Camthropod

Episode 37: Origin Studies Part 3, by Adam Hinden. With Mike Degani, Timothy Cooper, and Marilyn Strathern Anthropologists often work with communities far away from where they live and study. How do we come to commit ourselves to years of engagement in a specific field site? Inspired by a gap in anthropological education surrounding the selection of field-sites, this three-part podcast explores how some anthropologists developed their interest in specific settings and topics, and how these inclinations are shaped by various external factors into life-long research interests and specializations. Each episode contains the "origin stories" of three anthropologists at the University of Cambridge, and shows how anthropological knowledge often hinges on indirect, serendipitous experiences. Episode 3 features Mike Degani, Timothy Cooper, and Marilyn Strathern Adam Hinden is an Irish-American researcher and musician currently based in London. His work, both for his anthropology MPhil at the University of Cambridge and in his current research with ACLED, surrounds activism and allyship among indigenous groups in Taiwan.

Episode 36: Origin Studies Part 2, by Adam Hinden. With Andrew Sanchez, Elizabeth Turk, and Caroline Humphrey Anthropologists often work with communities far away from where they live and study. How do we come to commit ourselves to years of engagement in a specific field site? Inspired by a gap in anthropological education surrounding the selection of field-sites, this three-part podcast explores how some anthropologists developed their interest in specific settings and topics, and how these inclinations are shaped by various external factors into life-long research interests and specializations. Each episode contains the "origin stories" of three anthropologists at the University of Cambridge, and shows how anthropological knowledge often hinges on indirect, serendipitous experiences. Episode 2 features Andrew Sanchez, Elizabeth Turk, and Caroline Humphrey Adam Hinden is an Irish-American researcher and musician currently based in London. His work, both for his anthropology MPhil at the University of Cambridge and in his current research with ACLED, surrounds activism and allyship among indigenous groups in Taiwan.

Episode 35: Origin Studies Part 1, by Adam Hinden. With Sian Lazar, Thomas White, and Iza Kavedžija Anthropologists often work with communities far away from where they live and study. How do we come to commit ourselves to years of engagement in a specific field site? Inspired by a gap in anthropological education surrounding the selection of field-sites, this three-part podcast explores how some anthropologists developed their interest in specific settings and topics, and how these inclinations are shaped by various external factors into life-long research interests and specializations. Each episode contains the "origin stories" of three anthropologists at the University of Cambridge, and shows how anthropological knowledge often hinges on indirect, serendipitous experiences. Episode 1 features Sian Lazar, Thomas White, and Iza Kavedžija Adam Hinden is an Irish-American researcher and musician currently based in London. His work, both for his anthropology MPhil at the University of Cambridge and in his current research with ACLED, surrounds activism and allyship among indigenous groups in Taiwan.

