The Familiar Strange

We’re back! We’re back from our Semester break and keen to get back into creating the content you know and love.

This week, we’re joined by Dr Sean Heath! The newest Familiar Stranger. In the first part of this panel, we dive into Sean’s work with competitive swimmers in Canada and the United Kingdom. We dive into what immersion is, and how it interplays with our lives today. It was really interesting to hear about how swimmers interact with their body-sense and their fondness for chlorinated water.

Next, Ruonan draws attention to the current political instability around the world, paying particular attention to the conflict in Ukraine, the resignation of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister and President and the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. She asks questions of the utility of anthropology in such chaotic times, as well as some of the basis for these crises.

It was an enlightening conversation and we hope you enjoy.

We’re so happy to be back so keep your ears peeled for some exciting content coming up.

Hey Everyone,

From everyone at the TFS team we just wanted to say a quick thank you before we take our season break. Don't worry though, we're not going anywhere and we'll be back around late July. Thank you for all your support this season and we're looking forward to coming back with more of the stuff you love!

Thanks again, and as always,

Keep Talking Strange.

Today we talked about Lisa’s research on sexual and reproductive health technologies in the United States as well as in the Middle East and North Africa. We focused on emergency contraceptives and unpacked the arguments both for and against making them available over the counter in America. Lisa took a deep dive into how the activism for expanded access to emergency contraceptives has created a hierarchy of deservedness that prioritises specific groups above others, diverting public attention away from the universal human rights discourse. 

We then turned to Egypt where Lisa has done long-term ethnographic fieldwork on sexuality and dived into a particular sexual technology - hymenoplasty, or hymen-reconstruction procedures. Lisa shared with us a fascinating story of how people used it as a tactic to circumvent or subvert cultural norms and build social respectability. We also touched on the unexpectedly diverging opinions on hymenoplasty from religious authorities, doctors, and laypeople.

Welcome back to the Familiar Strange!

This week is Familiar Stranger Ruonan’s first panel as a host! We think she did pretty well! Ruonan is joined this week by Familiar Strangers Alex, Andy and Irina!

Alex starts us off by telling us he is leaving us! But one thing he’ll miss (aside from the other familiar strangers of course) is the numerous bushwalking or hiking tracks that are around the ANU. He reflects on how bushwalking or hiking has become a new marker for the middle class and the other strangers reflect on what hiking represents. What do you think? When does a walk become a hike? Is it just semantics?

Then, Irina raises the big question of “who are you? Who decides who you are?” A big question for a short podcast! The strangers dive into what that question means for them and their respective field sites, as well as anthropology as a whole. What do you think defines someone? Why do you define yourself the way you do?

It was a really thought provoking conversation this week and we had a lot of fun recording in person again. We hope you enjoy!

Welcome back to the Familiar Strange.

We’re back with a special panel episode with familiar stranger Alex sitting down with some of the First year PhD students doing Anthropology at ANU. Mamta, Maddy and Andy were kind enough to take some time out of their busy schedules and discuss all things PhD. From life pre-PhD to where they could go next, we had a blast making this episode in person! We hope you enjoy!

Welcome back to the Familiar Strange!

This week Familiar Stranger Alex sits down with Dr Eric Hirsch. Dr Eric Hirch is currently an assistant professor at Franklin & Marshall College in the department of Environmental Studies. Eric’s research interests center around local understandings of what it means to be wealthy; the impacts of mineral extraction; cultural branding; and outsiders trying to improve things for people that may or may not want them there.

In this interview, Alex queries Eric about his time living in Peru, living in the cities within the beautiful Colca valley. They dive into what defines wealth, how people can measure growth and artificial insemination of all things. It was an absolute pleasure to interview Dr Eric Hirsch and we hope you enjoy!

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

Ep # 88: Creating Queer Space & The Lenses of War: This month on TFS.

Welcome back for another Panel! This week we’re joined by familiar strangers Carolyn West, Matt Phung, Ruonan Chen and Alex D’Aloia.

Carolyn starts us off this week by sharing her recent experiences at a Hen’s night she had recently. She shares her experience entering into different spaces and navigating the emotions that come with each space. Do you have any spaces like that? How do you think “queer” space is created?

Next Alex asks the strangers about the current invasion of the Ukraine by the Russian Military. He poses the question around truth, what is being seen, what isn’t being seen and how truth can vary from person to person. What do you think? What kinds of things have you been seeing on your news feeds about the current conflict in Ukraine?

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

Before we dive into today’s episode we’d just like to add a content warning for this episode for sexual assault and drug use.

This week, Familiar Stranger Carolyn sits down with Adrian Watts, a PhD Candidate from the University of Melbourne. Adrian spent his fieldwork in a London squat called The Black Stag.

Throughout this conversation, Carolyn asks questions around the lifestyle of a squatter, and Alex helps to paint a vivid picture of the lives that the people living in the Black Stag lived.

It was a great chat with some thought provoking ideas.

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

Welcome back to The Familiar Strange! We’re joined this week by our newest Familiar Stranger, Kathryn! You might have heard her on Episode 84 last season but we’ve convinced her to stick around! Welcome Kathryn.

We start this month’s episode by discussing the recent protests that have been occurring in Australia’s capital. Kathryn and the rest of the strangers dive into their experiences with protesting and how we are seeing a shift in the motives and types of people that are starting to participate. What do you guys think? Have you been to any protests recently?

We then jump on the NFT bandwagon, with Alex giving us a crash course into what an NFT is, how it works and why they exist. Carolyn, as a photographer and image maker has some interesting things to say on the topics of creation, scarcity and clout. What do you guys think about NFT’s? Revolutionary new way to sell art or just another ponzi scheme?

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

The team at TFS would like to say thank you to all our listeners this year and to everyone who has listened in to our podcasts and read the blog this year! We are taking a short season break and we will return in February 2021

Let’s keep in touch. Feel free to submit something to the blog, we’re always looking for content, and are keen to hear new voices. The submission guidelines are on our website at www.thefamiliarstrange.com/writeforus

And if you haven’t already, join our Facebook Chats Group, ‘The Familiar Strange Chats’.

Thank you again to all our listeners and readers who have enjoyed our content through out 2021. We hope you have a restful holidays, and we will see you in February.

Until then, keep Talking Strange…