This Anthro Life
215 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 67 ratingsThis Anthro Life is the premiere go-to Anthropology Podcast that fuses human insights with cultural storytelling. We equip you with a deep understanding of the human experience to revolutionize your decision-making strategies and social impact. Head over to https://www.thisanthrolife.org to learn more. Spearheaded by acclaimed Anthropologist Dr. Adam Gamwell, This Anthro Life equips leaders, individuals, and organizations to shape a more compassionate future. We aim to broaden perspectives and fortify decision-making skills by fostering a profound understanding of culture coupled with the transformative power of storytelling. With curated conversations and thought-provoking discussions featuring humanity's top makers and minds, prepare to have your perspective transformed. This Anthro Life delves into various facets of human society—from examining the complexities of cultural identity to understanding the influence of technology on our everyday lives.
🌍 Change Your Perspective
Explore the complexities of life in a simple and engaging way. From AI and robotics revolutionizing the nature of work to emojis changing how we communicate, we delve into the forces shaping our world. No topic is off-limits—fossil fuels and their impact on our planet, the race to find alternative energy solutions, and so much more.
🎙️ Captivating Conversations
Go beyond surface-level discussions with deep dives into fascinating topics. Dr. Adam Gamwell's interviews are thought-provoking, enlightening, and always entertaining. Carefully crafted questions ensure engaging conversations that are free from jargon, making them accessible to listeners of all backgrounds.
✨ Key Takeaways
Gain valuable insights from each episode that you can apply to your own life. Discussing wisdom gained from the edges of society, we extract impactful quotes and actionable ideas from our guests. Expand your horizons and develop a fresh perspective on the challenges we face as individuals and as a global community.
🔊 Join the Community on Substack
Subscribe to "This Anthro Life" now for a weekly dose of eye-opening conversations. Share the podcast with friends and family who crave intellectual stimulation and diverse discussions. Be a part of the movement to change how we approach design, culture, business, and technology.
Beyond offering an engaging outlook on human experiences, This Anthro Life lends its anthropological expertise to businesses, organizations, and individuals. We help them navigate challenges with effective communication techniques and innovative problem-solving strategies rooted in a nuanced understanding of human behavior and social structures. Get in touch.
Join us on this captivating voyage of storytelling at the crossroads of culture, design, technology and business. We're excited to collaborate with you in shaping a more compassionate world through an enriched narrative of the human experience. Experience breakthrough perspectives on human experiences and come away equipped to make enriched decisions that contribute positively to your sphere. Join us as we shape a more connected, hopeful narrative - one human story at a time.
Homepage Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Episodes
Growing Roots as a National Cultural Anthropologist with Ashley Meredith
July 26, 2022 09:00 - 1 hour - 60.6 MBAshley Meredith serves as the National Cultural Anthropologist and Deputy National Historic Preservation Officer for the Federated States of Micronesia. Micronesia is a sovereign island country in Oceania situated northeast of Australia and Papua New Guinea and consists of 600 islands covering a massive area of around 1 million square miles. There are 18 languages spoken across the islands. Echoing what we might call a traditional fieldwork approach, Ashley works with a team to document, pre...
The Fight to Save Cultural Memory with Charles Henry
May 11, 2022 09:00 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBInterdependence is the idea that the wellbeing of our world and for our physical and emotional selves depends on those around us, yet when we find ourselves up against a challenge bigger than ourselves, our sense of interdependence becomes stronger. When we move that scale even larger (i.e. a global climate crisis), interdependence becomes paramount. Climate change not only affects our everyday lives, but affects cultural history and cultural artifacts such as books and architectural styles...
On Being Heard and Learning to Listen with Nethra Samarawickrema
March 23, 2022 09:00 - 53 minutes - 73.4 MBWhen we think about social science and social scientists working out in the world, we tend to jump to the science part, you know jobs that focus on research - consumer research, user experience research, or qualitative studies for non-profits. But if you have any experience with therapy, whether as a patient or therapist, worked with a career or life coach, or anything to do with conflict mediation, you might have noticed there’s more than a little overlap in skill sets with anthropology. I ...
Bitcoin and the Cryptocurrency Revolution with Mick Morucci
March 10, 2022 14:59 - 49 minutes - 68.4 MBIf you’re alive in 2022 you’ve probably heard of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Whether you’re an active trader, just dabble, or think you’d never touch the stuff, cryptocurrency raises a fascinating challenge to the question of what is money? And how can technology fundamentally reshape how we engage in finance and social life? Is crypto a revolution? If you're listening to this episode in early 2022, then you're probably well aware of the ongoing inflation and commodity price increases both ...
