Welcome to the site, and thanks for taking time to read my blurb. A quick bit about me and what you’ll find here. I hold a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Toronto, in Canada. On this blog, I address contemporary issues in politics and culture from an anthropological perspective. So what does that actually mean?
Traditionally, anthropologists have focused their gaze upon exotic others in distant lands in order to explain and categorize their cultural differences.
I’m not that kind of anthropologist.
In my work, I try to strip anthropology of its time-honoured conventions and instead choose to focus my analytical lens on the stuff of everyday life. In other words, I’ve ditched the foreign in favour of the familiar. Because as far as I’m concerned, I see things every day that are just as astonishing, mysterious and strange as anything you’ll see in National Geographic.
At its most basic level, cultural anthropology is a way to explain social and cultural phenomena, like how we understand ourselves in relation to the world around us, how and why we come to hold certain beliefs, how we make meaning, and why we do the things we do.
But here’s the thing: I believe that culture is inexorably linked to politics and that neither can be understood without taking the other into consideration. Practically speaking, this means that our beliefs and identities are linked to practical matters, like the economy and politics, issues of citizenship, multiculturalism and migration, the politics of race and class, and the production of global media.
In this space, I will examine, analyze, provide commentary, and sometimes just bitch about everything from fashion trends to the global economy. Whether it’s Paris Hilton’s new BFF or the fact that billion dollar financial institutions are receiving gazillion dollar bailouts, I’ll have something to say about it. I hope you enjoy my observations. If you read something here that offends you, please know that I meant it. And always feel free to post a comment and tell me all about it.
