All posts by Edward Chong

Edward Chong

Recent graduate from Loyola University Chicago. Current U-Boat Tour Guide and Around the Web Digest Intern for Savage Minds.

Around the Web Digest- September 25

As anthropologists in the U.S. prepare for the barrage of racist costumes at the end of October, we here at Savage Minds offer you some readings for the week!

In a hearing world, sign language confronts the linguistic conventions that dominate “bodily expressiveness”. How can the spaces we create be designed with the deaf and heard of hearing in mind?

Christine Moellenberndt, your local anthropologist at Reddit answers questions on the culture of online communities in this podcast for Marketplace.

As climate change continues in the anthropocene, can astrobiology offer insight into the futures of humanity?

As iPhone users live their life without a headphone jack, the global trade of cobalt stem used in many electronics come from dangerous mines in the Congo.

At Billingsgate Fish Market in the U.K.,Dawn Lyon details the stakes of the aesthetics of fisherman’s catch in such a competitive market.

See you next week!

Around the Web Digest- September 12

Hello everyone! Hope the first few days of Fall are treating you well. Here are some readings to keep you company as the temperature drops.

The fashion industry in Los Angeles, California keeps growing as the market continues to manufacture goods at an explosive rate. In a blog post by Stephanie Canizales in Youth Circulations, the lives of unaccompanied Guatemalan migrant youth in L.A. and how they navigate the harsh labor conditions of the garment industry.

Ghassan Hage on declining an invitation to address the Israeli Anthropological Association: “So to me, the beginning of any decolonial anthropology is to be anti-politicidal. It has to be concerned with how to stop this horrendous violence and how to give presence and political and social power to the colonised.”

As the struggle against DAPL continues, representatives from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe met with the United Nations Human Rights Council to advocate for international support. Eventually UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz stated that DAPL should stop immediately due to the lack of informed consent, environmental degradation to water supplies, and destruction of sacred land.

As major transportation shifts from railways to airlines in India, the culture of sharing meals on train cars among passengers begins to shift. NPR cites chef and anthropologist Kurush Dalal in the socioeconomic shifts in food and travel among India’s growing middle class.

Algorithms are subject to just as much bias as the humans who program them. However, is bias encoded into the basis of the English language itself?

See you next week!

Around the Web Digest- September 4

As Fall begins to creep around the corner in the Northern hemisphere, I present you with this week’s readings.

As big data continues to permeate every facet of your life, Cathy O’Neil reveals how structural inequality perpetuates through your personal information.

As the days get shorter and winter creeps on the horizon, I can only remember the Mai Tais from the summer. However, the history of the tiki bar and its commodification of Hawaiian religious symbols leaves a sour taste.

Need a movie suggestion? Might I suggest Ixcanul by Guatemalan director Jayro Bustamente. The film is shot in the Mayan language of Kaqchikel in a conscious effort to combat the racism against indigenous groups in Guatemala.

In a piece for the Medium series Muslim Women Speak, Ayqa Khan details the false dichotomy of being a Muslim woman and embracing sexuality.

As Gary Johnson continues to not inspire voters by stating “What is Aleppo?”. Feel free to use this to educate the people in your life about the Syrian conflict. 

As the struggle of activists in Standing Rock continue, the American Anthropological Association released this comprehensive statement of solidarity with Tribal Nations. 

See you next week!

Around the Web Digest- August 28

Hope readers in the U.S. are having a great Labor Day (aka your annual state-mandated day off from the crushing reality of capitalism)! Here are your readings for the week!

Is your groundbreaking ethnography not informing public discourse as much as you hoped? Peter Taylor-Gooby turned his research into a novel. Literary ethnographers keep doing your thing!

I am still weak from Beyoncé’s visual album Lemonade, but did you catch any of the references to Yoruba and the representation of the Orisha, Oshun? 

As Boliva recently passed Law Nº 807, the “Gender Identity Law” that provides a wide-range of legal protections for transgender and transsexual people in the country. The law providing a contrast in international LGBTQ rights discourse that focuses on same-sex marriage and decriminalization of homosexuality.