Deep Storytelling: Bicultural History and Fiction with Andrew Rowen
January 18, 2022 10:00 - 1 hour - 80.3 MBIt's a common truism that history is often written by the victors, but it is equally true that the actual story is more complicated. One of the most poignant examples of this is the "discovery" of the new world by Christopher Columbus. So today I am super excited to have author Andrew Rowen back on the podcast. Andrew caught our attention back in 2017 for his book encounters, "Unforeseen 1492 Retold", which rather than another single sided story is a bicultural retelling that portrays the li...
Build Better Worlds: Anthropology for Game Design, Film and Writing
December 15, 2021 10:00 - 1 hour - 87.7 MBHave you wondered why fantasy stories mostly are just copies of Medieval Europe? Why pop culture has been so obsessed with zombies? Or why Black Panther and the Falcon and the Winter Soldier seemed to hit the right chord at the right time for American conversations on race? To answer these questions, we're diving into world building, the process of creating realized worlds for (mostly) fictional stories and how anthropology could literally change the game. On this episode Astrid Countee join...
Being a Human: Adventures in 40,000 Years of Consciousness with Charles Foster
December 02, 2021 10:00 - 56 minutes - 77.6 MBCharles Foster set out to answer one of the most perplexing questions of all - what sort of creatures are we humans? - in one of the most unique ways possible: immersing himself in experiences that evoke three central epochs in the development of consciousness - the upper Paleolithic, around 40k years ago, the neolithic, around 10k years ago when humans invented/stumbled upon and couldn’t get out of agriculture, and the Enlightenment, which ushered in the scientific revolution in Europe in th...
Podcasting and the Other Side of Storytelling - Reflecting on TAL's 8th Birthday
November 15, 2021 10:00 - 7 minutes - 10.5 MBThis Anthro Life turned 8 years old in October 2021. That's a long time for a podcast. When recently invited to share what I've been working on for a newsletter, TAL's 8th birthday got me thinking about what I've learned working between anthropology and podcasting for almost a decade. I've fancied myself a public anthropologist for a while, but it has been podcasting, and working in an unusual medium (for anthropology) that has taught me some of the most important lessons for what public an...
Learning Forensics, Applying Anthropology with Gabriella Campbell
November 09, 2021 17:45 - 55 minutes - 76.6 MBIt's not everyday I get to talk with other anthropology podcasters, and even more infrequently that I get to talk with undergraduate anthropology podcasters. I'm joined on the show today by Gabriella Campbell, Gabriella is a senior at University of California Santa Barbara where she focuses on forensic anthropology, both contemporary and ancient. She's also the creator and host of That Anthro Podcast, a weekly interview show that explores the world of bioarchaeology, bones, forensics and more...
Don't Sell Yourself Short: How to Create a Career Plan
September 17, 2021 12:29 - 37 minutes - 51.5 MBA job search strategy is essential, but what if you don’t even know what to look for or what you want to do? A career plan is something you can do before job searching to define the kind of work you want to do and how to engage with like minded people, so you’ve got opportunities and pathways to work you’ll find fulfilling and meaningful, regardless of industry. While some old-school academics might see creating a career plan as selling out, Career Coach and Strategist Amy Santee and Design ...
Transforming Market Research with Qualitative Consciousness in post-liberalization India w/ Dr. Meena Kaushik and Madhuri Karak
July 16, 2021 16:15 - 40 minutes - 55.4 MBDr. Meena Kaushik takes us through her story from the revolutionary idea in the late 1970s of applying semiotics to brand and market research to founding Quantum, which today is a global enterprise research organization in seven countries, through how they have digitally adapted insights research in the face of COVID. Meena Kaushik started her journey as an academic studying the symbolism of death rituals in Hinduism. She conducted extensive fieldwork amongst the Doms of Varanasi, a low caste...
From Art School to Industry: Passion, Ethics, and Business Impact with Phil Surles
June 16, 2021 14:59 - 44 minutes - 60.8 MBPhil Surles is a cultural anthropologist and consultant who focuses on branding. He works with companies to change their culture for the better and focuses on integrating anthropology into industry. From art school to anthropology to industry Phil discusses how he combined all of his passions into his consulting work. Phil, Astrid, and Adam discuss what it means to be an anthropologist working in industry and ethical issues that may arise. Phil is also working on a new platform called Mindsha...
