By ordering a higher fat and culturally appropriate meal, you are showing that you enjoy and are interested in participating in the cultural practices of your research community. However, are you sending mixed messages about nutrition and encouraging your research …

Order the sopes con carnitas (served with cheese and cream on top) Read more »

By ordering a salad, you present a healthy example while being honest about what you like to eat. However, are you simply reinforcing the stereotype of the slim upper/middle class New Yorker and making your participant feel self-conscious about her …

Order a salad Read more »

The researcher facing this dilemma is a New Yorker born and raised. Having attended university overseas, she decides to return to the City to work on an important piece of research the will add to the growing interest among public …

Promoting Healthy Eating or Unhealthy Stereotypes? Read more »

Each station on the Road of Development featured different anthropologists speaking about their research and edited into topics, framed in repurposed canvases.

coolAnthropology.com‘s mission is to expand the reach of anthropological research through informed discussions and dissemination. We do this through several different means- conceptualizing and/or collaborating on projects, designing teaching tools, electronic outreach. Perhaps one of most exciting means of dissemination …

Cool Installations #aaa2013 Read more »

the centrality of the anthropologist to their research is a source of constant reflection. removing oneself, it is impossible to tell the stories we are privileged to learn, but distorting or silencing those voices is to be avoided at all costs.

As we’ve been preparing for next week’s debut of our latest installation, “On the Road of Development,” I’ve been thinking quite a bit about perspective: what an anthropological perspective offers to discussions about issues of education, environment, infrastructure or economics, …

Road of Mirrors Read more »

as evening falls, the bulbs of the cruz del cerro San Cristobal are illuminated to dramatic effect with one flip of a switch

Afternoon turns to evening as families, friends and lovers take in the hazy sunset over Lima’s urban sprawl enclosed by the rolling mountains. The cross on the hill, or el Cruz del cerro San Cristobal, provides the ideal spot for …

An Evening in Lima Read more »

the Inca city is now reachable by train and bus but many visitors prefer to hike the Inca trail and enter through the Sun Gate

Standing 7,970 feet above sea level in the Andes mountains of Peru, the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu is probably among the most recognized and celebrated archaeological sites in the world. Its fame is not simply a result of …

The Fall and Rise of Machu Picchu Read more »

Kerry Hawk Lessard is an anthropologist, activist, writer and counselor as well as an all around inspirational force to be reckoned with. We gathered the pieces for this video installation from anthropologists in various stages of their careers working in …

Kerry Hawk Lessard on the Art of Resistance Read more »

the deer dance depicts many scenes related to the European conquest and is well-known for its elaborate costumes and masks, which belong to a certain groups of dancers and are handed down through generations

For Maya communities in Guatemala and Belize, mid-October is a time to remember and participate in celebrations that were important to mark the passing of years long before Columbus arrived in this part of the world. These photos capture moments …

“Anti-Columbus Day” Celebrations at Tikal, 2011 Read more »

kinship in sleep- babies sleep suspended while their mothers work together. Kinship bonds begin early.

One of the most “classic” topics studied by cultural anthropologists is kinship. Back in the discipline’s history, we find Lewis Henry Morgan taking care to decipher the many complex ways human societies trace our relatedness to one another. In Santa …

Wee Three Belize Read more »