‘How To Think Like An Anthropologist’ — And Why You Should Want To

carla-theanthropologist:

On Oct.20, 2007, a Guardian story was headlined this way: “Can we, together, lift one village out of the Middle Ages?” Beneath the headline is a statement about traveling “a few hours from London — and 700 years back in time.”

What do these words signal but that the villagers need to be brought forward in time, into civilization?

That’s dangerous thinking, Engelke says — and through the lens of anthropology, we can see why. From his book, published Tuesday:

“It prevents us from seeing that the lives of Katine villagers are not trapped in the fourteenth century but lived out in a twenty-first-century world shaped by a host of colonial and postcolonial economic and political dynamics… If we can place the African Other in an earlier age, we don’t have to face up fully to the reasons why their lives don’t look like ours.”

In other words, it prevents us from seeing other people’s humanity — and how Western colonization has impacted that humanity.

‘How To Think Like An Anthropologist’ — And Why You Should Want To

pom-seedss:

xzombiexkittenx:

trashmouse:

neonperri:

gwendolynshepherds:

quasi-normalcy:

impuretale:

xelamanrique318:

snatched yo “i’m not like other girls” ass real quick!!!

This movie had no business being as good as it was. Go watch it. 

Noted

#… technically this scene passes the bechdel tesr#which is WILD unless youve watched the movie (via @swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual)

If Jack Black doesn’t get an Oscar nom for this, it is proof that sf/action movies are being discriminated against, because he was FLAWLESS as a teenage girl, absolutely invisible behind his character, and that deserves massive recognition of his awesomeness. 

(I also appreciate the writing which had both girls calling each other out on perceived issues, and both girls acknowledging the fairness of those call-outs and subsequently valuing each other as equals and becoming buds. No girl-fights here, thank you.)

This movie was far more amazing than it should have been, and I’m pretty sure that was at least 90% because the cast was so fantastic.

Not once in the entire film did I forget Jack Black was a teenage girl. It was one of the most brilliant performances I have ever seen and I still can’t believe I’m saying that about Jack Black in Jumanji II.

Is it tropey as hell? Yes.

Do they subvert some of the tropes some of the time? Heck yes.

Did they know they were going to be tropey as hell and made it the best possible versions of the tropes when they weren’t subverting them? Hell fucking yes.

thebibliosphere:

alwaysatomicconniseur:

ruffboijuliaburnsides:

mistersaturn123:

a-can-of-mountain-jew:

dragonenby:

tabbitcha:

lemonade-cat:

talkearlietome:

cartel:

hotboysofficial:

the future is now

are people that lazy to need this

While I’m sure there are people too lazy to spin a fork, keep in mind people like this person who may be suffering from arthritis or a neurological disease or nerve damage or a thousand other conditions that might impair their ability to do things as simple as spin a fork to eat spaghetti. 

These are used with people who can’t grip well: 

image

This is for Parkinsons’s: 

image

For people who can’t even bend their joints: 

image

Here’s a product that guides your hand from your plate to your mouth 

image

This one holds a sandwich 

image

Like I get it. I used to see things like the fork and think “that’s fuckin’ lazy” or that product that holds a gallon and you just tip it and pour. But then I started working around the disabled and impaired and found out that these products aren’t meant for lazy people, they’re meant for people who need help. 

So maybe next time you see something, instead of thinking “Wow, are people that lazy?” just be grateful that you’re able to do the things you do every day and take for granted, like being able to feed yourself and wipe your own ass because you have enough coordination and bendy joints to do it. 

This isn’t specualtion either; the majority of products from commericals that we think are funny or silly are autally MEANT for hte disabled.But they are marketed towards the abled because the disabled aren’t considered a viable enough demographic on their own.

the Snuggie for example? Created for wheelchair users.

This is actually really nifty.

oh my god of course the snuggie was for wheelchair users

The fact that anyone buys these products besides disabled people drastically lowers the price of them. These would normally cost hundreds if not thousands if dollars. Because if spent time and money creating it, the company wants to get more than that back. And they can’t do that if they sell and market these primarily to disabled people for $20-$40 a piece or whatever. They’d lose money on production. If they can sell hundreds of them to everyone, they can lower the price drastically and therefore disabled people don’t die while trying to scrape up the money to buy these things and be a bit more independent.

I never considered that last part and that’s actually genius

Like yeah, a handful of people ARE that lazy.

But those are the people who use these products even though they don’t need them and thus allow the price to be lower for those who DO.

So honestly in this case good bless the lazy and those prone to gimmicks because they are invaluable to the elderly and disabled in this sense.

@thebibliosphere Look! People learning about disability and why to be kind!