August 31, 2016 marked the 64th Anniversary of the “Criminal Tribes Act” in India. However, these communities still face stigma from police and structural barriers to resources.

Perplexed by an enthusiastic “YAAASSSS” from the young people in your life? Dive into the queer history of “YAS” and its recent appropriation in popular culture.

Skid Row in Los Angeles exposes the loophole that intense poverty and over-policing have on each other, as witnessed by sociologist Forrest Stuart.

See you next week!

Around the Web Digest- August 21

Hi everyone! Hope your first days of class are going well! (If your first week of class is not going as well as you hope…may I suggest becoming a farmer?)

Here are some readings for the week!

Donald Trump loves to spread the gospel of American exceptionalism, however much of his goods are manufactured outside of the U.S. Jakarta Post publishes a photo essay about the irony of producing political souvenirs in Indonesia.

NPR interviews McGill University anthropologist Gretchen Bakke about her book The Grid: The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Electricity Habit and how the U.S. is failing to embrace new energy infrastructure.

As a rare book collection from occupied East Jerusalem moves to West Jerusalem, archaeologists and activists worry about the political ramifications of moving Palestinian artifacts.

As the U.S. National Parks gears up for their first centennial, the racist history surrounding the National Parks has come into light. From the hunting grounds of wealthy white men and the displacement of indigenous groups in the name of conservation.

University of Chicago has caused much controversy surrounding their denouncement of “safe spaces”. Many have espoused the necessity of safe spaces for teaching students who experienced trauma. However, the question remains who is safe in these “safe spaces”?

 

savage
Local Chicago activist Charles Alexander Preston

See you all next week!

Around the Web Digest- August 14

Hey everyone! Hope you are enjoying the last few days of summer before the academic grind starts for another year. Here are your readings for the week.

Akemi Johnson details the contested and racialized history of the term hapa in Hawaii. Identity, colonialism, immigration, and cultural appropriation all coalesce into what it means or does not mean to be hapa.

For those interested in gender and medical anthropology,  Buzzfeed reports on why some transgender activists in Japan are pushing to keep “gender identity disorder” among their psychiatric professionals.

Picking your own produce straight from the field may sound like a fun day for the family, but not the families of farmworkers who work in dangerous conditions and for low wages every other day of the year.

Multispecies ethnographers can enjoy the interplay of oysters, climate change, and sea farmers in Connecticut cough Anna Tsing? cough

What do you do when gentrification comes from within your own community? Citylab analyzes “gentefication” within Latino neighborhoods and the conflicts between keeping cultural heritage and displacing low-income residents.

Yes.

See you next week!

Around the Web Digest- July 31

Hi everyone, hope the first week of August is not beating down on you too hard! Here are your readings for the week.

As the 2016 Summer Olympic games begin this week, Gregory Mitchell observes the effects of mass sports tourism on the lives of sex workers in Brazil.

Durkheim and the “collective effervescence” has picked up some steam to explain the popularity of Trump. However,  Religion Dispatches looks at the Scottish anthropologist James Frazer and The Golden Bough to explain Trump as a magician-king.

When kawaii becomes kawai. The immaculate construction and cuteness of bento lunch boxes are used as markers of social status among Japanese parents and a source of shame for more humble lunches.

The linguistic diversity of indigenous people in Mexico is gloriously animated in several short films that seek to preserve endangered languages.

The Nation profiles the lives of several Korean adoptees in America and the struggles that follow. Alyssa Jeong Perry cites University of California, Irvine anthropologist Eleana J. Kim and her book Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging (which I am currently reading and highly recommend).

See you next week!

Around the Web Digest- July 24

Hi everyone, I apologize for the delay but here is this week’s readings for you!

With Hamilton, the musical sensation soon traveling to different cities in the U.S., Current Affairs questions its revisionist portrayal of European colonists and downplaying the history of slavery.

Pokemon Go has millions of players exploring their neighborhoods and ending up in interesting situations in the past few weeks. However, not everyone with disabilities can go out and catch them all. How does the rise of augmented reality technology ignore the needs and embodied experiences of different groups?