So tell me about yourself: Storytelling and the Science of Love with Helen Fisher
June 04, 2021 09:00 - 49 minutes - 67.3 MBIf Dr. Hellen Fisher isn’t a household name in your house (yet), her work certainly is. Helen is a biological anthropologist and basically the reason you can date online. She’s an expert on romantic love, gender differences, the evolution of human emotions and attraction. She has also been the Chief Scientific Advisor for Match.com and was instrumental in their offshoot, Chemistry.com. She has explored how love patterns are actually deeply coded in our physiology and neuropsychology. We talk ...
Dead People Tell Tales: Segregated Cemeteries in Richmond Virginia w Dr. Ryan Smith
May 14, 2021 12:24 - 49 minutes - 67.6 MBTAL Correspondent Sara Schmieder brings us an all new interview about the power of cemetery restoration, race in the American South, and bringing legacy to light. Dr. Ryan Smith is a professor of religious history, material culture, and historic preservation at Virginia Commonwealth University. His latest book Death and Rebirth in a Southern City: Richmond’s Historic Cemeteries (2020) explores the history and reclamation of sacred cemeteries through the lens of race. By working with friends g...
The surprising truths wild horses teach us about the power of ritual, social durability, and surviving the Anthropocene with John Hartigan J
May 05, 2021 09:00 - 54 minutes - 74.1 MBIn today’s episode Adam Gamwell and Astrid Countee are joined by multispecies anthropologist John Hartigan jr. John is an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Austin. In his latest work, Shaving the Beasts: Wild Horses and Ritual in Spain, John studies the social lives of wild horses in Spain and Catalonia and the Spanish ritual dating back to the 1500s of “Rapa das Bestas”- in which villagers heard wild horses together into public ceremonial rings and shave their manes and ta...
The surprising truths wild horses teach us about the power of ritual, social durability, and surviving the Anthropocene with John Hartigan Jr.
May 05, 2021 09:00 - 53 minutes - 74.1 MBIn today’s episode Adam Gamwell and Astrid Countee are joined by multispecies anthropologist John Hartigan jr. John is an anthropology professor at the University of Texas at Austin. In his latest work, Shaving the Beasts: Wild Horses and Ritual in Spain, John studies the social lives of wild horses in Spain and Catalonia and the Spanish ritual dating back to the 1500s of “Rapa das Bestas”- in which villagers heard wild horses together into public ceremonial rings and shave their manes and t...
The Ghost in the Machine is Not Who You Think: Human Labor and the Paradox of Automation with Mary L Gray
April 08, 2021 09:00 - 59 minutes - 82.2 MBBOOK GIVEAWAY!! Leave a Review of This Anthro Life for a chance to win a copy of Ghost Work! Leave us a written review on Apple Podcasts or Podchaser by May 8, 2021, and email us a screenshot (so we know it's you) at [email protected]. We'll randomly pick four winners out of the group from anyone who submits a review by May 8th, 2021. Now just a heads up: We're only counting serious reviews where you write something thoughtful. We'll take five stars of course if you want to just help ...
Becoming a Business Anthropologist and Mastering the Tools of the Trade w/ Oscar Barrera
March 05, 2021 15:45 - 52 minutes - 72.3 MBOscar Barrera is a Business Anthropologist based out of Veracruz, Mexico who brings a global mindset to helping businesses turn hurdles into opportunities for positive change. He is an expert in innovation, change management, and strategy. In this episode in partnership with Experience By Design podcast cohosts Adam Gamwell and Gary David dig into Oscar's story to learn the steps he took in moving from academia to business. We also dig into follow along case stories of how Oscar used the soc...
They're not Binging TV, they're Feasting: Rethinking Media, Honor and American Culture with Grant McCracken
February 04, 2021 10:00 - 43 minutes - 59.5 MBTake a walk with anthropologist and consultant Grant McCracken and host Adam Gamwell, as they discuss Grant's new book The New Honor Code: A Simple Plan for Raising Our Standards and Restoring Our Good Names and dig into Grant's uncanny ability to excavate and weave together (American) culture, media, and storytelling, and pull out provocative insights like the need to get more anthropologists and cultural experts into the C-Suite, how we might re-invent honor in the contemporary world, and h...