The normalization of disability aids needs to be a thing precisely so they can cost less.

My Library Collections Professor Has Made A Terrible Mistake

jumpingjacktrash:

teaandspite:

teaandspite:

teaandspite:

She doesn’t know it yet, but she will soon. You see, the midterm paper on calls for students to write a collection evaluation for a library of our choosing. Now, I know that when she said that library does not need to be real, she meant that we didn’t need to pick a specific one. But what I heard was… 

For those of you requesting the full paper, I’ll see what I can do once I get the grade back!

I’M SO GLAD YOU ASKED

For the sake of this evaluation, only the official, present collection of the Unseen University will be examined. Collections belonging to other libraries that are accessible via L-Space will be considered as part of the Interlibrary Loan System, as will materials available by time-travel and other such means.

Relatedly:

Whether or not acquiring books that have not yet been written is a violation of copyright law has yet to be legally clarified, but faculty and students should not expect to be permitted to cite them in their own work (see also Library Rule 3: Do Not Interfere With The Nature Of Causality). 

Alright, here is the full paper, stripped of all incriminating details. 

this is a Joy To Behold

holdmecloseandfast:

keplercryptids:

thetumblrofrassilon:

operativesurprise:

keplercryptids:

keplercryptids:

I spent the afternoon arranging our books by size and color (and it’s so satisfying and looks amazing) and my partner came home and stared in shock at the bookcase and then said “i’m a librarian, you can’t do this.”

him: you split up all the song of ice and fire books

me: yeah i know, they’re all primary colors, it’s perfect

him: [self-destructs]

You’re a monster

As a former bookstore employee, this hurts my soul. I mean, sure it looks nice, but how do you find anything?

it has occurred me during this process that apparently not everyone thinks about books by what color they are? like, literally when i’m looking for a book, i picture it in my mind. i have a very…tactile experience with the books i read and idk! i thought everyone did that lol.

my partner was like “how will i find [this book] for instance” and i replied “easy, it’s purple” and he looked at me like i was a witch.

OP your brain is neat and I love you for it you funky little color-coded cupcake. But you’re still a monster.

anexperimentallife:

sonneillonv:

asriel-yiffcave:

valorousowl:

dr-bebber:

pinkstuff:

dr-bebber:

Hey CNN are you okay??

What’s happening now??

They’re not wrong you guys are just mean/the loudest minority of Furry culture is the worst and is not representative of furries as a whole

I’m adding, yall remember when people tried to GAS a hotel of furries.

Yall remember how most of them are harmless doofs that just wanna have fun and raise money for charity.

Yall remember how at Genericon IN MY STATE a bunch of furries at the rave stopped COLLEGE STUDENTS FROM THE CAMPUS FROM KIDNAPPING MINORS FROM SAID CONVENTION

Look there’s a lot of bad parts, that’s unavoidable with a Fandom that massive, but there’s a lot of good too and we need to stop judging fandoms by their worst.

Preach

They also pay fairly for commission work, support art and artists, and have taken concrete measures, far more than many other subcultures, to aggressively eject neo-nazis from their community.

I mean, I don’t have to like or understand the sexual component, but it’s also none of my business.  So I’m cool with them on the basis of that other stuff.

Dude, my experiences with the furry community have been pretty awesome. I had no idea what a furry was until I launched a comic (Blue Crash Kit) about a trio of polyfidelitous talking animal superheroes, but furries became our core fan base, and although of course there was the odd fash or pervert, most of them were incredibly nice, welcoming, and supportive people. I may not be a furry myself, but I felt very welcomed by the community.

(I am preparing to RE-launch the comic, in fact, because I still get the occasional email asking me to, and I feel I owe it to the fans. )

post–grad:

to my student who emailed me today asking if she should title her essay “what does grendel eat for breakfast? danish” or “no arm, no foul,” thank you. you don’t know that i was in the middle of hashing out how i’m handling your classmate’s intentional plagiarism, but receiving that email reminded me that some of you take your teenage rebellions in the right direction, and i love u for that.

lumpatronics:

mentosmorii:

yarrayora:

mentosmorii:

8tracks finally realized that no one was going to treat it like spotify 2.0, and you can listen again for free (with ads, of course) which of course means We’re Back On Character Playlist Content 2018 folks

hey zoe i just need you to know that it’s 2018 and i drew an 8tracks cover art for a ‘massacre route’ playlist i finally remember how it feels like to be alive

Character playlists are the only valid past time on this bitch of a planet, thank you for reviving a lost art. Make sure you have adblock/ghostery so you can listen to your jams ad-free + sequentially 

This is the best news of 2018 I’ve gotten