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring. Episode 8 features Rabab Chamseddine with Rebecca Appleton Rabab Chamseddine (b.1997, Abidjan, Ivory Coast) is a Lebanese (spoken word) poet and film-maker based in Tyre and Beirut, Lebanon. She is currently completing her master’s in Literature at the American University of Beirut. Her poetry unfolds as an exploration of the bilateral theme of love and loss, and the poetics of meaning-making that emerge between them, in that very space of mourning, in Beirut. Chamseddine began her spoken word poetry journey in 2017 by partaking in poetry nights hosted in the hubs and communal cafes of Beirut, to later become the winner of Beirut Poetry Slam 2018. Her work will be appearing in an anthology entitled We Call to the Eye and the Night: Love Poems by Writers of Arab Descent (Persea Books), edited by Hala Alyan and Zeina Hashem Beck, as of spring 2023. Find her on Instagram @ rababchamseddine Rebecca Appleton is a postgraduate researcher in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester. She is currently undertaking PhD research about the politics of contemporary women’s poetry in Beirut, Lebanon. The project researches the emerging and evolving performance and politics of women’s poetry in Beirut, focussing on poetry’s capacity to generate alternative spaces for personal, social, political, and gendered expression as the city negotiates crises. Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC. Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring. Episode 7 features Emiko Agatsuma with Iza Kavedžija Emiko Agatsuma is a dancer and a choreographer specializing in Butoh, a dance genre that emerged in Japan in the1960s as a reaction to Western modern dance. Having graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo in 1999, she joined the largest Butoh Company - Dairakudakan founded by Akaji Maro. She had performed in every Dairakudakan production until 2019. She now heads the AGAXART production company for Butoh dancers and artists in Japan. Emiko is a recipient of the prestigious Best Young Artist 2015 Award by the Japan Dance Critics Association and she represented Japan in 2020 at the 39th annual Battery Dance Festival in New York City, USA. https://agaxart.wixsite.com/agart/home @emiko.agatsuma Iza Kavedžija is an Assistant Professor of Medical Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. She is specialising in Japan, with primary research interests in art and creativity, the life course and aging, and health and wellbeing. She is currently leading an AHRC-funded project entitled ‘The Work of Art in Contemporary Japan: Inner and outer worlds of creativity’. https://www.socanth.cam.ac.uk/directory/dr-iza-kavedzija Translation and narration by Kaori Yoshikawa. Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC. Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring. Episode 6 features Bronagh Lawson with Kayla Rush Bronagh Lawson is an artist based in Belfast who has written a blog about the vibrant local contemporary visual arts scene for the last ten years. Previously she ran cross-community cross-border development programmes for 13 years. Originally from Portaferry and Strangford, Northern Ireland, she is a Fulbright scholar and graduate of Winchester School of Art. Bronagh is a co-founder of the Hydrangea project, a Belfast-Chicago collaboration which uses contemporary art underpinned with art therapy to act as a healing mechanism. Her book Belfast City of Light: Looking and Listening to Belfast Come with Me is based on her experience as a non-churchgoer attending every church in Belfast for a service. https://www.lulu.com/shop/bronagh-lawson/belfast-city-of-light/paperback/product-1z7ympqj.html?page=1&pageSize=4 https://iarc.ie/exhibitions/previous-exhibitions/ebb-and-flow-prints-by-bronagh-lawson/ https://us4.campaign-archive.com/home/?u=849f2610883f3b34ac8274556&id=595d763c41 Kayla Rush is an anthropologist of art, music, and performance. She is an assistant lecturer in music at Dundalk Institute of Technology in Dundalk, Ireland. Kayla's previous research examined community arts in contemporary Northern Ireland; her book on this research, The Cracked Art World: Conflict, Austerity, and Community Arts in Northern Ireland, was published in June 2022. Her current research is focused on private, extracurricular, fees-based rock and popular music schools. https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/RushCracked https://doi.org/10.1386/jpme_00054_1 Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC. Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring. Episode 5 features Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh with Anonymous Anthropologist Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh BSc. Hons, MLitt, MA is a practice-based opera doctoral researcher at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, in London where she also teaches. Her research engages with the opera “Carmen” drawing on the Tehran Opera Company to forecast what new socio-political futures could be dreamt through opera. Her new libretto of “Carmen” in 2025 will coincide with the 150th anniversary of “Carmen’s” premiere in Paris. In this episode, as the librettist, Nazli reflects upon the production of the opera "Paradise Garden" (2021). Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh is an experienced transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary artist with a portfolio spanning live and recorded arts, both place based and touring. Currently she is associate director of the Glasgow based Queer Sanctuary Arts with a focus on future artistic planning. She is a member of the Governance Committee for the New York based International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA), of which she was an Arts Council England Fellow. At the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama she is the Deputy Chair of the inaugural Independent Equity Committee. Twitter: @Nazli_Tabatabai Anonymous Anthropologist By anonymising herself, she hopes to highlight that artists are constantly asked to do things for free. As anthropologists are keen to collaborate with artists (sometimes for free), she hopes her small act could highlight the issue and help fellow anthropologists reflect on the ‘friendship’ convention in Social Anthropology. More info: http://www.payingartists.org.uk/ Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC. Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring. Episode 4 features Jesús Guevara Rico with Alanna Cant Jesús Guevara Rico is an artist and art conservator, originally from San José Tateposco in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. He trained at the prestigious Western School of Conservation and Restoration (Escuela de Conservación y Restauración de Occidente) in Guadalajara. Now based in Oaxaca City, Jesús works on and oversees the conservation and restoration of colonial heritage throughout the state, especially religious paintings, frescos, and carvings. Novohispano art also provides inspiration for the content, materials, and techniques of Jesús’s oil paintings, murals, and tattoos. Find him on Twitter @JesusGuevaraRi3 Alanna Cant is an anthropologist in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Reading. Her work is about aesthetics, identity, material culture, and religion within the ‘economies of culture’ of Mexico and the United Kingdom. Her book The Value of Aesthetics: Oaxacan woodcarvers in global economies of culture was published in 2019 by the University of Texas Press. https://www.reading.ac.uk/archaeology/staff/alanna-cant https://www.alannacant.com/ Voice credit: Alfredo Narváez Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC. Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