Have you noticed your Chinese takeout getting more expensive? Joe Pinsker examines a “global hierarchy of taste” that relates the price and prestige of cuisine to a nation’s political and economic influence.

Anti-Black racism does not only take the form of police brutality. City Lab connects the militant policing of Black neighborhoods with environmental pollution that contribute to higher rates of conditions such as asthma and cancer in Black populations.

Two-Spirit indigenous populations in North America have a complicated history with anthropologists. In recent years, more non-indigenous people have claimed two-spirit as part of their identity. Black Girl Dangerous interrogates the violence of colonialism when non-indigenous people claim to be two-spirit. 

See you next week!

Around the Web Digest- Black Lives Matter

Hello everyone.

I woke up this morning feeling heavy with sadness. Alton Sterling was killed by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A day after Philando Castile was murdered in Falcon Heights, Minnesota by the police. Social media has become a never ending stream of images and text that position black bodies as a moral panic, an echo chamber of violence. The debates over the structures of racism and the police have reached a national arena; we as anthropologists can no longer stand silent.

Instead of a normal Around the Web Digest, I offer readings by anthropologists and critics about the role of the field in dismantling structures of oppression.

Cultural Anthropology offers many readings from a variety of scholars on the intersectionality of Black life in America. Pieces on the experiences of living in constant violence from the state, survival strategies, gendered aspects of policing, international perspectives, and the role of systemic economic disenfranchisement.

Anthropod interviews Yarimar Bonilla, Laurence Ralph, and Mark Auslander on their views of recent #Blacklivesmatter protests.

Shay Akil on Decolonize All The Things criticizes anthropology on it complacency on anti-blackness in academia. Our research and theory will do nothing if it is not translated into practice.

In 2014, we witnessed anthropology face new crossroads in how we contribute to everyday life with coalitions being built across Gaza and Ferguson. I wonder where our discipline stands today with state violence still encroaching in marginalized communities and counter-movements against Black Lives Matter movements.

Here are some earlier resources for teaching from American Ethnologist  about Black Lives Matter protests. (Here) (Here)

Savage Minds has written extensively on the role of racism and anthropology. I compile a list here to better read through.

Not only do anthropologists research these communities, I believe we have the moral responsibility to practice informed activism for these communities in order to heal.

I will return next week with a regularly scheduled digest.

Peace and Love,

Eddie

Around the Web Digest- June 19

Hi everyone! I hope you are enjoying your Tuesday, maybe still recovering from Pride weekend? I have some light readings for the week to aid in your recovery.

The need for queer anthropology only grows in the shadow of Orlando and growing political discourses on queer people around the world. Tamar Shirinian illustrates the intimate relationship between the nation-state and the lives of queer people.

Stem cells still fascinate biologists for their vast potential in medicine and learning about human development. However, stem cell tourism that promises miracle cures across the world is emerging. An emerging issue among medical anthropologists who study medical tourism.

The EU is in peril as the Brexit situation looks more and more uncertain. Simon Roberts reflects on the importance of anthropology in perilous times and the value of ethnography in public policy.

Surfing as metaphor for ethnographic practice. David Whyte offers parallels between the embodied knowledge of surfing in constantly changing environments to the shifting cultural landscapes within ethnographic field work.

Do you want to mix it up a little bit in the fall when teaching classes? Food Anthropology suggests cooking a meal in the tradition of experiential learning?

Sleep vs. Nap vs. Inemuri. When regular sleep patterns are a virtue; why is sleeping in public so prevalent in Japan?

If you are not familiar with the work of Paul Stoller (earlier announced as an inaugural member of the Public Anthropology Institute), here is a video that illustrates the foundational work of Dr. Stoller.

If you have any article that you recommend, please share them with me at smechong@gmail.com

See you next Week!

Around the Web Digest- June 12

Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the first days of summer, I am sweating in the Chicago humidity as I type this. Anyways, here are some readings for this week!

