Podcasts about Social anthropology

This episode features a conversation with award-winning speechwriter and author, Rune Kier Nielsen. It was recorded in June 2025.Rune has worked across the public and private sectors, including within the Danish Government as well as leading Danish technology companies, and as Public Advocacy Lead on Climate Action at the UN Environment Programme, where he led campaigns such as ACT NOW: Speak Up, empowering youth and communities in developing countries to drive systemic change.A two-time international Cicero Speechwriting Award winner, Rune has lectured widely and authored several books on climate speechwriting. Drawing on his background in Social Anthropology, he champions human-centered climate communication, guiding others to speak effectively about the world they want to see.He currently works at VIA University College, Denmark's largest and most international university college, where he develops engaging science communication strategies for the green transition.I discovered Rune through his most recent book, Speaking on Climate: A Guide to Speechwriting for a Better Future, which I would recommend to all climate communicators, since it offers foundational insights that are valuable not only for speechwriting, but climate communications of all kinds.Amongst other things, Rune and I discussed the mechanics of a powerful speech, where climate speeches have – and continue to – fall short, and the unique benefits this format offers for bringing people together and energising collective action.Additional linksVisit Rune's websiteHis latest book Speaking on Climate: A Guide to Speechwriting for a Better FutureCheck out Rune's video introduction to the bookRead the Kirkus review of the book here.Find Rune's book, Speaking on Climate, getting lots of love on We Don't Have Time

In Drama of Democracy: Political Representation in Mumbai (U Minnesota Press, 2025), Lisa Björkman invites our attention to political form and how they allow us to appreciate the various mediums through which representation is negotiated. Drawing on a decade of research in the city of Mumbai closely following the movements of corporation election candidates, protesting crowds, political rally organisers, and social workers, the book maps the linguistic, visual, sonic, and semiotic tools used to construct the spectacle of democracy. It asks: how does the figure of the crowd subvert what euromodern conceptions of political representation? How do films and their constructions of the public, the organising of rallies, election season cash flows, garlanding, placards and slogans in protests inform new meanings of representation? Through this richly engaging and genre-breaking work, Bjorkman offers new ways – originating from Mumbai – to explain the reorganisation of political authority around the world. Lisa Björkman is an Associate Professor in Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Louisville. She is the author of Pipe Politics, Contested Waters: Embedded Infrastructures of Millennial Mumbai, Waiting Town: Life in Transit and Mumbai's Other World-Class Histories, and Bombay Brokers. Lisa is also a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. Raghavi Viswanath is a postdoctoral researcher and teaching fellow at SOAS, University of London. Her research, supported by the Leverhulme Trust, examines how pastoralists claim grazing rights under India's Forest Rights Act 2006 and how the everyday processes of staking such claims has been impacted by the authoritarian turn in India. LinkedIn. Email:rv13@soas.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In Drama of Democracy: Political Representation in Mumbai (U Minnesota Press, 2025), Lisa Björkman invites our attention to political form and how they allow us to appreciate the various mediums through which representation is negotiated. Drawing on a decade of research in the city of Mumbai closely following the movements of corporation election candidates, protesting crowds, political rally organisers, and social workers, the book maps the linguistic, visual, sonic, and semiotic tools used to construct the spectacle of democracy. It asks: how does the figure of the crowd subvert what euromodern conceptions of political representation? How do films and their constructions of the public, the organising of rallies, election season cash flows, garlanding, placards and slogans in protests inform new meanings of representation? Through this richly engaging and genre-breaking work, Bjorkman offers new ways – originating from Mumbai – to explain the reorganisation of political authority around the world. Lisa Björkman is an Associate Professor in Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Louisville. She is the author of Pipe Politics, Contested Waters: Embedded Infrastructures of Millennial Mumbai, Waiting Town: Life in Transit and Mumbai's Other World-Class Histories, and Bombay Brokers. Lisa is also a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. Raghavi Viswanath is a postdoctoral researcher and teaching fellow at SOAS, University of London. Her research, supported by the Leverhulme Trust, examines how pastoralists claim grazing rights under India's Forest Rights Act 2006 and how the everyday processes of staking such claims has been impacted by the authoritarian turn in India. LinkedIn. Email:rv13@soas.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

In Drama of Democracy: Political Representation in Mumbai (U Minnesota Press, 2025), Lisa Björkman invites our attention to political form and how they allow us to appreciate the various mediums through which representation is negotiated. Drawing on a decade of research in the city of Mumbai closely following the movements of corporation election candidates, protesting crowds, political rally organisers, and social workers, the book maps the linguistic, visual, sonic, and semiotic tools used to construct the spectacle of democracy. It asks: how does the figure of the crowd subvert what euromodern conceptions of political representation? How do films and their constructions of the public, the organising of rallies, election season cash flows, garlanding, placards and slogans in protests inform new meanings of representation? Through this richly engaging and genre-breaking work, Bjorkman offers new ways – originating from Mumbai – to explain the reorganisation of political authority around the world. Lisa Björkman is an Associate Professor in Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Louisville. She is the author of Pipe Politics, Contested Waters: Embedded Infrastructures of Millennial Mumbai, Waiting Town: Life in Transit and Mumbai's Other World-Class Histories, and Bombay Brokers. Lisa is also a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. Raghavi Viswanath is a postdoctoral researcher and teaching fellow at SOAS, University of London. Her research, supported by the Leverhulme Trust, examines how pastoralists claim grazing rights under India's Forest Rights Act 2006 and how the everyday processes of staking such claims has been impacted by the authoritarian turn in India. LinkedIn. Email:rv13@soas.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

