seen same-sex parents. In this episode, they discuss how their film shares in the conversation of what family is, and how, while family structures may change, family life is often surprisingly unsurprising.
Continue reading Episode 4 A New Kind of Family with “The Guys Next Door” with Amy Geller and Allie Humenuk

Episode 3 Digging for Truth on a Cherokee Plantation – with Dr. Lance Greene

Anthropologist on the Street
Anthropologist on the Street
Episode 3 Digging for Truth on a Cherokee Plantation - with Dr. Lance Greene
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Dr. Lance Greene (photo courtesy of Lance Greene)

Looking at a complex moment in American history, when Cherokee were being forced off their land by President Andrew Jackson, Dr. Lance Greene’s research brings to life a nineteenth century plantation in North Carolina, where Cherokees, whites, and enslaved Africans lived and worked together. Dr. Greene pieces together life on a Cherokee/Euro-American plantation through archaeological digs and historical documents, providing insight into both how Cherokee were changing to attempt to fit in to European-American culture and the ways they were resisting it. Dr. Greene walks us through what archaeology on a plantation site can reveal, and how the process of writing fictional stories of everyday life actually helps him fill in the gaps in his research.
Continue reading Episode 3 Digging for Truth on a Cherokee Plantation – with Dr. Lance Greene

Episode 2 Breast Milk Sharing and “Good” Mommies with Dr. Beatriz Reyes-Foster

Anthropologist on the Street
Anthropologist on the Street
Episode 2 Breast Milk Sharing and "Good" Mommies with Dr. Beatriz Reyes-Foster
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Dr. Beatriz Reyes-Foster Assistant Professor, Socio-Cultural Anthropology University of Central Florida

Human breast milk has become a hot commodity in the U.S., and parents have become creative in networking among moms who have milk to spare. Yet health officials, who continue to promote the standard that “breast is best”, are characterizing informal milk sharing as dangerous and risky; a depiction based not in fact but in assumption and a desire to control the circulation of this “liquid gold”.

In this episode, I talk to medical anthropologist Beatriz Reyes-Foster, a professor at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Reyes-Foster explains the new forms milk sharing is taking today, how “peer breast milk sharing” is rooted in a lack of support for new parents, and why we need to pay careful attention to the moralities hidden in how milk, moms, donors, and sharing practices are being discussed by health professionals.
Continue reading Episode 2 Breast Milk Sharing and “Good” Mommies with Dr. Beatriz Reyes-Foster