How to Manage Social Conflict, Communicate Effectively and Find Common Ground with Jeremy Pollack
January 19, 2021 16:16 - 57 minutes - 79.5 MBIn January 2021 armed rioters stormed the US Capitol in a harrowing and politically fomented insurrection. It was an apex of years of divisive and condemnable rhetoric and fear-mongering used to stoke insecurities and desperate action. How do we ensure this never happens again? Or how do we dismantle the social structures that feed hate, fear, and contempt? What this event, and on the flip side, our celebration of Martin Luther King jr. Day (when we recorded this episode 1/18/21), reveal is t...
The Hidden World of Sh*t (a farewell to 2020)
January 01, 2021 01:16 - 28 minutes - 39.6 MBLanguage warning. We use the word sh*t a lot in this episode, since it is, in fact all about poop. To wrap up this crappy, some may even say shitty year, host Adam Gamwell and intern Elizabeth Smyth discuss the origin of the word shit, how the way we defecate is culturally constructed, what our poop reveals about us, and so much more in this New Year’s Eve mini-episode of This Anthro Life. Farewell 2020, it’s been real. In this episode we dig into: What poop tells us about culture and our b...
More than a Game: Sports, Race, and Masculinity in Diaspora w/ Vyjayanthi Vadrevu and Stanley Thangaraj
November 26, 2020 13:29 - 37 minutes - 50.9 MBIn this episode we meet Dr. Stan Thangaraj, an anthropology professor at the City College of New York whose research includes immigration in the U.S, being interviewed by Vyjayanthi Vadrevu, a business anthropologist and ethnographer. Together, the two discuss basketball, community, identity, race relations and so much more. Stay tuned with us as you learn about why race relations are so important and the answers to the following questions: What does sports and their global popularity reveal...
Life in the Age of Social Media and Smartphones with Daniel Miller and Georgiana Murariu
November 11, 2020 10:00 - 59 minutes - 54 MBDo you have a sense of how much time you spend each day on social media and smartphone? Whether you can live with them or you can't live with them, we know for most of us, these are ingrained parts of our everyday lives. In this episode, we will uncover the life in the age of social media and smartphones, featuring Dr. Daniel Miller and Georgiana Murariu from the University College of London. Stay tuned as you learn about the ‘Why We Post’ project, ‘Anthropology of Smartphones and Smart Agein...
Getting Down to Business and Making a Career with Anthropology: Guest Podcast w Adam Gamwell on Anthro Perspectives
October 23, 2020 10:51 - 49 minutes - 45.2 MBThis Anthro Life is based on lifting up the voices and value of anthropologists and human scientists in all fields through sharing their stories, thought leadership, struggles, and winding paths. Today we've got something special, where we turn the mic around on our host, Adam Gamwell and hear some of his story on how he is building a career as an anthropologist. TAL's Adam Gamwell recently guested on fellow business anthropologist Keith Kellersohn's new YouTube series Anthro Perspectives, wh...
Death Work: The Life and Culture of Forensics with Lilly White
September 30, 2020 12:36 - 43 minutes - 60.3 MBWhen most people think of forensics or forensic anthropology the first thing that comes to mind are TV shows like CSI or Bones, or maybe in Six Feet Under. This may sound overly obvious, but people die every day. And this means that every day someone has to deliver dealth notifications to next of kin, especially when people live apart. Often times coroners are the ones who deliver these notifications. Coroners are elected or appointed public officials whose primary duty is to determine and ce...
How to Study Meaning at Scale: AI and Big Data Ethnography, Microcultures and the Future of Innovation w/ Ujwal Arkalgud
August 18, 2020 13:10 - 48 minutes - 44.3 MBArtificial Intelligence. Natural Language Processing. Machine Learning. Big Data. If you've studied Anthropology at all, you'll likely notice these terms don't often get use, unless you happen to be studying one of these areas, like doing an ethnography on artificial intelligence. Yet if these tools are used everyday across millions of applications and software lines of code to make our world run, how might they help us understand ourselves better? Big data often gets used to understand patte...
Cyberpsychology: How Life Online Shapes our Minds and What We Can Do About It w Julie Ancis
July 17, 2020 12:10 - 1 hour - 90.6 MBIt's no surprise that many of us find ourselves increasingly on mobile devices or the internet. We shop online with ease, connect with friends and family on social media, check the news, and play games. And especially during the era of COVID millions, more people are figuring out if they can work remotely. In this episode, Adam sits down with Dr. Julie Ancis, one of the world's leading cyberpsychologists to talk about how digital technology in life online is impacting the ways we think and ...