In Drama of Democracy: Political Representation in Mumbai (U Minnesota Press, 2025), Lisa Björkman invites our attention to political form and how they allow us to appreciate the various mediums through which representation is negotiated. Drawing on a decade of research in the city of Mumbai closely following the movements of corporation election candidates, protesting crowds, political rally organisers, and social workers, the book maps the linguistic, visual, sonic, and semiotic tools used to construct the spectacle of democracy. It asks: how does the figure of the crowd subvert what euromodern conceptions of political representation? How do films and their constructions of the public, the organising of rallies, election season cash flows, garlanding, placards and slogans in protests inform new meanings of representation? Through this richly engaging and genre-breaking work, Bjorkman offers new ways – originating from Mumbai – to explain the reorganisation of political authority around the world. Lisa Björkman is an Associate Professor in Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Louisville. She is the author of Pipe Politics, Contested Waters: Embedded Infrastructures of Millennial Mumbai, Waiting Town: Life in Transit and Mumbai's Other World-Class Histories, and Bombay Brokers. Lisa is also a research associate at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle. Raghavi Viswanath is a postdoctoral researcher and teaching fellow at SOAS, University of London. Her research, supported by the Leverhulme Trust, examines how pastoralists claim grazing rights under India's Forest Rights Act 2006 and how the everyday processes of staking such claims has been impacted by the authoritarian turn in India. LinkedIn. Email:rv13@soas.ac.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Veronika Sarma is a distinguished abstract artist, international model, pageant director, and philanthropist based in France. With more than two decades of experience in the modeling industry, she has walked runways at elite events including Paris Fashion Week and New York VIP Fashion Week, emphasizing authenticity and natural beauty amid pressures for artificial enhancements. Sarma has competed in 16 major international pageants, securing notable achievements such as a Top 15 placement at Mrs. World and Top Model honors at Mrs. Universe. In her roles as a pageant director, mentor, and regional director for Mrs. Universe, she focuses on coaching candidates in essential skills like catwalk technique, stage presence, and holistic preparation for global competitions.As an artist since 2008, Sarma has produced over 110 abstract works, drawing profound inspiration from pioneers such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Wassily Kandinsky. She integrates modern and contemporary elements into her intuitive, non-analytical process, resulting in pieces that have been featured in approximately 38 exhibitions across 11 countries, including placements in museum collections and sales at charity auctions. Her most recent bodies of work explore evolving themes, with exhibitions in cultural hubs like Paris, London, Rome, Milan, and Madrid receiving positive engagement from audiences and collectors through acquisitions and critical acclaim.Educated with degrees in Social Anthropology, International Relations (specializing in Diplomacy), and Psychology, Sarma applies these fields to enrich her endeavors in modeling, art, and mentorship. psychological background informs her facilitation of art therapy sessions for children particularly those in orphanages and elderly participants, structured around guiding concepts of emotional expression and healing. Sessions typically begin with relaxation exercises, followed by intuitive creation using simple materials, and conclude with reflective discussions to foster self-awareness and resilience.Sarma's extensive travels to over 40 countries have refined her views on beauty standards, cultural diversity, and personal development, reinforcing her commitment to an eco-friendly, vegan lifestyle and support for charities focused on animal welfare, environmental protection, and humanitarian aid. Her personal motto, “One day a believer becomes an achiever,” underscores the value of kindness in achieving fulfillment, as exemplified in instances where compassionate choices have led to unexpected professional opportunities. In her latest high-profile runway appearance in Paris, she demonstrated technical precision and commanding presence, reflecting her ongoing evolution as a model while advancing her advocacy for natural beauty through collaborations at prestigious events.

Ambassador Karpetova links the Czech Republic to Luxembourg through the life of the beloved Charles IV Ambassador Barbara Karpetová, the Czech Republic Ambassador to Luxembourg, is a Doctor of Social Anthropology. As such, she is fascinated by the way in which our world is shaped by humans and their choices or actions. Charles IV, a man so omnipresent in the lives of Czech people still today, is a man worth the study of a social anthropologist, as his life is far from ordinary. And indeed, his father was from Luxembourg.  Few historical figures embody Europe's interconnected identity as vividly as Emperor Charles IV. Born in 1316 to a Luxembourgish father and a Czech mother, Charles would become one of the most enlightened rulers of the Middle Ages: the greatest Czech of all time according to so many Czech polls, and arguably the most influential Luxembourger in European history. Yet many in Luxembourg remain unaware that this remarkable visionary, whose reign transformed Central Europe, was one of their own. Charles IV's early life was shaped by trauma and displacement. Taken from his mother at the age of three amid political turmoil, he spent his formative years at the French court, where he absorbed languages, diplomacy, and intellectual rigour. His father, John the Blind of Luxembourg, a charismatic but restless knight-king, embodied glory and instability in equal measure. His mother, Elizabeth of Bohemia, offered emotional depth, cultural identity, and spiritual grounding, although her own tragic life imprinted upon him a lifelong empathy and introspection. These tensions forged a ruler who sought stability, reflection, and humane governance rather than the cycle of destruction so common in his era. Unlike many medieval monarchs who fashioned their legacy through conquest, Charles IV built his through construction and culture. In Prague, he imagined and executed a city worthy of an imperial capital: Charles Bridge, St Vitus Cathedral, the New Town of Prague, and the glittering fortress of Karlštejn, his sanctuary for meditation and prayer. These were not monuments of vanity but investments in civic life, education, and international exchange. Above all, his founding of Charles University in 1348, the first in Central Europe, signalled a radical belief: that a prosperous society begins with knowledge, openness, and shared intellectual endeavour. Charles IV was also a political architect. His Golden Bull of 1356 established clear rules for imperial elections and gave the Holy Roman Empire centuries of stability. This was an achievement so visionary that historians still marvel at its durability today. His reign was defined by diplomacy, multilingual engagement, and the kind of pragmatic cooperation that Luxembourg cherishes today. A fluent speaker of five languages, he travelled extensively, preferring personal dialogue over emissaries. His political style, rooted in listening and persuasion rather than coercion, made him a quietly transformative figure in a turbulent century. Though he carried Luxembourgish blood and Czech devotion in equal measure, Charles IV saw Europe as a unified web long before the concept existed. He moved between courts, cultures, and identities with the ease of a modern European statesman. His values of multilingualism, education, peaceful leadership, and cultural openness mirror those of Luxembourg today, a nation where diversity is not a challenge but a strength. In many ways, Charles IV was Europe before Europe: a bridge between peoples whose life story reminds us that one person, or small countries, can shape the continent in profound ways. This Advent season, his legacy carries a particularly resonant message. In an age of fast decisions and constant noise, Charles IV was a ruler who stopped, reflected, prayed, and reshaped his world with intention. He believed deeply in service, in building rather than breaking, and in leading through wisdom rather than force. His life encourages us to pause, to examine our direction, and to choose the kind of leadership—personal or political—that uplifts rather than divides. For Luxembourg and the Czech Republic, Charles IV is not just shared history; he is shared inspiration. A child of two nations, a builder of cities, a scholar-king, a European long before the invention of the term. He is a reminder that greatness can arise from unlikely circumstances, and that values rooted in openness, stability, and compassion endure across centuries. And in the heart of Prague, where his bridges cross the Vltava and his university still thrives, Charles IV continues to welcome the world, just as he did in life.

In today's episode, we talk to Tom Bratrud about his ongoing, long-term work with city-dwellers who migrate to rural parts of Norway. This research forms the basis of Tom's forthcoming book project, which has the working title Rurality 2.0: Redefining Urban-Rural Divides in the Mountains of Norway. Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. His research investigates social life, political dynamics, value(es), religion/worldviews, emerging technologies, environmental issues and rural-urban relations. Prior to his work in his home valley of Valdres in southern Norway, he conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Vanuatu in the South-Pacific—resulting in his first monograph Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu (Berghahn 2022). Tom is the co-convenor of European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA)'s Future Anthropologies Network. Just after we spoke, Tom was also awarded the inaugural Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize, presented during the Norwegian Anthropological Association's Conference in Oslo at the end of October 2025. In explaining their decision, the jury commented that Bratrud “unites global and local perspectives and shows how social anthropological approach and methodology become a key to understanding ongoing change.” Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. Tom Bratrud receives the Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In today's episode, we talk to Tom Bratrud about his ongoing, long-term work with city-dwellers who migrate to rural parts of Norway. This research forms the basis of Tom's forthcoming book project, which has the working title Rurality 2.0: Redefining Urban-Rural Divides in the Mountains of Norway. Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. His research investigates social life, political dynamics, value(es), religion/worldviews, emerging technologies, environmental issues and rural-urban relations. Prior to his work in his home valley of Valdres in southern Norway, he conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Vanuatu in the South-Pacific—resulting in his first monograph Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu (Berghahn 2022). Tom is the co-convenor of European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA)'s Future Anthropologies Network. Just after we spoke, Tom was also awarded the inaugural Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize, presented during the Norwegian Anthropological Association's Conference in Oslo at the end of October 2025. In explaining their decision, the jury commented that Bratrud “unites global and local perspectives and shows how social anthropological approach and methodology become a key to understanding ongoing change.” Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. Tom Bratrud receives the Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

