Anthropology is the study of humankind, past and present, that draws and builds upon knowledge from social and biological sciences, as well as the humanities and the natural sciences. In the United States anthropology is traditionally divided into the four field approach developed by Franz Boas in the early 20th century: biological or physical anthropology, social anthropology or cultural anthropology, archaeology and linguistic anthropology. Ethnography is one of its primary methods as well as the text that is generated from anthropological fieldwork.
Brazil had an opportunity to be a leading, democratic, Latin American country but lost its sense of direction. The political system designed to assist emerging countries grow and prosper does not work there. Instead of growing, as so many predicted it would, over the last seven years the country has fallen apart.
Continue reading “Brazil’s Dichotomous Treatment of Corruption – PT 3”
After the end of the Brazilian military dictatorship, the Liberal Front Party (LFP), Democratic Social Party (PMDB) and Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) dominated the government of Brazil. For more than 20 years, right wing and centrists autocrats controlled the government and struggled with enormous foreign debt, rampant hyperinflation, and the difficulties of transitioning to democracy.
Continue reading “Brazil’s Dichotomous Treatment of Corruption – PT 2”
Brazil is a country saturated with corruption. From the small, family-owned mom and pop neighborhood grocery store to the hallowed … Continue reading Brazil’s Dichotomous Treatment of Corruption – PT 1
We attempt here to explore the relationship between anthropology, social media and public engagement through a web-based network that we … Continue reading The Open Anthropology Cooperative: Towards an Online Public Anthropology-by Keith Hart
The Summary The new anthropologist is a self-appointed people’s representative in the double sense of writing them up and acting … Continue reading What Anthropologists Really Do-by Keith Hart
Many people throughout the Western world do not understand what is happening in the Middle East. Much of the confusion … Continue reading Mess in the Middle East
Well, it only took about two-hundred and forty years but the greatest fear of the writers of the Constitution of the United States has taken place. A rich, capitalist class of billionaire Americans have finally taken over the government.
We need to understand better how we build the infrastructures of collective existence, money among them. How do meanings come to be shared and memory to transcend the minutiae of personal experience?
Continue reading “Religion and Economy – Part Two-by Keith Hart”
Religion belongs to a set of terms that also includes art and science. Science began as a form of knowledge opposed to religious mysticism, but is now often opposed to the arts.
Continue reading “Religion and Economy – Part One-by Keith Hart”
In the aftermath of Trump’s victory, we would do well to recall Hegel’s maxim that difference-in-sameness moves history. Max Weber … Continue reading Capitalism, revolution and racism in the US and the world-by Keith Hart
Anthropology is the social science that isolates cultural elements, specifies cultural relationships, and characterizes cultural systems by identifying cultural symbols, … Continue reading In Line Quotation
Since the 1960s, there has not been any new innovative advances in the field of anthropology. Although some good work … Continue reading Perennial Narratives in Anthropology
In the May-June 1993 issue of Wired Magazine, an article on a group of mathematicians advocating a radical, libertarian, cryptographic … Continue reading The War Against Privacy
Although he was a left-wing, socialist president for two consecutive terms, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva demonstrated that a left-wing … Continue reading Decline of Brazil’s Middle Class
For decades, investors in advanced economies (AEs) have shaped the evolution of global markets. Research shows that advanced economy investors … Continue reading Changing Global Economies
People are migrating across the globe in unprecedented numbers. More than 200 million people are residing in countries other than … Continue reading Undocumented Migration: a global problem
Some sources claim that one out of every 236 people becomes a victim of human trafficking. Even more startling, sources … Continue reading Human Trafficking: a growing epidemic
Those who have chosen to become permanent expatriates at some time or another experience a very disturbing and confusing dilemma. … Continue reading Expatriates: Dilemmas and Misconceptions
Any attempt to understand black American men and their relationships with Brazilian women must first consider cultural characteristics and the … Continue reading Black American Men and Brazilian Women
When I first encountered Lévi-Strauss in graduate school, I thought the title of his monumental work sounded strange. At that … Continue reading Tristes Tropiques: Revisited
Now this is an article that is going to upset a lot of people but at the same time it will cause a lot of people to reflect on something that we so easily take for granted.
When I arrived in Brazil seven years ago as an American anthropologist seeking to discover if Brazil would be a … Continue reading Self-imposed Discrimination in Brazil
The point of this article is not to argue that bio-medicine has become a mechanism for establishing political or … Continue reading Transforming Refugees
This article presents a brief discussion about the importance of traditional cultural and family values in urbanized, industrialized societies. In … Continue reading Traditional Family Values in Urbanized Societies
Although there is considerable literature on conditions of unemployment and poverty in many modernized countries, there is a penuriously small … Continue reading Unemployment & Poverty in Brazil
Perspectives in Anthropology 