This week we’re joined by Familiar Strangers Kathy, Lachlan, Alex and Sean to talk all things AI Art and activism.

Alex kick’s us off by asking us to consider the recent developments in AI image creation. Alex dives into DALL.E and what it means for people that still consider themselves “artists”. The Strangers explore labour, effort and the “creative” process. What do you think? Should we be using AI art generation? Who owns the art? 

Kath then explores further the death of Mahsa Amini in Iran and what it means to conduct activism as anthropologist and vice versa. Questions around positionality and utility were raised by the Strangers, especially when it comes to research. What do you think? Is there such a thing as an activist anthropologist? 

It was a series of really interesting topics this week so we hope you enjoy!

Ep #97: AI Art & Activist Anthropology Revisited: This Month on TFS

The Familiar Strange is a podcast about doing anthropology: that is, about listening, looking, trying out, and being with, in pursuit of uncommon knowledge about humans and culture. Find show notes, plus our blog about anthropology's role in the world, at https://www.thefamiliarstrange.com. Twitter: @tfsTweets. FB: facebook.com/thefamiliarstrange. Instagram: @thefamiliarstrange.

Brought to you by your familiar strangers: Ian Pollock, Jodie-Lee Trembath, Julia Brown, Simon Theobald, Kylie Wong Dolan; produced by Deanna Catto and Matthew Phung, and with support from the Australian Anthropological Society, the Australian National University’s Schools of Culture, History and Language and Archeology and Anthropology, and the Australian Centre for Public Awareness of Science, and produced in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association. 

We acknowledge and celebrate the first Australians on whose traditional lands we record this podcast, and pay our respects to the elders of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, past, present, and emerging.

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

This week Emma Quilty sat down with Matthew Archer, Assistant Professor at Maastricht University to discuss his brand new NYU Press book Unsustainable: Measurement, Reporting, and the Limits of Corporate Sustainability. In this brilliant and incisive new book, Matthew Archer weaves together ethnographic fieldwork conducted among a wide array of sustainability professionals, interviews with private bankers, and apocalyptic science fiction—and features analyses of name-brand companies including Volkswagen, Unilever, and Nestlé. 

Matthew Archer is an interdisciplinary environmental social scientist interested in the intersection of technology and sustainability, especially in the context of global supply chain governance. Most recently, this has involved research on metal and mineral supply chains, with a focus on traceability and digitization, building on my previous work studying sustainability standards as a technology of governance in global agricultural supply chains, ESG integration in investment practices, and the way corporate sustainability managers think about their impacts. 

Head to our website for a full list of links and citations!

Ep107# Net Zero & Bullsh*t: Corporate Sustainability Metrics with Dr Matthew Archer

This week Sean Heath sat down with Noel B. Salazar, Professor of Anthropology at KU Leuven to discuss the celebration of Anthropology Day(s). Their conversation covered the initiation of world anthropology day by the American Anthropological Association and touched on national celebrations of anthropology day, as well as the potential for a World Anthropologies Days. They also discussed Noel’s latest work on emplaced mobilities and mobile places.

Noel B. Salazar is Professor in Social and Cultural Anthropology and Founder of the Cultural Mobilities Research (CuMoRe) cluster at KU Leuven. His research interests include anthropologies of mobility and travel, heritage and tourism, discourses and imaginaries of Otherness, world anthropologies, and endurance locomotion.

Head over to our website for a full list of links and citations

World Anthropology Day With Dr Noel Salazar

A brief update on the state of TFS project and a call for new contributors to the team.

TFS 2024 Update: We are Recruiting!

Trigger Warning: Please note that this episode makes mention of Sexual Assault and sexual violence. 

In this episode we walk about MeToo anthropology from the lens of fieldwork and within the academy itself. 

Familiar Stranger Emma Quilty sat down with anthropologists Holly Walters and Margaret Czerwienski to talk about the MeToo collective and its incredible array of resources as well as what it means to do activist work within the academy. 

We also covered the prevalence of the witch hunt trope so often leveraged against those who make accusations against powerful individuals and institutions. Are MeToo accusations modern day witch hunts? Listen to find out.

Ep#106: MeTooAnthro and the Witch Hunt trope

The podcast is back! 

This week, we've challenged ourselves to be as meta as possible, with a podcast, about podcasting, released by an academic podcast! Try saying that after a wine or two. 

Familiar Stranger Tim and Sean sat down with Dr Ian Cook, who has recently released his book "Scholarly Podcasting
Why, What, How?", which actually interviewed some Familiar Strange alumni, keep your ears peeled for the name drops! 

It was a really interesting conversation about the future of podcasting, and how academia is shaping podcasting and vice versa. 

Make sure you head to our website for a full list of links and citations!

Ep #97: AI Art & Activist Anthropology Revisited: This Month on TFS

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