In today's episode, we talk to Tom Bratrud about his ongoing, long-term work with city-dwellers who migrate to rural parts of Norway. This research forms the basis of Tom's forthcoming book project, which has the working title Rurality 2.0: Redefining Urban-Rural Divides in the Mountains of Norway. Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. His research investigates social life, political dynamics, value(es), religion/worldviews, emerging technologies, environmental issues and rural-urban relations. Prior to his work in his home valley of Valdres in southern Norway, he conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Vanuatu in the South-Pacific—resulting in his first monograph Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu (Berghahn 2022). Tom is the co-convenor of European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA)'s Future Anthropologies Network. Just after we spoke, Tom was also awarded the inaugural Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize, presented during the Norwegian Anthropological Association's Conference in Oslo at the end of October 2025. In explaining their decision, the jury commented that Bratrud “unites global and local perspectives and shows how social anthropological approach and methodology become a key to understanding ongoing change.” Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. Tom Bratrud receives the Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

In today's episode, we talk to Tom Bratrud about his ongoing, long-term work with city-dwellers who migrate to rural parts of Norway. This research forms the basis of Tom's forthcoming book project, which has the working title Rurality 2.0: Redefining Urban-Rural Divides in the Mountains of Norway. Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. His research investigates social life, political dynamics, value(es), religion/worldviews, emerging technologies, environmental issues and rural-urban relations. Prior to his work in his home valley of Valdres in southern Norway, he conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Vanuatu in the South-Pacific—resulting in his first monograph Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu (Berghahn 2022). Tom is the co-convenor of European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA)'s Future Anthropologies Network. Just after we spoke, Tom was also awarded the inaugural Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize, presented during the Norwegian Anthropological Association's Conference in Oslo at the end of October 2025. In explaining their decision, the jury commented that Bratrud “unites global and local perspectives and shows how social anthropological approach and methodology become a key to understanding ongoing change.” Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. Tom Bratrud receives the Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/european-studies

In today's episode, we talk to Tom Bratrud about his ongoing, long-term work with city-dwellers who migrate to rural parts of Norway. This research forms the basis of Tom's forthcoming book project, which has the working title Rurality 2.0: Redefining Urban-Rural Divides in the Mountains of Norway. Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. His research investigates social life, political dynamics, value(es), religion/worldviews, emerging technologies, environmental issues and rural-urban relations. Prior to his work in his home valley of Valdres in southern Norway, he conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in Vanuatu in the South-Pacific—resulting in his first monograph Fire on the Island: Fear, Hope and a Christian Revival in Vanuatu (Berghahn 2022). Tom is the co-convenor of European Association of Social Anthropology (EASA)'s Future Anthropologies Network. Just after we spoke, Tom was also awarded the inaugural Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize, presented during the Norwegian Anthropological Association's Conference in Oslo at the end of October 2025. In explaining their decision, the jury commented that Bratrud “unites global and local perspectives and shows how social anthropological approach and methodology become a key to understanding ongoing change.” Tom Bratrud is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen. Tom Bratrud receives the Thomas Hylland Eriksen Memorial Prize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever wonder why your best advice falls flat? Or why it's hard to give good feedback successfully? If you've ever struggled with giving feedback that doesn't stick, managing teams that feel disconnected, or making decisions with incomplete information, this episode offers a mindset shift that transforms not just conversations, but organizational culture itself.You've been there: a colleague asks for help, you offer your hard-won wisdom, and it lands like a lead balloon. They've already tried it. Or worse, they nod politely and do nothing. Or you offer mentorship to help a new team member or someone earlier in their career avoid the mistakes you made. You thought you were doing them a favor but instead, it felt unappreciated. The problem? You diagnosed and told before you understood.Peter Schein—consultant, author, and collaborator with his late father, legendary MIT Professor Ed Schein—joins me to explore Humble Inquiry, a deceptively simple practice that transforms how leaders navigate complexity and improve organizational effectiveness. This isn't about active listening techniques you learned in your last training. It's about fundamentally shifting a culturally-embedded mindset from transactional, efficiency-focused exchanges to one that requires the art and attitude for greater human effectiveness.We dive into why efficiency often sabotages effectiveness, how AI and remote work make this skill more critical than ever, and what types of conversations unlock breakthrough thinking.***ABOUT OUR GUEST:Peter Schein is a consultant, author and keynote speaker based in Menlo Park, CA. Following a 30 year career in Silicon Valley, Peter teamed up with his father, renowned MIT Professor Ed Schein to start the Organizational Culture and Leadership Institute. Over eight years together Peter and Ed published seven books and numerous papers on Humble Inquiry, Organizational Culture, Careers, and Humble Leadership. Peters continues the work following his father's death in 2023 with the recent release of Humble Inquiry 3rd Edition. Peter has a BA in Social Anthropology from Stanford and an MBA from Kellogg/Northwestern.***FIND OUR GUEST HERE:www.ocli.org***IF YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE, CAN I ASK A FAVOR?We do not receive any funding or sponsorship for this podcast. If you learned something and feel others could also benefit, please leave a positive review. Every review helps amplify our work and visibility. This is especially helpful for small women-owned boot-strapped businesses. Simply go to the bottom of the Apple Podcast page to enter a review. Thank you!Subscribe to my free newsletter at: mailchi.mp/2079c04f4d44/subscribeWork with me one-on-one: calendly.com/mira-brancu/30-minute-initial-consultationConnect with me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/MiraBrancuLearn more about my services: www.gotowerscope.comGet practical workplace politics tips from my books: gotowerscope.com/booksAdd this podcast to your feed: www.listennotes.com/podcasts/the-hard-skills-dr-mira-brancu-m0QzwsFiBGE/www.ocli.org

Kenneth Bo Nielsen is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and leader of the Centre for South Asian Democracy. M. Sudhir Selvaraj is Assistant Professor at the Department of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford. Kathinka Frøystad is Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Oslo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Kenneth Bo Nielsen is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and leader of the Centre for South Asian Democracy. M. Sudhir Selvaraj is Assistant Professor at the Department of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford. Kathinka Frøystad is Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Oslo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/political-science

Kenneth Bo Nielsen is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and leader of the Centre for South Asian Democracy. M. Sudhir Selvaraj is Assistant Professor at the Department of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford. Kathinka Frøystad is Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Oslo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Kenneth Bo Nielsen is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and leader of the Centre for South Asian Democracy. M. Sudhir Selvaraj is Assistant Professor at the Department of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford. Kathinka Frøystad is Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Oslo.