A Neuroscientist and Marketer walk into a bar: Neuromarketing and the hidden ways marketing reshapes our brains with Matt Johnson and Prince Ghuman
June 28, 2020 15:43 - 44 minutes - 61.3 MBEver wonder why certain new ideas stick while others don’t? We often hear a lot about innovation when it comes to new ideas, but really that’s only part of the equation. Psychology, marketing, neuroscience - and yes - anthropology can help us make sense of why some new ideas stick while others fall flat. On this episode Adam Gamwell talks with neuroscientist Dr. Matt Johnson and Professor of marketing Prince Ghuman about the fascinating role neuroscience plays in our evolving consumer lives...
A Neuroscientist and Marketer walk into a bar: Neuromarketing and the hidden ways marketing reshapes our brains with Matt Johnson and Prince
June 28, 2020 15:43 - 44 minutes - 61.3 MBEver wonder why certain new ideas stick while others don’t? We often hear a lot about innovation when it comes to new ideas, but really that’s only part of the equation. Psychology, marketing, neuroscience - and yes - anthropology can help us make sense of why some new ideas stick while others fall flat. On this episode Adam Gamwell talks with neuroscientist Dr. Matt Johnson and Professor of marketing Prince Ghuman about the fascinating role neuroscience plays in our evolving consumer lives. ...
The Connected Cup: Coffee, Tea, Happiness and Visual Storytelling Around the Globe with Documentarian Brooke Bierhaus
June 05, 2020 21:53 - 45 minutes - 62.8 MBWhat is it about coffee and tea - two simple drinks - that both transcends culture and is intimately bound up by it? In this episode, Adam talks with Independent documentary filmmaker and coffee anthropologist Brooke Bierhaus about her film "The Connected Cup" which explores the heart of coffee and tea as global human connectors across cultures and backgrounds. For the film Brooke traveled to over 9 countries to film and capture intimate moments, stories, and portraits of human life around th...
Beyond the Prototype: Navigating that Fuzzy Area between Ideas and Outcomes with Douglas Ferguson
May 06, 2020 17:33 - 1 hour - 98 MBToday we talk with Voltage Control president Douglas Ferguson and we're taking you beyond the prototype. If you ever run a design sprint, or even if you simply sat down at your desk to think through a really cool idea for a product or a new podcast or how do we improve something in your neighborhood. You started the design process. The question is, how do you go from a good idea to putting something out into the world? Douglas helps us find out. "You gotta slow down to go fast" - Douglas Fer...
How Do You Make a 2.4 Billion Dollar Observatory Disappear?
March 29, 2020 20:36 - 49 minutes - 68.5 MBThe Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a next-generation observatory currently under development that has created a watershed moment for the scientific community and Hawaiian society. This is because of its planned location on Mauna Kea… the most sacred mountain in the Hawaiian religion. But the case of TMT and Mauna Kea is not an outlier because mountain summits often have profound meanings to both indigenous cultural practitioners and technology developers. For example, Kanamota is another sac...
A Virus Without Borders: The Design of Public Health, Inequality, and Hope
March 21, 2020 21:56 - 1 hour - 71.1 MBProduced in collaboration with Experience by Design. We are witnessing a moment in our lifetimes that we will hopefully never see again. The world is gripped in a pandemic of a scale unseen for a century. Beyond the human toll, we are seeing how healthcare systems people once had trust in crumble before their eyes. In this episode, Adam and Gary talk with Shelley White and Meenakshi Verma-Agrawal of the Simmons University Masters of Public Health program on what we learn from this momen...
A Virus Without Borders: The Design of Public Health, Inequality, and Hope
March 21, 2020 21:56 - 1 hour - 71.8 MBProduced in collaboration with Experience by Design. We are witnessing a moment in our lifetimes that we will hopefully never see again. The world is gripped in a pandemic of a scale unseen for a century. Beyond the human toll, we are seeing how healthcare systems people once had trust in crumble before their eyes. In this episode, Adam and Gary talk with Shelley White and Meenakshi Verma-Agrawal of the Simmons University Masters of Public Health program on what we learn from this mome...
