In this episode, hosts Chris and Mecca interview Dr. Cindi SturtzSreetharan about language decoding, why inclusive language matters for better science, the importance of clearly defining the terms we use, and how ethnographic methods help contextualize research. Dr. SturtzSreetharan is a President’s Professor at the School of Human Evolution & Social Change at Arizona State University. She has a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Willamette University, a master’s in Asian studies from the University of Oregon, and a doctorate in Anthropology from the University of California at Davis. Her research interests center on a language-in-interaction approach to the construction of identities, including masculinity. Much of her earlier work focused on how Japanese men use language as a resource for creating, maintaining, or refuting a masculine identity. She has also worked on language use in reality TV shows, serial dramas, and film, focusing specifically on language and fatherhood. For the past decade, Dr. SturtzSreetharan has turned her attention to the intersection of language, the body, and medicine. Her current work is an investigation of metabolic syndrome in Japan, a so-called lifestyle condition that affects more men than women. She is particularly interested in the way that everyday, mundane language interactions contribute to the production of felt shame and stigma around body size, shape, and care.

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Find the papers discussed in this episode:

SturtzSreetharan, C.L & Shibamoto-Smith, J. It’s not the language, it’s us: Recommendations on what language can do and on what we as writers can do. American Journal of Human Biology 37(6): e70079 https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70079 (2025)

SturtzSreetharan, C.L., DuBois, L.Z., & Brewis, A. 2025. Defining and deploying gender/sex in human biology: Where are we? Where should we be? American Journal of Human Biology 37(6):e70093 https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.70093 (2025)

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Contact Dr. SturtzSreetharan: [email protected]

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Contact the Sausage of Science Podcast and the Human Biology Association:

Facebook: facebook.com/groups/humanbiologyassociation/, Website: humbio.org, Twitter: @HumBioAssoc

Chris Lynn, Co-Host

Website: cdlynn.people.ua.edu/, E-mail: [email protected], Twitter:@Chris_Ly

Mecca Howe, Co-Host, HBA Fellow

Email: [email protected], Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mecca-howe-phd-22a48173/