Kenneth Bo Nielsen is Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo and leader of the Centre for South Asian Democracy. M. Sudhir Selvaraj is Assistant Professor at the Department of Peace Studies and International Development at the University of Bradford. Kathinka Frøystad is Professor of South Asia Studies at the University of Oslo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/indian-religions

How did India's landmark Forest Rights Act come into being? And what difference has it made to the lives of historically marginalized forest-dwelling communities? These questions are at the heart of Anand Vaidya's new monograph Future of the forest: Struggles over land and law in India that we discuss in this episode. Future of the forest offers a compelling account of the making, implementation, and partial unravelling of the Forest Rights Act, and traces the complex ways in which collective action and mobilization have shaped the use and impact of this potentially revolutionary legislation. Anand P. Vaidya is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Reed College. Kenneth Bo Nielsen is an Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo where he also heads the Centre for South Asian Democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

How did India's landmark Forest Rights Act come into being? And what difference has it made to the lives of historically marginalized forest-dwelling communities? These questions are at the heart of Anand Vaidya's new monograph Future of the forest: Struggles over land and law in India that we discuss in this episode. Future of the forest offers a compelling account of the making, implementation, and partial unravelling of the Forest Rights Act, and traces the complex ways in which collective action and mobilization have shaped the use and impact of this potentially revolutionary legislation. Anand P. Vaidya is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Reed College. Kenneth Bo Nielsen is an Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo where he also heads the Centre for South Asian Democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

How did India's landmark Forest Rights Act come into being? And what difference has it made to the lives of historically marginalized forest-dwelling communities? These questions are at the heart of Anand Vaidya's new monograph Future of the forest: Struggles over land and law in India that we discuss in this episode. Future of the forest offers a compelling account of the making, implementation, and partial unravelling of the Forest Rights Act, and traces the complex ways in which collective action and mobilization have shaped the use and impact of this potentially revolutionary legislation. Anand P. Vaidya is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Reed College. Kenneth Bo Nielsen is an Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo where he also heads the Centre for South Asian Democracy.

How did India's landmark Forest Rights Act come into being? And what difference has it made to the lives of historically marginalized forest-dwelling communities? These questions are at the heart of Anand Vaidya's new monograph Future of the forest: Struggles over land and law in India that we discuss in this episode. Future of the forest offers a compelling account of the making, implementation, and partial unravelling of the Forest Rights Act, and traces the complex ways in which collective action and mobilization have shaped the use and impact of this potentially revolutionary legislation. Anand P. Vaidya is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Reed College. Kenneth Bo Nielsen is an Associate Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo where he also heads the Centre for South Asian Democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law

Prof Mukul Sharma is a professor of Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. His formal training is in Political Science and has worked as a special correspondent with a leading news outlet in India and received 12 national and international awards for his environmental, rural and human rights journalism. additionally he has also been the Director Amnesty International and South Asia of Climate Parliament. His scholarly has focused on environmental politics and discourses in India and explored crucial intersections of ecology, caste, political ideology and the development rhetoric.  Abhilasha Jain is an anthropologist with an MSc in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPhil in Gender Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is currently working as an independent researcher focusing on climate justice, digital infrastructure and digital rights for children/youth.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Prof Mukul Sharma is a professor of Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. His formal training is in Political Science and has worked as a special correspondent with a leading news outlet in India and received 12 national and international awards for his environmental, rural and human rights journalism. additionally he has also been the Director Amnesty International and South Asia of Climate Parliament. His scholarly has focused on environmental politics and discourses in India and explored crucial intersections of ecology, caste, political ideology and the development rhetoric.  Abhilasha Jain is an anthropologist with an MSc in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPhil in Gender Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is currently working as an independent researcher focusing on climate justice, digital infrastructure and digital rights for children/youth.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/environmental-studies

Prof Mukul Sharma is a professor of Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. His formal training is in Political Science and has worked as a special correspondent with a leading news outlet in India and received 12 national and international awards for his environmental, rural and human rights journalism. additionally he has also been the Director Amnesty International and South Asia of Climate Parliament. His scholarly has focused on environmental politics and discourses in India and explored crucial intersections of ecology, caste, political ideology and the development rhetoric.  Abhilasha Jain is an anthropologist with an MSc in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPhil in Gender Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is currently working as an independent researcher focusing on climate justice, digital infrastructure and digital rights for children/youth.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Prof Mukul Sharma is a professor of Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. His formal training is in Political Science and has worked as a special correspondent with a leading news outlet in India and received 12 national and international awards for his environmental, rural and human rights journalism. additionally he has also been the Director Amnesty International and South Asia of Climate Parliament. His scholarly has focused on environmental politics and discourses in India and explored crucial intersections of ecology, caste, political ideology and the development rhetoric.  Abhilasha Jain is an anthropologist with an MSc in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPhil in Gender Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is currently working as an independent researcher focusing on climate justice, digital infrastructure and digital rights for children/youth.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Prof Mukul Sharma is a professor of Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. His formal training is in Political Science and has worked as a special correspondent with a leading news outlet in India and received 12 national and international awards for his environmental, rural and human rights journalism. additionally he has also been the Director Amnesty International and South Asia of Climate Parliament. His scholarly has focused on environmental politics and discourses in India and explored crucial intersections of ecology, caste, political ideology and the development rhetoric.  Abhilasha Jain is an anthropologist with an MSc in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPhil in Gender Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is currently working as an independent researcher focusing on climate justice, digital infrastructure and digital rights for children/youth.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/south-asian-studies

Prof Mukul Sharma is a professor of Environmental Studies at Ashoka University. His formal training is in Political Science and has worked as a special correspondent with a leading news outlet in India and received 12 national and international awards for his environmental, rural and human rights journalism. additionally he has also been the Director Amnesty International and South Asia of Climate Parliament. His scholarly has focused on environmental politics and discourses in India and explored crucial intersections of ecology, caste, political ideology and the development rhetoric.  Abhilasha Jain is an anthropologist with an MSc in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science and an MPhil in Gender Studies from Jawaharlal Nehru University. She is currently working as an independent researcher focusing on climate justice, digital infrastructure and digital rights for children/youth.  

China's youth unemployment rate has stayed stubbornly high since Covid, and is currently above 14%.As a result, some young people have taken to pretending to have a job.They are facilitated in this by The Pretend To Work Company, but what exactly is this company, and why are they so popular?Professor Xiang Biao is Director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and joins Seán to discuss.

More than a thousand AI medical devices have FDA clearance, yet fewer than two percent of radiologists actually use them.In this episode, Steve sits down with Dr. Brian Anderson—CEO and co‑founder of the Coalition for Health AI—to unpack why trust, transparency, and regulation could make or break the next wave of AI‑powered medicine.We cover:

"The division of the world is creating a conflict of interest." -MasaIn this episode, Dr Espen and Masa Mezaki explore the intricate balance between achieving financial success and living a spiritually fulfilling life. Masa shares his journey from a high-powered finance career to a decade of global travel and spiritual exploration, ultimately leading him to create a renewable energy business that benefits local communities. The discussion emphasizes the importance of happiness through service, the interconnectedness of humanity, and the need for a unified approach to global challenges.About our guest:Graduated from the Faculty of Commerce, Keio University in Japan. Master of Social Anthropology from London School of Economics (LSE), University of London, and was an interest rate derivative trader for Merrill Lynch working in Tokyo, New York and London. After leaving Merrill Lynch, travelled to more than 100 countries around the world for nearly 10 years. In 2012, set up Japan Megasolar Inc. to achieve grid parity with photovoltaic power generation. Looking to the development of renewable energy business, changed the company name to GPSS Holdings Inc. in April 2017. Also conducts educational activities for dissemination of renewable energy information through various media.

