The Anthropology of Everyday Life

Scary Monkeys Threaten Town

Just as They Have Been Taught to Do.... A recent article in The New York Times tells the scary story of over 8,000 macaque monkeys taking over a town in Thailand during the Covid virus. The citizens of Lopburi were used to these animals roaming the ancient ruins and the temples in the area where they were fed by tourists. But now, the tourists are gone and the monkeys, who are conditioned to expect an unstoppable bounty of snacks and lunches, are hungry and on the prowl. Although small by money standards, and cute by…

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The Real Reason We Need Each Other

Our Very Identities Rely on Interpersonal Interaction  The rush to open the economy up again, even amid rising Covid-19 contagion, has been fueled, in part, by cries that humans are social animals and they need to be with each other. We assume that as a social species — as most primates are — that time around others is a more “natural” state than being alone, and therefore essential. But no one seems to know exactly why humans have this driving need to be in each other’s company. The idea that just being part of a…

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We Desperately Need Culture Brokers to Fix This Country but Where Are They? Where Are the Anthropologists?

Where is Margaret Mead When We Need Her?  We are in the midst of any number of internal culture wars within the United States, and these conflicts are destroying us as a nation. And yet, we have always been a culture of cultures. Since our founding, immigrants have contributed various perspectives and experiences, ethnicities have brought a panoply of beliefs and styles, distinct levels of socioeconomic status and educational experiences also separate people into other kinds of groups with various views. These differences used to be the gloriously complex fabric that made up…

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The Cultural Revolution of Eating Out

No One Used to Eat Out, but Now It's a National Pastime In the late 1970s, when I and my then-husband were graduate students, we had a special monthly ritual — we’d go to the local grocery store and buy two bear claws, those sugary almond-topped bakery delights. It felt like the greatest culinary treat in the world. We never went to restaurants nor picked up take-out food because we had no money for that, and because such an idea never occurred to us. Ever. We were people who made food at…

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