Thoughts on academia; Episode 11: The Knowledge Not Yet Written 

Ethnography, more important than ever The generative systems that have arrived in the last few years are extraordinarily good at a particular kind of intellectual work. Ask one of them what a body of literature says, and it will -mostly properly- summarize, cross-reference, and organize the written record with a facility no human scholar can … Read more

What do we need academia for? Episode 10: The Gift of Slow Time 

In nine episodes (you can find them here), I have focused on some characteristics of the current academic life that is killing the university system -not any more- slowly: Nine episodes of administrative bloat, ranking obsessions, funding regimes that reward the wrong things, accreditation rituals nobody quite believes in, a journal hierarchy that has turned … Read more

Strange days. “DW interview with Turkish youth minister seized” but ministry refutes…

DW interview with Turkish youth minister seized by ministry The record of an interview with Turkish Youth and Sports Minister Akif Çağatay Kılıç that was slated to be published for a program on Deutsche Welle (DW) has been seized by ministry officials after the interview was completed Turkish Sports Ministry refutes claims on seizure of DW interview … Read more

Meanwhile in Turkey: “Turkish man arrested for ‘insulting president, PM’ on emergency line…

Turkish man arrested for ‘insulting president, PM’ on emergency line A man was arrested on March 30 in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa after calling a police line and insulting a number of public officials, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu Local court applies to Turkey’s top court to annul article on … Read more

Anthropology roundup: “New book – Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practice

Gorgeous book of paper airplanes collected by anthropologist Harry Smith  Boing Boing by Cory Doctorow   Myths and Facts About the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog by Jessica Winegar Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions is pleased to extend its original series on this blog … Read more

Cyberculture agenda: the EU pressures Google more: right to be forgotten’ to be applied on global search results

Europe wants Google’s ‘right to be forgotten’ to be applied on global search results  The Next Web by Abhimanyu Ghoshal The European Union wants Google to wipe search results mentioning people who invoke their ‘right to be forgotten’ across all its sites, and not just its European versions, reports Reuters Majority of global population agrees Internet access … Read more

Anthropology roundup: “On Ethnographic Knowability…Neuroanthropology of ethics… Anthropologists Offer Insights and Solutions to the Ebola Crisis…

On Ethnographic Knowability Savage Minds: Notes and Queries in Anthropology — A Group Blog by Carole McGranahan This entry is part 11 of 11 in the Fall 2014 Writer’s Workshop series. (Savage Minds is pleased to post this essay by guest author Catherine Besteman as part of our Writer’s Workshop series. Catherine is Francis F. … Read more