Through deep attention to sense and feeling, Go with God grapples with the centrality of Evangelical faith in Rio de Janeiro's subúrbios, the city's expansive and sprawling peripheral communities. Based on sensory ethnographic fieldwork and attuned to religious desire and manipulation, this book shows how Evangelical belief has changed the way people understand their lives in relation to Brazil's history of violent racial differentiation and inequality. From expressions of otherworldly hope to political exhaustion, Go with God depicts Evangelical life as it is lived and explores where people turn to find grace, possibility, and a future. Mentioned in this episode: Denyer Willis, Laurie. 2018. “‘It smells like a thousand angels marching': The Salvific Sensorium in Rio de Janeiro's Western Subúrbios.” Cultural Anthropology 33, no. 2: 324–348. Laurie Denyer Willis is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Liliana Gil is Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies (STS) at The Ohio State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Through deep attention to sense and feeling, Go with God grapples with the centrality of Evangelical faith in Rio de Janeiro's subúrbios, the city's expansive and sprawling peripheral communities. Based on sensory ethnographic fieldwork and attuned to religious desire and manipulation, this book shows how Evangelical belief has changed the way people understand their lives in relation to Brazil's history of violent racial differentiation and inequality. From expressions of otherworldly hope to political exhaustion, Go with God depicts Evangelical life as it is lived and explores where people turn to find grace, possibility, and a future. Mentioned in this episode: Denyer Willis, Laurie. 2018. “‘It smells like a thousand angels marching': The Salvific Sensorium in Rio de Janeiro's Western Subúrbios.” Cultural Anthropology 33, no. 2: 324–348. Laurie Denyer Willis is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Liliana Gil is Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies (STS) at The Ohio State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies

Through deep attention to sense and feeling, Go with God grapples with the centrality of Evangelical faith in Rio de Janeiro's subúrbios, the city's expansive and sprawling peripheral communities. Based on sensory ethnographic fieldwork and attuned to religious desire and manipulation, this book shows how Evangelical belief has changed the way people understand their lives in relation to Brazil's history of violent racial differentiation and inequality. From expressions of otherworldly hope to political exhaustion, Go with God depicts Evangelical life as it is lived and explores where people turn to find grace, possibility, and a future. Mentioned in this episode: Denyer Willis, Laurie. 2018. “‘It smells like a thousand angels marching': The Salvific Sensorium in Rio de Janeiro's Western Subúrbios.” Cultural Anthropology 33, no. 2: 324–348. Laurie Denyer Willis is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Liliana Gil is Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies (STS) at The Ohio State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

Through deep attention to sense and feeling, Go with God grapples with the centrality of Evangelical faith in Rio de Janeiro's subúrbios, the city's expansive and sprawling peripheral communities. Based on sensory ethnographic fieldwork and attuned to religious desire and manipulation, this book shows how Evangelical belief has changed the way people understand their lives in relation to Brazil's history of violent racial differentiation and inequality. From expressions of otherworldly hope to political exhaustion, Go with God depicts Evangelical life as it is lived and explores where people turn to find grace, possibility, and a future. Mentioned in this episode: Denyer Willis, Laurie. 2018. “‘It smells like a thousand angels marching': The Salvific Sensorium in Rio de Janeiro's Western Subúrbios.” Cultural Anthropology 33, no. 2: 324–348. Laurie Denyer Willis is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Liliana Gil is Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies (STS) at The Ohio State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sociology

Through deep attention to sense and feeling, Go with God grapples with the centrality of Evangelical faith in Rio de Janeiro's subúrbios, the city's expansive and sprawling peripheral communities. Based on sensory ethnographic fieldwork and attuned to religious desire and manipulation, this book shows how Evangelical belief has changed the way people understand their lives in relation to Brazil's history of violent racial differentiation and inequality. From expressions of otherworldly hope to political exhaustion, Go with God depicts Evangelical life as it is lived and explores where people turn to find grace, possibility, and a future. Mentioned in this episode: Denyer Willis, Laurie. 2018. “‘It smells like a thousand angels marching': The Salvific Sensorium in Rio de Janeiro's Western Subúrbios.” Cultural Anthropology 33, no. 2: 324–348. Laurie Denyer Willis is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Liliana Gil is Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies (STS) at The Ohio State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Through deep attention to sense and feeling, Go with God grapples with the centrality of Evangelical faith in Rio de Janeiro's subúrbios, the city's expansive and sprawling peripheral communities. Based on sensory ethnographic fieldwork and attuned to religious desire and manipulation, this book shows how Evangelical belief has changed the way people understand their lives in relation to Brazil's history of violent racial differentiation and inequality. From expressions of otherworldly hope to political exhaustion, Go with God depicts Evangelical life as it is lived and explores where people turn to find grace, possibility, and a future. Mentioned in this episode: Denyer Willis, Laurie. 2018. “‘It smells like a thousand angels marching': The Salvific Sensorium in Rio de Janeiro's Western Subúrbios.” Cultural Anthropology 33, no. 2: 324–348. Laurie Denyer Willis is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Liliana Gil is Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies (STS) at The Ohio State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Through deep attention to sense and feeling, Go with God grapples with the centrality of Evangelical faith in Rio de Janeiro's subúrbios, the city's expansive and sprawling peripheral communities. Based on sensory ethnographic fieldwork and attuned to religious desire and manipulation, this book shows how Evangelical belief has changed the way people understand their lives in relation to Brazil's history of violent racial differentiation and inequality. From expressions of otherworldly hope to political exhaustion, Go with God depicts Evangelical life as it is lived and explores where people turn to find grace, possibility, and a future. Mentioned in this episode: Denyer Willis, Laurie. 2018. “‘It smells like a thousand angels marching': The Salvific Sensorium in Rio de Janeiro's Western Subúrbios.” Cultural Anthropology 33, no. 2: 324–348. Laurie Denyer Willis is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Liliana Gil is Assistant Professor of Comparative Studies (STS) at The Ohio State University. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the final episode of “Currency Experiments & Value Conversions” Ferda Nur Demirci and Daromir Rudnyckyj discuss the 2023 article “'Every dollar has its own problem': Discrepant dollars and the social topography of fungibility in multicurrency era Zimbabwe” with its author, Chris Vasantkumar, an anthropologist based at Macquarie University. The discussion addresses Zimbabwe's complex monetary landscape, particularly during the “multi-currency era” (2009–2019). Vasantkumar explains how people navigated the overlapping currency forms that circulated in the country, including U.S. dollars, bond notes, RTGS balances, and EcoCash, in the context of chronic economic instability and hyperinflation. Vasantkumar challenges assumptions about the fungibility of money, drawing on Zimbabwean experiences to critique dominant theories such as Viviana Zelizer's notion of “earmarking.” The discussion highlights how different forms of money were materially and symbolically non-interchangeable, creating arbitrage opportunities and shaping social relationships. The wide-ranging conversation also addresses the politics of cashlessness, the affective dimensions of monetary trust, and how divergent conceptions of value can inform a decolonial reorientation of economic anthropology. Chris Vasantkumar is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology in the School of Communication, Society, & Culture at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He is also the co-convenor of the Future of Money Project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His work has two primary foci. First, since 2018, he has ethnographically investigated the crisis economy in contemporary Zimbabwe, with a focus on the collapse of trust in state currency and its effects on middle-class attitudes toward money, planning, and the future. Vasantkumar's research interests include broader theoretical approaches to money and exchange. His in-progress book manuscript, Trinkets: Discordances of Value in More-Than-Human Economies, advocates the decolonizing of received settler-mercantile exchange theories, as developed out of his analysis of early encounters between Europeans and the Indigenous peoples of Africa and North America. Podcast Co-Hosts Ferda Nur Demirci, co-host of Currency Experiments & Value Conversions, is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, working in the Department of Economic Experimentation. Her research explores the intersections of financial inclusion policies, kinship obligations, resource extraction economies, and authoritarian governance, with a particular focus on the cycles of indebtedness affecting working-class families in Turkey. Her work has been published in both English and Turkish in outlets such as Antipode Online, Dialectical Anthropology, and 1+1. She is also a research associate in the Counter Currency Laboratory at the University of Victoria.  Daromir Rudnyckyj, co-host of Currency Experiments & Value Conversions is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, where he serves as Director of the Counter Currency Laboratory.  His research addresses money, religion, development, capitalism, finance, and the state.  Dr. Rudnyckyj's current project examines the techno-politics of money, with a focus on experiments in producing complementary monetary forms. His most recent journal articles include “Econography: Approaches to Expert Capitalism,” in Current Anthropology and “The Protestantism of Neoliberalism” in Culture, Theory, & Critique. He is the author of Beyond Debt: Islamic Experiments in Global Finance (Chicago 2019) and Spiritual Economies: Islam, Globalization, and the Afterlife of Development (Cornell 2010), which was awarded a Sharon Stephens Prize by the American Ethnological Society.

