~ a group blog on a variety of topics related to anthropology, sociology, and ordinary people ~
By Alanis N..Cruz Soto
For a long time, I did not understand why my hair bothered me so much.
It was not just my hair. It was everything that came with it.
As a child in Puerto Rico, when I looked in the mirror, I saw a Black girl in a country where being Black often seemed to come with explanations. Explanations were needed about how I should wear my hair, how I should look, what colors looked good on me, what kind of hair was “beautiful,” and which kind was “difficult.”…
Washington has rediscovered Myanmar’s chaotic borderlands—again. After cutting aid to the countryin early 2025, the US now promises Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) “strike forces” who claim to work with the Royal Thai Police in their War Room Task Force in Bangkok, investigating and combatting scam compounds in Myanmar. Washington is even rumored to be offering a $25-million reward for the arrest of people organizing scam centers across Southeast Asia, although no Myanmar names have yet appeared on Department of State lists.…
For the last 6 years, I have been dealing with a health insurance claim for my wife’s hip operation in Thailand in January 2020. We were insured by Blue Shield of California at the time which is an administrator for my employer’s health care program at the time, the California Public Employees Retirement System (CALPERS). The policy Blue Shield administered included coverage for global emergency and urgent health care needs. In November 2019, Blue Shield pre-approved an operation on my wife’s hip because she could barely walk, and agreed the condition was considered urgent.…
Published as a Guest Column in The Irrawaddy, Reading Time: 7 mins read
In 1949, the newly independent Burma was said to be on the verge of collapse as Communist Party of Burma (CPB) forces occupied Mandalay, and the Karen Army encircled Yangon. In the early 1960s, Ne Win’s coup was supposed to restore stability but in fact led to a resurgence in highland ethnic armed groups, and in the lowlands, initiated the terror of the secret police with their dank prisons.…
I have been remiss in posting to Ethnography.com. For about ten years, this ws a forum I really enjoyed. There was a community of bloggers, and the quality of ethnography posted was unusual in both its geographic spread, and the vigor of its writings about places as diverse as Dominica in the Caribbean, Tunisia, Madagascar, Tanznia, Myanmar, Romania, and other places around the world. I think I am one of the few people in the world who actually enjoys editing ethnograhpic writing. …
– by Sigrid van Roode –
The young man looked at me hesitantly. “Well, I don’t know….” he said. “I’ll have to ask my grandfather, but he’s praying right now. Would you like some more tea?” Three glasses of hot sweet tea later, his grandfather entered the tiny shop in Cairo, Egypt’s Khan el-Khalili market where I sat, surrounded by old and vintage silver jewellery. We exchanged greetings and pleasantries, shared some more tea, and eventually settled on a price for the bracelet I wanted to buy.…
Distant Doctors: A Surgical Theater in Romania
– By Cristina A. Pop –
Someone has a fondness for purple decor, I decide, as I look around the examination room at a gigantic poster of blooming irises, a mauve plastic cover atop the gynecological table, and a vase of artificial lilac cuttings on the windowsill. No need to look further: sitting at a desk covered in patient paperwork, the doctor sports a lavender gown.…
Ritual Shrine Offerings Among the Exotic Nacirema Tribe
While it may seem that anthropologists have documented the most exotic rituals across the globe, the strangest rituals are still yet to be documented by scientists in the exotic tribe of the Nacirema. The strange beginnings of the exotic Nacirema tribe have been documented by Tocqueville (1835), and intimate body rituals have been documented by Miner (1956), but no scientist has brought to light the strangest worship ritual of any tribe on the planet.…
I lived many years in Thailand where a subject of fascination for outsiders is the “sex industry.” I have of course known many people who were involved at various levels, but have never turned much of an ethnographic eye toward the subject. Until now. Thanks to the interests Petra Lemberger, a MA student at Chiangmai University in Thailand, I recently with her published an article “Thailand’s Sex Entertainment: Alienated Labor and the Construction of Intimacy” in Social Sciences. …
Thailand’s most famous and beloved writer– Rong Wongsawan’s work has been translated, edited and published in English for the first time. For admirers of Thailand and its culture, you can now get a glimpse of California culture through the writing and ethnography of Thailand’s most famous ‘man of the people’ for the first time in English.Working really hard on the YouTube channel. If you want to help please subscribe here: Laurelin the Other.
Greetings Ethnography.com aficionados!
My previous post “What Happens if Chinese Smartphones Teach English Lessons in Tanzania?” is now on Youtube. Keeping up with the times, Tony and I will be working together so that Ethnography.com articles will be in video format along with the transcription here on Ethnography.com. Please subscribe to Laurelin the Other– the Other meaning, the Ethnographer. Hit that like button and leave a comment on Youtube.…
In Northern Burma there is a railway bridge, the Gokteik Viaduct. It was completed in 1900 by a Pennsylvania steel company under contract to the British government, which had recently conquered northern Burma following the British-Burma War of 1884-1885.
The British Empire was focused on their version of free trade and they wanted to project British notions of mercantilism to all corners of the world, including southern China. So they decided to build a railway from their new colony in Burma with its port on the Indian Ocean, to Kunming in southern China. …