The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity w/ Byron Reese
March 13, 2020 21:53 - 1 hour - 89.3 MBGigaom CEO, publisher and author of "The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity" stops by virtually to chat with Adam and guest host Astrid Countee to help us make sense of just what Artificial Intelligence is, what are its promises and limits, and what this means for the possibilities of conscious computing and smart robots. Byron breaks down the philosophies behind our ways of thinking about AI in way that gives us new social tools to approach the deep tec...
Will We Find God with this Machine? Introducing Starstruck
February 13, 2020 13:54 - 34 minutes - 47.6 MBThe Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) is a next-generation observatory currently under development that has created a watershed moment for the scientific community and Hawaiian society. This is because of its planned location on Mauna Kea… the most sacred mountain in the Hawaiian religion. Dr. Mindshare been studying this issue from their perspective as a cultural anthropologist for over a decade. This prelude offers a brief history of the controversy. TMT reveals the value of systems thinking — o...
Brands and the Business of Relationships with Bill Fleming
January 13, 2020 10:00 - 40 minutes - 93.6 MBBill Fleming stops by to chat with Adam about branding, marketing and design. Bill is a Boston-based Independent Brand & Marketing Strategist, and Business Consultant for Designers. On this episode we talk about what brands are, how the cultural work of branding has changed in recent decades with the advent of new and easier to use technologies, and how we can think about brands as conversations - not just between businesses and customers but also between businesses. Transcript of this episod...
Happiness and the Good Life According to the Aztecs w/ Dr. Ryan Collins
January 01, 2020 01:09 - 17 minutes - 16.3 MBA happy New Years! Enjoy this mini-episode with Adam and Dr. Ryan Collins exploring happiness and the good life according the Aztecs. New Years is a great time to reflect on where we've been, where we're going, and what's it all for. We find some answers and surprising wisdom with the Aztecs. Purcell - The Aztecs on Happiness Carrasco - Daily Life of the Aztecs --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thisanthrolife/message
Robots, Science Fiction, and the Anthropological Imagination: a Guest Podcast TAL's Adam Gamwell on Trending in Education
December 16, 2019 23:06 - 43 minutes - 60.1 MBSpecial guest podcast! - Adam Gamwell guests on Trending in Education with Mike Palmer. For this week’s extra, Mike is joined by Design Anthropologist and Podcaster, Dr Adam Gamwell, to explore how robots, science fiction, and anthropology are interrelated. In a free flowing and imaginative conversation, we explore how the narratives and secular myths of pop culture and our collective consciousness provide insights into how we understand what it means to be human, how we engage with ...
Robots, Science Fiction, and the Anthropological Imagination: a Guest Podcast TAL's Adam Gamwell on Trending in Education
December 16, 2019 23:06 - 43 minutes - 60.1 MBSpecial guest podcast! - Adam Gamwell guests on Trending in Education with Mike Palmer. For this week’s extra, Mike is joined by Design Anthropologist and Podcaster, Dr Adam Gamwell, to explore how robots, science fiction, and anthropology are interrelated. In a free flowing and imaginative conversation, we explore how the narratives and secular myths of pop culture and our collective consciousness provide insights into how we understand what it means to be human, how we engage with th...
Why More Security Never Feels Like Enough, by Astrid Countee: Storyslamming Anthropology Series #3
November 18, 2019 18:48 - 15 minutes - 14.1 MBWhy More Security Never Feels like Enough Storyslamming Anthropology Series, Story 3. Written and Performed by Astrid Countee In recent years, the terms Public and Anthropology have been paired with more frequency. Yet, what this seemingly suspect partnership is, how it could function, and what goals it could have are still in relative formation. Today, public anthropology might mean several different things ranging from jargony lectures that are “open to the public”, digital media (like blog...
100 Years of Beauty and the Beast of YouTube with Chris Chan
October 23, 2019 09:00 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MBin this episode, Adam and guest host Leslie Walker talk with visual anthropologist and film producer Chris Chan, producer of the 100 Years of Beauty series on YouTube. If you haven't seen this series (or some of the spinoffs from companies like Vogue and Allure, definitely take a few minutes to enjoy). As an ethnographer, he also makes a wonderful behind-the-scenes series that documents the research he and his team does for each country called Chanthropology. We cover the development of t...