A richly cinematic and compelling look at priest-politicians in Brazil and their religious and secular entanglements, Vote of Faith: Democracy, Desire, and the Turbulent Lives of Priest Politicians (Fordham UP, 2024) explores the complex intersection of democracy, patriarchy, and religiosity in Brazil. For over a hundred years, Catholic priests have been running for government office, challenging Brazil's constitutional separation of church and state and its self-image as a modern, secular nation. Priests find themselves walking a tightrope between religious and secular demands in one of Brazil's poorest regions. Vote of Faith is a beautifully crafted ethnography based upon decades of fieldwork that tells the story of the ambiguous and frequently transgressive relationship between Catholicism and state governance, a relationship ultimately mediated by kinship, gender, and sexuality. For the protagonists of Vote of Faith, democracy becomes a sphere in which divine will and human ambition compete with one another, a tension embedded in the vernacular concept of faith. In the Brazilian context, faith signifies a complex set of assumptions about the nature of the world, assumptions derived not just from Christianity, but also from Afro-Brazilian and secular ideas about power, causation, and human agency. In combining ethnographic, theological, and feminist perspectives, Vote of Faith places desiring bodies at the very heart of Catholicism's complex con­nection to multiple forms of power and offers provocative new angles on the question of the secular. The first work by an anthropologist to explore the unique phenomenon of the mayor-priest, this book offers an essential new angle on emerging debates about secularity as the condition of separation of the religious from the political. Brimming with originality, Vote of Faith is required reading for those interested in the gendered and sexual dimensions of the secular, the plasticity of religion, and the fundamental nature of the world's largest religious institution. Maya Mayblin is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Her work explores religion, theology, politics, and gender in Brazil and beyond. She is the author of Gender, Morality and Catholicism in Brazil and co-editor of The Anthropology of Catholicism: A Reader. Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, development studies, hope studies, and the anthropology of borders and frontiers. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

A richly cinematic and compelling look at priest-politicians in Brazil and their religious and secular entanglements, Vote of Faith: Democracy, Desire, and the Turbulent Lives of Priest Politicians (Fordham UP, 2024) explores the complex intersection of democracy, patriarchy, and religiosity in Brazil. For over a hundred years, Catholic priests have been running for government office, challenging Brazil's constitutional separation of church and state and its self-image as a modern, secular nation. Priests find themselves walking a tightrope between religious and secular demands in one of Brazil's poorest regions. Vote of Faith is a beautifully crafted ethnography based upon decades of fieldwork that tells the story of the ambiguous and frequently transgressive relationship between Catholicism and state governance, a relationship ultimately mediated by kinship, gender, and sexuality. For the protagonists of Vote of Faith, democracy becomes a sphere in which divine will and human ambition compete with one another, a tension embedded in the vernacular concept of faith. In the Brazilian context, faith signifies a complex set of assumptions about the nature of the world, assumptions derived not just from Christianity, but also from Afro-Brazilian and secular ideas about power, causation, and human agency. In combining ethnographic, theological, and feminist perspectives, Vote of Faith places desiring bodies at the very heart of Catholicism's complex con­nection to multiple forms of power and offers provocative new angles on the question of the secular. The first work by an anthropologist to explore the unique phenomenon of the mayor-priest, this book offers an essential new angle on emerging debates about secularity as the condition of separation of the religious from the political. Brimming with originality, Vote of Faith is required reading for those interested in the gendered and sexual dimensions of the secular, the plasticity of religion, and the fundamental nature of the world's largest religious institution. Maya Mayblin is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Her work explores religion, theology, politics, and gender in Brazil and beyond. She is the author of Gender, Morality and Catholicism in Brazil and co-editor of The Anthropology of Catholicism: A Reader. Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, development studies, hope studies, and the anthropology of borders and frontiers. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/latin-american-studies

A richly cinematic and compelling look at priest-politicians in Brazil and their religious and secular entanglements, Vote of Faith: Democracy, Desire, and the Turbulent Lives of Priest Politicians (Fordham UP, 2024) explores the complex intersection of democracy, patriarchy, and religiosity in Brazil. For over a hundred years, Catholic priests have been running for government office, challenging Brazil's constitutional separation of church and state and its self-image as a modern, secular nation. Priests find themselves walking a tightrope between religious and secular demands in one of Brazil's poorest regions. Vote of Faith is a beautifully crafted ethnography based upon decades of fieldwork that tells the story of the ambiguous and frequently transgressive relationship between Catholicism and state governance, a relationship ultimately mediated by kinship, gender, and sexuality. For the protagonists of Vote of Faith, democracy becomes a sphere in which divine will and human ambition compete with one another, a tension embedded in the vernacular concept of faith. In the Brazilian context, faith signifies a complex set of assumptions about the nature of the world, assumptions derived not just from Christianity, but also from Afro-Brazilian and secular ideas about power, causation, and human agency. In combining ethnographic, theological, and feminist perspectives, Vote of Faith places desiring bodies at the very heart of Catholicism's complex con­nection to multiple forms of power and offers provocative new angles on the question of the secular. The first work by an anthropologist to explore the unique phenomenon of the mayor-priest, this book offers an essential new angle on emerging debates about secularity as the condition of separation of the religious from the political. Brimming with originality, Vote of Faith is required reading for those interested in the gendered and sexual dimensions of the secular, the plasticity of religion, and the fundamental nature of the world's largest religious institution. Maya Mayblin is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Her work explores religion, theology, politics, and gender in Brazil and beyond. She is the author of Gender, Morality and Catholicism in Brazil and co-editor of The Anthropology of Catholicism: A Reader. Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, development studies, hope studies, and the anthropology of borders and frontiers. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/anthropology

