As you may have noticed, TAL has been on a bit of a break from releasing new episodes. But, the good news is that we have not been idle. The other night when Ryan and Adam were out and about they got to talking about TAL and their perspectives on public anthropology. What does the future hold? What inspires change? Realizing they were on to something good, they pulled out a phone and hit record. This episode is what came out. We hope you’ll enjoy! This episode was recorded live and near a kitchen so please forgive the extra noise :). In this FreeThink Ryan and Adam get a little personal, shedding light on their own stories, views on art, religion, creative writing, literature, and what it is that drives the team to do anthropology.

“Human Being is an art, and we gotta dig into that” – Adam

In this episode grapple with the questions

Can we bring beauty and the poetics of human nature back into anthropology?

How do we take criticisms about anthropology and turn them into something positive?

How do we be public while not bringing in jargon, but also infusing social science knowledge into our content while still keeping it accessible?

Should we change our name?

“Truth is always stranger than fiction” – Ryan

If you wish to further unpack the subjects we discussed in this episode check out the following links!

David Carrasco – Historian of Religion

Michael Jackson – Existential Anthropology

Middlemarch as the best ethnography ever! It gets into the heart of Victorian life. What do you think?

Aztec by Gary Jennings

“The Aztec World of Gary Jennings” by Michael E. Smith

On Looking: A Walker’s Guide to the Art of Observation

“The Art of Looking: How to Live with Presence, Break the Tyranny of Productivity, and Learn to See Our Everyday Wonderland”  by Maria P...