For several years now the financial industry has been enrolled, more or less voluntarily, in the global quest for sustainability. Sustainable finance is currently a complex, variegated field of practices and discourses which claims to invest in projects that have, in the best case scenario, a positive impact on society and the planet, or, worst case scenario at least avoid having a negative one, while also making returns. This article focuses on investors practicing a sustainable investment strategy called impact investing, reflecting on a question we were asked at one of the field’s main annual conferences in late 2023: “how can you leverage anthropology to make an impact?” We reflect on what this question actually means, draw parallels between impact investing and development programs, and explore different answers given by both academic and applied anthropologists to show how anthropologists think about finance and sustainability, and how are their ideas informed by and transformed into actions.

Article by Stefan Voicu and Ben Eyre, illustrated by Cristina Labo

https://theanthro.art/can-you-make-an-impact-anthropologists-and-sustainable-finance/

This article focuses on fieldwork conducted in Odivelas, Portugal, where the Municipal Council of Odivelas (MCO) implemented a program to introduce halal meals in the municipality’s public school system. The initiative aimed to accommodate the dietary needs of Muslim students while promoting sociocultural and religious inclusion, as well as school integration. In its first edition, the program covered 50 schools and approximately 116 Muslim students, with participation increasing by 33% the following year. This initiative has helped lay essential foundations for reversing the trend of early school dropouts among Muslim students and fostering a dual sense of identity, allowing them to embrace both their Portuguese citizenship and their Muslim faith.

Article by Pedro Alves, illustrated by Animal Waves

https://theanthro.art/halal-in-the-muslim-community-of-odivelense-a-project-for-social-inclusion-and-educational-integration/

This article examines the connection between the Hunedoara Steel Plant, the Corvinul football team, and the collective identities of the residents of Hunedoara. Following the decline of the local industry, the team and the stadium have become symbols of a glorious past and community unity. Nostalgia for the golden era of the Steel Plant is reflected in the fervent support for the team and the project to construct their new stadium. This project represents not only an investment in sports infrastructure but also a grassroots effort to rebuild the city’s identity and provide its residents with a sense of pride and belonging.

Article by Vlad Roman-Cocoară, illustrated by Alexandra Hochreiter

https://theanthro.art/the-steel-mill-corvinul-and-the-stadium-an-overlooked-chapter-of-post-socialist-transition-in-hunedoara-romania/

When looking for information on the famous 3 Rs of sustainability, I came across a video on YouTube by a French woman living in California called Bea Johnson, that proposed a waste hierarchy of 5 Rs (refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle and rot). The practices shared were not new to the environmental movement, nor to the lives of people who were born before the consumer society. But, for the first time, someone turned it into a set of practices applicable to everyday life, turning it into a global movement with all the characteristics of the social media era. In the format proposed, and subsequently by other prominent voices in the movement, I found a practical way of replicating what I was already doing in a diffuse way within other movements. This article will show that work and principles.

Article by Lívia Humaire Kampff, illustrated by Joana Cruz

https://theanthro.art/zero-waste-the-genealogy-of-a-movement/

Food systems can be a valuable tool to think about biodiversity as inherently interconnected with our human worlds, in practices that look towards the sustainability of ecosystems, rather than based in the logic of extracting resources without caring for the degradation of landscapes. Through an ethnographic looking glass, we can understand the ways in which certain food production systems can in fact help us think and act on the current socio- ecological crisis. This article draws from fieldwork among agro-pastoralists in the northeastern region of Portugal, done during September 2023, and January 2024. Based on a mix methods approach, the fieldwork’s main method was walking with shepherds of indigenous sheep and goat’s species along their daily grazing paths, allowing informal conversations to happen based in an ethnographic inquiry into the human-environmental relations. The perspectives brought form this experience are of enormous value as they point to possible avenues for change in face of land degradation, biodiversity loss and the impacts of climate change.

Article by Silvia Raposo, illustrated by Joana Cruz

https://theanthro.art/rethinking-landscapes-ecological-relations-in-more-than-human-collectives-as-a-way-to-think-about-the-anthropocene/

The use of holographic technology in art and its relationship with social inclusion and the democratization of access to art have been increasingly prominent topics in the contemporary art scene. Through an innovative and accessible approach, holographic art has the potential to transform the way artworks are presented and appreciated by diverse audiences, including communities in remote areas. This article examines how holographic technology can address issues of art accessibility, promote social and cultural inclusion, and truly democratize the artistic experience, referencing sociological theory, such as that of Zygmunt Bauman.

Article by Silvia Raposo, illustrated by Joana Cruz

https://theanthro.art/holo-wow-how-holographic-art-is-shaping-the-future-of-inclusive-art/

It is necessary to reflect on the role of the anthropologist in denouncing realities that are often subalternised, with the role of changing them through initiatives and solutions proposed by the anthropologist, allowing us to reflect on the porosity between the spheres of activism and anthropology.

To realize the implications and interconnections between different contexts, it is necessary to take a multi-scalar and multi-sited approach. One of the fields most concerned with the interconnections between local, national, and international scales is environmental studies, and it is on this theme that the article focus, mobilising former research to reach this goal.

Article by Fátima Santos, illustrated by Juliana Penkova

https://theanthro.art/the-role-of-the-anthropologist-in-ecological-activism-the-importance-of-a-multiscalar-and-multisituated-approach-and-collaborative-ethnographic-production/

Funerary practices have been around since the dawn of humanity serving two main purposes: the need for body disposal and to help the grieving community process the loss. We will focus on mainland Portugal during the Medieval Period up to present day to provide a brief overview of how people have dealt with death, from evolving perceptions from the Past to Present, to the emergence of a “new type of dead” – human remains of archaeological provenance and the obstacles towards sustainability.

Article by Ana Lema Seabra, illustrated by Juliana Penkova

https://theanthro.art/life-after-death-the-role-of-human-remains-in-a-somewhat-sustainable-afterlife/

This position paper claims that local governments, within a regional inter-related scope, should envision a new territorial social policy for the effectiveness of sustainability and wellbeing of communities. The proposal of this work stems from a long period of research on sustainability matter; the framing of ecumene studies; and from applied science as consultants with local governments. Our recommendation is that this territorial social policy should be presented as a Regional Conviviality Formula, which is the synergetic result of Compact Cities + Intermodal Cities + New Public Places. We highlight that this formula has potential to create a new socio-spatial configuration: a new conviviality model. This work is a reflexive attempt on two schisms (socio-cultural and nature-human) that should be overcome in the 21st century, within that new conviviality model.

Article by Paulo Castro Seixas, Nadine Lobner, illustrated by Juliana Penkova

https://theanthro.art/a-new-territorial-social-policy-as-a-bioregional-conviviality-formula-compact-cities-intermodal-cities-new-public-places/

Inclusion is a topic that is increasingly being debated and transformed. Performing arts are not out of this equation and tend more and more to look at the issue and create new opportunities for those who are often left behind by physical, intellectual or social issues. In this article I propose a critical analysis of a programme of inclusion of people with disabilities in a professional contemporary circus production with the aim of understanding its impact on the participants and the surrounding community, as well as the difficulties in implementing it.

Article by Rui Leitão, illustrated by Patrícia Palma

https://theanthro.art/social-inclusion-of-people-with-disabilities-in-professional-circus-rui-leitao/