A richly cinematic and compelling look at priest-politicians in Brazil and their religious and secular entanglements, Vote of Faith: Democracy, Desire, and the Turbulent Lives of Priest Politicians (Fordham UP, 2024) explores the complex intersection of democracy, patriarchy, and religiosity in Brazil. For over a hundred years, Catholic priests have been running for government office, challenging Brazil's constitutional separation of church and state and its self-image as a modern, secular nation. Priests find themselves walking a tightrope between religious and secular demands in one of Brazil's poorest regions. Vote of Faith is a beautifully crafted ethnography based upon decades of fieldwork that tells the story of the ambiguous and frequently transgressive relationship between Catholicism and state governance, a relationship ultimately mediated by kinship, gender, and sexuality. For the protagonists of Vote of Faith, democracy becomes a sphere in which divine will and human ambition compete with one another, a tension embedded in the vernacular concept of faith. In the Brazilian context, faith signifies a complex set of assumptions about the nature of the world, assumptions derived not just from Christianity, but also from Afro-Brazilian and secular ideas about power, causation, and human agency. In combining ethnographic, theological, and feminist perspectives, Vote of Faith places desiring bodies at the very heart of Catholicism's complex con­nection to multiple forms of power and offers provocative new angles on the question of the secular. The first work by an anthropologist to explore the unique phenomenon of the mayor-priest, this book offers an essential new angle on emerging debates about secularity as the condition of separation of the religious from the political. Brimming with originality, Vote of Faith is required reading for those interested in the gendered and sexual dimensions of the secular, the plasticity of religion, and the fundamental nature of the world's largest religious institution. Maya Mayblin is Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. Her work explores religion, theology, politics, and gender in Brazil and beyond. She is the author of Gender, Morality and Catholicism in Brazil and co-editor of The Anthropology of Catholicism: A Reader. Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, development studies, hope studies, and the anthropology of borders and frontiers. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

This podcast discusses Professor Ferry's book in progress, Gold Matters: Elemental Worldmaking in Finance and Mining.  The conversation addresses the enduring significance of gold in both mining and finance, despite its formal detachment from global currency systems since the end of the gold standard, in 1971. Hosted by Daromir Rudnyckyj and Ferda Demirci, the discussion explores how gold is both a powerful symbol and material through which people construct meaning, value, and political relationships. Ferry describes the concept of “elemental world-making” to apprehend how both miners and financial professionals engage materially and symbolically with gold. She distinguishes between “intrinsicists,” who believe gold has inherent value, and “pragmatists,” who view gold's value as socially constructed. The exchange highlights how anthropology reveals dimensions of finance and extraction often overlooked by economics, such as embodiment, affect, and materiality. Ferry also reflects on the challenges of conducting ethnography in financial contexts and draws connections between gold and newer forms of value, such as cryptocurrency. She argues that the physical properties of gold—its weight, shine, and non-reactivity—continue to shape its role as both a financial hedge and symbolic icon. The episode underscores how gold serves as a lens to examine the entanglement of materiality, abstraction, and power in contemporary capitalism. Elizabeth Ferry is Professor of Anthropology at Brandeis University. Her work includes Not Ours Alone: Patrimony, Value, and Collectivity in Contemporary Mexico (Columbia UP, 2005); Minerals, Collecting, and Value across the U.S.-Mexico Border (2013, Indiana UP); and La Batea (with Stephen Ferry) (2017), which won the 2019 Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing, among other awards.  She is co-editor of Timely Assets: The Politics of Resources and Temporalities (2010) and The Anthropology of Precious Minerals (2019). She is currently completing a co-edited volume, How Transparency Works: Ethnographies of a Global Value, with Filipe Calvão and Matthieu Bolay, and a single-authored book, Gold Matters: Elemental Worldmaking in Finance and Mining. Podcast Co-Hosts Ferda Nur Demirci, co-host of Currency Experiments & Value Conversions, is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, working in the Department of Economic Experimentation. Her research explores the intersections of financial inclusion policies, kinship obligations, resource extraction economies, and authoritarian governance, with a particular focus on the cycles of indebtedness affecting working-class families in Turkey. Her work has been published in both English and Turkish in outlets such as Antipode Online, Dialectical Anthropology, and 1+1. She is also a research associate in the Counter Currency Laboratory at the University of Victoria.  Daromir Rudnyckyj, co-host of Currency Experiments & Value Conversions is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, where he serves as Director of the Counter Currency Laboratory.  His research addresses money, religion, development, capitalism, finance, and the state.  Dr. Rudnyckyj's current project examines the techno-politics of money, with a focus on experiments in producing complementary monetary forms. His most recent journal articles include “Econography: Approaches to Expert Capitalism,” in Current Anthropology and “The Protestantism of Neoliberalism” in Culture, Theory, & Critique. He is the author of Beyond Debt: Islamic Experiments in Global Finance (Chicago 2019) and Spiritual Economies: Islam, Globalization, and the Afterlife of Development (Cornell 2010), which was awarded a Sharon Stephens Prize by the American Ethnological Society.

This event was the launch of Seçkin Sertdemir's latest book 'Civic Death in Contemporary Turkey: Mass Surveillance and the Authoritarian State' published by Cambridge University Press. What does it mean for a government to declare its citizens 'dead' while they still live? Following the failed 2016 coup, the Turkish AKP government implemented sweeping powers against some 152,000 of its citizens. These Kanun hükmünde kararnameli ('emergency decreed') were dismissed from their positions and banned for life from public service. With their citizenship rights revoked, Seçkin Sertdemir argues these individuals were rendered into a state of 'civic death'. This study considers how these authoritarian securitisation methods took shape, shedding light on the lived experiences of targeted people. Meet the speakers and chair Seçkin Sertdemir is a Visiting Fellow in the European Institute at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research focuses on ideas of democracy, and current problems of political philosophy such as civil disobedience and political rights. Zerrin Özlem Biner is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at SOAS working at the intersection of political and legal anthropology. She is author of 'Dispossession: Violence and Precarious Co-existence in Southeast Turkey' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2020). With Özge Biner, she co-edited a special section on the 'Politics of Waiting: Ethnographies of Sovereignty, Temporality and Subjectivity in the Margins of the Turkish State' in the Journal of Social Anthropology. Katerina Dalacoura is Associate Professor in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dalacoura's work has centered on the intersection of Islamism and international human rights norms. She has worked on human rights, democracy and democracy promotion, in the Middle East, particularly in the context of Western policies in the region.