Join Vincent Crapanzano and an autoethnographic exploration of the meaning of ritual through the daily routine of animal slaughter. If you do not like the thought of dead rabbits, read with caution. 

University administration and student activists are seen to always conflict with each other. Does it have to be this way? The Chronicle of Higher Education offers new ways to find collaboration between students, faculty, and administration.

Undocumented immigrants face growing challenges in the US as Trump continues to create animosity among the right and more recently DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) being placed on hold due to a lawsuit. Please read a Savage Minds interview (Part 1) (Part 2) with Dr. Ruth Gomberg-Munoz for more background.

Fieldwork is an unpredictable time in the anthropologist’s life and that is the beauty of it all. How to Anthropology illustrates the serendipity and nuance it takes to do fieldwork and why it enriches ethnography.

Relive your first cultural anthropology class in undergrad with “Insulting the Meat”. If you are a recent graduate like me and need a pick-me-up when capitalism has you down, this reminds us why we study what we study.

If you have any article that you recommend, please share them with me at smechong@gmail.com

See you next week!

Around the Web Digest- Week of May 5

I apologize for the delay! Here are some readings for this week! Again feel free to leave article suggestions at smechong@gmail.com

With the first week of Ramadan complete, many Muslims are breaking fast as the sun sets. However, Muslims who live with eating disorders face the demands of managing mental health, body image, and a devotion to Islam.

The lack of intervention on sexual harassment within the academy have led prominent feminist scholar Sara Ahmed to resign from her position at Goldsmiths UniversityFeminist Academic Collective asks what needs to be done for universities to stop protecting abusers due to “genius”, but protect those who are harmed.

Speaking of gender politics, Japanese artist Megumi Igarashi who is in legal trouble due to her vulva-themed sculptures has been found guilty of obscenity. The decision due to the data on the 3-D printed work being made public, not the sculptures themselves. The case offers insight into the intersections of the legality of art, interrogations of gender norms, and politics of data distribution.

For many low-income areas throughout the U.S., McDonald’s becomes a haven for creating community. The articles depicts the creative ways people interact with the fast-food chain to socialize, find support, and survive under capitalism.

Sunday’s tragedy in Orlando at Pulse Nightclub follows a history of violence against queer spaces in the U.S. Acknowledging the importance of spaces for queer people in finding community and safety is of critical importance. However, in opposition to the coming Islamophobia, we must not to forget that queer Muslims exist and offer a counter to sensationalized media tearing these communities apart.

See you next week.

Around the Web Digest- Week of May 29

Hi everyone! My name is Eddie and I am the new Around the Web/Social Media Intern! I am a recent B.A. from Loyola University Chicago; flailing through post-grad life in the city. I am excited to scour the web for some fun reads that really tickle your anthropological imaginations. If you have links for articles and pieces that you would like to share or promote, please send them to me at smechong@gmail.com.

The controversy surrounding Harambe the Gorilla and the Cincinnati Zoo has sparked a flood of opinions among the public, primatologists Jane Goodall and Frans de Waal weigh in the incident.

Captain America: Civil War has inspired The Geek Anthropologist to relate the Avengers to global systems of diplomacy, peacekeeping, policy and security. However, with the controversial release of the new Captain America series where SPOILERS Steve Rogers is revealed to be an agent of Hydra, Captain America as a symbol of American Exceptionalism is now in question.

Lindsey Bell explores the podcast as a tool for teaching ethnography for undergraduates on University of Toronto’s Teaching Culture blog! Check out This Anthropological Life podcast on for a taste of what podcasts can do for anthropology!

Join me in a journey deep into the uncanny valley with masks designed to fool facial recognition software. “Data Masks” intervening between the body, digital surveillance, and political activism. If these make you uncomfortable, maybe this analysis of Snapchat faceswaps might help you confront your disgust?

With the American Anthropological Association announcing the election decision on BDS in a few days, here is an activist perspective surrounding anthropology’s colonial past and a review of Anthropology’s Politics: Disciplining the Middle East by Lara Deeb and Jessica Winegar by Stanford University Press.

Come back next week for more!