The Emic - Anthropological stories from the field

Welcome to  The Emic , the podcast where anthropologists share a moment from their fieldwork in which they truly took on an emic perspective – seeing the world from the point of view of the people they study.   In this episode, you'll hear from anthropologist and archaeologist Jason De León . De León is a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, director of the Cotsen Institute of A...

In the autumn of 1971,  when he just turned 23 years old, Tim was living in a tiny wooden cabin on the shores of lake Rautaperajärvi, in the far northeastern corner of Finnish Lapland. He was a few months into his doctoral fieldwork with the Skolt Sámi people. The Skolts had been resettled in this remote area following the loss of their homeland to the then Soviet Union in the aftermath of the Sec...

When Gego (that's what Muhammad is called by his friends) conducted his PhD-fieldwork in Indonesia, he entered multiple new worlds: the world of anthropology, a region with nature so pristine he did not know it existed, and the world of deep water diving. Only problem: he did not know how to dive. When he entered the water, he was touched by underwater beauty, but confronted with his biggest fears...

In this episode, Giovanna talks about a moment in her fieldwork that she returns to often. A quiet moment shared with women that would become her sisters. A moment where something shifted for her.     Giovanna Parmigiani is an anthropologist of religion and magic, a scholar of Contemporary Paganisms, the co-chair of the Contemporary Pagan Studies Unit at the American Academy of Religion, and a fou...

While conducting fieldwork in Bangladesh, renowned anthropologist and historian Willem van Schendel found himself at a dinner invitation. Initially a cozy evening, time seemed to stretch on forever until the food was finally served. But little did he know, his perception of time was about to be turned upside down.    Tune in to this episode of The Emic to hear Willem's remarkable, or in his words...

When Rahil was invited by her Iranian interlocutors to a religious gathering for women, she dressed to the occasion - or so she thought. But then she learned something important. A beautiful episode about high heels, gossip, and our prejudices.  Rahil Roodsaz is an assistant professor at the anthropology department of the University of Amsterdam. She studies gender and sexuality, particularly focu...

In this episode of The Emic, Roanne shares her experiences as a young anthropologist conducting fieldwork in Greenland, where she lived among Inuit hunters and fishers while studying the impacts of climate change. Whilst living among these families, she had the opportunity to witness parents interacting with their children. The parenting styles in the community initially led her to be critical. A...

Sometimes, the places in which we live appear to be exotic, if we learn to look at them in a new way. Professor Klaus Hoeyer rediscovered his own country of residence, Denmark, after it had become world famous for its digital governance and digital healthcare. But why did everyone in the country disagree on whether digitization was a positive, or negative trend? And why were all the stories about...

When the Brazilian educator and anthropologist Beatrice Bonami traveled to the Amazon to study how Indigenous and local peoples perceived the future and technology, including digitization of daily life and privacy issues, she soon realized she would have to adapt her usual working methods: how could she ever conduct research on digital privacy, in a community where people share their houses with e...

Anthropologist Tina Harris studies aviation - flying - in countries like Nepal, where landing strips are short and the weather can change quickly from clear skies to dangerous storms. How do pilots and aviation staff navigate safe flights? It's not through the type of high-tech you might expect, discovers Harris. Learn how cows, birds, and old-fashioned cellular phones help travelers safely reach...

Danielle went to Iran to investigate the relationship between carpetmakers and their bias but learned something completely different: how to utilize the headscarf to give secret messages to whomever she talked to. Dr. Danielle Braun is a corporate anthropologist, speaker, Director of the Academy for Organizational Culture, and author of popular books on anthropology (including Corporate Tribe, Bui...

During fieldwork in hospitals, Roanne discovers that technology is not just impacting the way in which we experience time, but also the extent to which we find waiting tolerable.  Due to new technologies, physicians can work faster, which means they can help their patients quicker, too. But there is an important downside to these developments, that is too often overlooked. For more information abo...

Spanish design anthropologist Miguel Gómez Hernández went to Australia to investigate how industry experts envision the future designs of houses for the elderly. This future vision was all about safety and health, including iPads on the fridge to help people see what to eat, and no carpets or other things that create a risk of falling. But then he started visiting the houses of elderly people and...

How does one drink riverwater in a way that is sustainable? Not in the way a thirsty anthropologist, traveling on a steppe does. Hint: the right way involves a Mongolian God and a beautiful cup. As a corporate anthropologist, Ludo conducts anthropological research within companies and organisations. He provides and supports trainings and learning paths within the academy. Ludo specialises in cultu...

Why don't police officers report each other to their managers, even in cases of misconduct or behavior that deserves to be reported? That was one of the research questions that Dr. Danielle Braun began her fieldwork with. For a long time, she conducted research within the Dutch police force: she rode along in their cars during shifts, hung around the office, and went out with them after receiving...

In this episode, Roanne talks about her research among mountaineers and rock climbers. She struggled immensely with vertigo when trying to learn climbing, but these people seemed to be immune to it. It didn't come from a denial of the risk, nor from naivety, she quickly noticed - many of the athletes she spoke to experienced serious accidents or lost colleagues and friends to the sport. One of the...

In this episode, anthropologist Oskar Verkaaik describes his research on the designs and interiors of mosques in the Netherlands. He shares how he aimed to understand why mosques almost always look more or less the same, both inside and out - at least, that's what he had read in literature and what many designers had told him. According to them, a mosque should resemble a reminder of the country o...

Want to learn more about Roannes' fieldwork, see her notes, photos or drawings from the field? Then subscibe to her monthly letters at www.anthropologyofthefuture.com/the-emic For an overview of Roanne's work, you can also visit her LinkedIN page:  https://nl.linkedin.com/in/roannevanvoorst  

In this episode of the Emic, I share the lesson that was taught to me by one of the poorest people in the world. He helped me understand how I can live, and wholeheartedly enjoy, a rich life, without looking away from the suffering and poverty that so many other people live in. As I explain in the episode, this lesson still helps me on a near-daily basis, for example when I see the news from Gaza....