Design Research is Anthropology Applied with Amy Santee
September 27, 2019 10:00 - 1 hour - 63 MBAt long last we are back! In this episode host Adam Gamwell talks with Design Researcher and Strategist Amy Santee. This is one of these conversations that's a few years in the making. Adam has been following Amy's work for a while now both on her blog anthropologizing.com where she writes about anthropology in industry, design and business, on LinkedIn and other social media sites as well as at conferences sharing the good work of doing anthropology in industry. Adam and Amy discuss what De...
Backpacks and Toe tags: Life and Death on the US-Mexico Border w/ Jason de León
August 28, 2019 09:00 - 38 minutes - 35 MBIn this special interview, TAL's Ryan Collins talks with scholar, activist and artist Jason de Leon about the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the US-Mexico border. In addition to these roles, de Leon is a MacArthur Fellow and National Geographic Explorer. He uses his platforms to create public dialogue, exhibitions, and media about undocumented migration, the human costs of the US immigration policy known as 'deterrence through force.' This very human conversation reveals the emotional toll, a...
Where Qualitative Meets Quantitative Data w/ Delve co-founders LaiYee Ho and Alex Limpaecher
August 14, 2019 10:00 - 33 minutes - 30.8 MBIn this episode Adam Gamwell talks with Alex Limpaecher and LaiYee Ho, co-Founders of Delve. While Delve is a qualitative research suite, to help code transcripts, find insight, and pull actionable insights from data, the conversation takes focus on the subject of research. Specifically, the driving question is: how can qualitative and quantitative data work together? Here, academic and industry methodologies with anthropology are put into conversation leading to insights and actionable steps...
GUEST PODCAST: AnthroDish 49: Exploring Quinoa Production through Design Anthropology with Dr. Adam Gamwell
July 22, 2019 09:00 - 1 hour - 56.1 MBFor this episode, we're doing something a little different. I'll be your guest. I got interviewed by the wonderful Sarah Dunigan on her podcast Anthro Dish, a weekly podcast about food identity and culture about design anthropology and some of the research I did on quinoa production and conservation in Peru for my PhD. I'll let Sarah intro the episode and run it unedited on my end. Just wanted to drop in and let you know we're here and in the spirit of helping our fellow anthro podcasters cro...
GUEST PODCAST: AnthroDish 49: Exploring Quinoa Production through Design Anthropology with Dr. Adam Gamwell
July 22, 2019 09:00 - 1 hour - 56.7 MBFor this episode, we're doing something a little different. I'll be your guest. I got interviewed by the wonderful Sarah Dunigan on her podcast Anthro Dish, a weekly podcast about food identity and culture about design anthropology and some of the research I did on quinoa production and conservation in Peru for my PhD. I'll let Sarah intro the episode and run it unedited on my end. Just wanted to drop in and let you know we're here and in the spirit of helping our fellow anthro podcasters cr...
The Surprising Connections between Climate Finance, Sacrifice and the Spirit of Capitalism
July 09, 2019 13:10 - 46 minutes - 42.5 MBIn this episode, Adam and Aneil reflect on Aneil’s fieldwork in climate finance. Climate finance is an area of finance focused on mobilizing investment for climate change solutions, namely infrastructure that is sustainable. Aneil’s research is centered on the growth of the green bond market within climate finance. Green bonds are debt instruments that finance infrastructure deemed sustainable by the climate finance community, such as public transit, green building, renewable energy, and wate...
Fear and Loathing in Truth or Consequences, performed by Taylor Genovese: Storyslamming Anthropology Series #2
June 24, 2019 22:21 - 16 minutes - 22.1 MBStoryslamming Anthropology Series, Story 2. Written and Performed by Taylor Genovese In recent years, the terms Public and Anthropology have been paired with more frequency. Yet, what this seemingly suspect partnership is, how it could function, and what goals it could have are still in relative formation. Today, public anthropology might mean several different things ranging from jargony lectures that are “open to the public”, digital media (like blogs, videos, or podcasts) that are generall...
EPIC 2019: Agency in the Digital Age with Julia Haines and Lisa diCarlo
May 21, 2019 10:00 - 51 minutes - 46.9 MBWelcome to This Anthro Life x EPIC 2019. This is the first episode in our 2019 collaboration with the Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Community or EPIC. EPIC is a professional organization that brings together ethnographers and social science practitioners across fields like user experience research and design, marketing, computer science, academia, and more. This year’s conference theme is agency, which is fascinating given the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, voice recognition softwar...