This podcast discusses Dr. Peebles's forthcoming book, The First and Last Bank: Climate Change, Currency, and a New Carbon Commons, co-authored with the artist and illustrator Benjamin Luzzatto.  The conversation centers around the book's groundbreaking proposal: a bank that would enable us to seize carbon from the atmosphere and offer a profound method for addressing climate change. Gustav draws on the anthropological archive to point out how currencies have been based on all manner of objects, from tobacco leaves and salt to gold and collateralized debt obligations. Building on Annette Weiner's famous argument about the “inalienable possessions,” Gustav points out that the key thing that this assortment of goods shares is a communal belief that such objects can harness and organize economic growth. Gustav describes how atmospheric carbon could be sequestered in the earth by millions of currency users and the communally owned banks they rely on. Dr. Peebles explains how developments in digital currencies and the biosequestration of carbon have, together, made a new and radical intervention in the climate battle possible: a nonproprietary currency backed by sequestered carbon. This new currency could be managed via Wikipedia-style open-source policies that privilege sustainability and equity over endless growth and pollution. Because it is backed by sequestered carbon, the use of the currency would draw atmospheric carbon out of the atmosphere and deposit it back into the ground, following a mirror trajectory of gold during the era of the international gold standard. More information about the book can be found here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262049641/the-first-and-last-bank/    Gustav Peebles is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University. Before that, he taught at The New School in New York City. His publications, including a book entitled, The Euro and Its Rivals, as well as a range of academic and popular articles, track credit, debt, money, and the diverse struggles to regulate and manage these vital economic phenomena throughout human history. Most recently, he has been exploring digital currencies, including work on the Swedish Central Bank's e-currency proposal, as well as a wilder idea that leverages digital currency as a potential tool for fighting climate change.  Timestamps Peebles' Bio – 2:28 The Core Argument of the Book – 7:08 Why Carbon is the First and the Last Bank? – 11:29 Treasure & Trash Continuum – 14:25 Inalienable Possessions, Banks and Currencies – 16:19 Peebles' Previous Works – 22:35 Community Currencies – 27:04 In Conversation with “Economics” – 30:37 Local Activism – 34:23 Carbon Banking vs. Crypto Currencies – 38:59 Series Co-Hosts Ferda Nur Demirci, co-host of Currency Experiments & Value Conversions, is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, working in the Department of Economic Experimentation. Her research explores the intersections of financial inclusion policies, kinship obligations, resource extraction economies, and authoritarian governance, with a particular focus on the cycles of indebtedness affecting working-class families in Turkey. Her work has been published in both English and Turkish in outlets such as Antipode Online, Dialectical Anthropology, and 1+1. She is also a research associate in the Counter Currency Laboratory at the University of Victoria. Daromir Rudnyckyj, co-host of Currency Experiments & Value Conversions is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Victoria, where he serves as Director of the Counter Currency Laboratory. His research addresses money, religion, development, capitalism, finance, and the state. Dr. Rudnyckyj's current project examines the techno-politics of money, with a focus on experiments in producing complementary       References Weiner,

In endurance sports, certain countries consistently dominate the podium. While many theories attempt to explain this, the most overlooked—and perhaps the most relevant—is culture. The influence of your social group and peers plays a huge role in shaping your choices and potential, yet we often assume that health and fitness are driven by gadgets, apps, or elite trainers. In reality, human connection, support, and a sense of adventure may be the biggest performance enhancers. This week's podcast explores high-performance endurance athletics through the lens of anthropology. Listen and learn: How training in Ethiopia differs from the rest of the world The power of fun, play, and variety in training Why community and social support might be the missing ingredient Link durham.ac.uk ABOUT OUR GUEST Dr. Michael Crawley is an anthropologist, writer, and accomplished runner. He is an Assistant Professor of Social Anthropology at Durham University and author of Out of Thin Air (2020) and To the Limit (2024). Like the Show? Leave us a review Check out our YouTube channel

In this episode, Dr. Pierre Berastaín, the Centre for Public Impact's Regional Director for North America,  talks with students from the UC Riverside School of Public Policy about his journey from Peru and his extensive work in addressing systemic challenges like immigration, gender-based violence prevention, and restorative justice.About Pierre Berastaín:Dr. Pierre R. Berastaín is a public health leader and advocate with academic degrees in Social Anthropology, Divinity, and Public Health from Harvard and UNC-Chapel Hill. He co-founded Caminar Latino – Latinos United for Peace and Equity, a national organization supporting Latino families affected by domestic violence, and has held leadership roles in several organizations focused on gender-based violence, including Harvard's Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. Pierre has led federal grant programs, trained nationally and internationally, and advanced culturally competent approaches to violence prevention. Originally from Peru, he now lives in Washington, DC with his husband and has been recognized among Boston's Top 25 Most Influential LGBTQ People of Color.Learn more about Pierre Berastaín via https://centreforpublicimpact.org/team/pierre-r-berastain/Guest:Pierre Berastaín (Regional Director for North America, Centre for Public Impact) Interviewers:Rachel Strausman (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean's Chief Ambassador)Liam Burley (UCR Public Policy Major, Dean's Ambassador) Music by: Vir SinhaCommercial Links:⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/ba-mpp⁠⁠⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/mpp⁠⁠ This is a production of the UCR School of Public Policy: ⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/⁠⁠ Subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss an episode. Learn more about the series and other episodes via ⁠⁠https://spp.ucr.edu/podcast⁠⁠. 

On the podcast today I am joined by socio-cultural anthropologist, Tuomas Tammisto, who is an academy research fellow in Social Anthropology at Tampere University. Tuomas is joining me to talk about his recently published book, Hard Work: Producing Places, Relations and Value on a Papua New Guinea Resource Frontier (Helsinki UP, 2024) Hard Work examines human-environmental relations, value production, natural resource extraction, and state formation within the context of the Mengen people of Papua New Guinea. It provides elaborate, rich ethnography to make sense of how the Mengen engage with their land and outside actors like companies, NGOs, and the state through agriculture, logging, plantation labor, and environmental conservation. These practices have shaped the Mengen's lived environment, while also sparking debates on what is considered valuable and how value is created. The book is the result of hard work: for years Tuomas Tammisto has gained rich empirical research to detail how indigenous Mengen people perceive and live with the threats of logging. The chapters are not only rich in ethnography and theory, but they are also interlaced with beautiful photos and poetic song lyrics both in the original and translated languages, to provide an eye-opening window into Mengen perceptions of their complex lived environment. The book is Open Access and available to read for free here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Boaters of London is an ethnography that delves into the process of becoming a boater, adopting an alternative lifestyle on the water and the political impact that this travelling population has on the state. London and the Southeast of England in general is home to many people and families who live on narrowboats, cruisers and barges, along a network of canals and rivers. Many of these 'boaters' move from place to place every two weeks and form itinerant communities in the heart of some of the UK's most crowded urban spaces. Boaters of London delves into the process of becoming a boater and the political impact of this travelling population on the state, the volume examines an alternative style of living and the potential of a life spent afloat. Ben Bowles is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at SOAS, University of London. He is also Course Lecturer at Fordham University, London Campus, and Research Fellow at the Open University's Centre for Policing Research and Learning. His research interests include economic and political anthropology, and the anthropology of the UK. Yadong Li is a socio-cultural anthropologist-in-training. He is registered as a PhD student at Tulane University. His research interests lie at the intersection of economic anthropology, medical anthropology, hope studies, and the anthropology of borders and frontiers. More details about his scholarship and research interests can be found here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network