This podcast examines the shifting sonic politics of the marching band scene in Derry, Northern Ireland. 20 years ago, Protestant parading in Derry was a source of intense political conflict but over the years it has become less controversial due to inter-community collaboration. However, tensions remain. Sean French and his interlocutors discuss how different political styles sound and how acoustic experience intersects with political marginalization. Through ideas around rowdiness, volume, and voice, French shows how marching band members in contemporary Northern Ireland negotiate different political stances and forms of identification. Acknowledgements: Special thanks to Richard Holland and the East Bank Protestant Boys, everyone at Bready Ulster Scots Pipe Band, and everyone at the North West Cultural Partnership. I am so grateful for all you've done for me, and I would be nowhere without your kindness letting me be a temporary part of the marching band world in Derry. Sean French is a third year Social Anthropology PhD student at the University of Cambridge. (https://www.socanth.cam.ac.uk/staff/sean-french-2020)

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring. Episode 3 features Tuguldur Yondonjamts with Hermione Spriggs Tuguldur Yondonjamts (b.1977, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia) lives and works in Ulaanbaatar and in New York. His work is very much dependent on research and careful analysis of certain environments and materials, often responding to the nomadic culture of Central Asia and the issues affecting Mongolia’s society and economic development. By using investigational logic, he is able to create large scale drawings and diagrams, representing imagined journeys. His work is widely exhibited in Mongolia, the US and internationally. https://tugulduryondonjamts.com/ tuguldur_yondonjamts_ Hermione Spriggs is an artist and anthropologist based between London and Yorkshire. She is currently undertaking practice-based PhD research with an ethnographic focus on trapping and pest control in North Yorkshire. Her edited volume Five Heads: Art, Anthropology and Mongol-Futurism (2018) is published by Sternberg Press. https://hermione-spriggs.com hermione.spriggs Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC. Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

What does it mean to have a voice? And how does a voice need to sound like if it is going to matter? In this episode, Marlene Schäfers (Utrecht University) discusses her research with Kurdish women singers and poets to explore what makes the voice an object of desire and appeal in the contemporary world, particularly for historically marginalized subjects. Field recordings of Kurdish classical and recent repertoires reveal how contemporary politics of voice shape what voices mean, how they sound, and how they impact listeners. Marlene Schäfers is Assistant Professor in Cultural Anthropology at Utrecht University, Netherlands. She obtained her PhD at the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge. Her first monograph, Voices that Matter: Kurdish Women at the Limits of Representation in Contemporary Turkey was published with the University of Chicago Press in 2022. You can find more information, including additional field recordings on her website: www.marleneschafers.com Acknowledgements: My thanks are due to the Kurdish women who so generously shared their time with me and let me record their voices. The recordings featured in this podcast were made in Wan, Turkey, in 2011-12.

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring. Episode 2 features Mzuzile Mduduzi Xakaza with Jeannine-Madeleine Fischer Mzuzile Mduduzi Xakaza works as Director of the Durban Art Gallery and also paints and draws on a part-time basis. He has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions in South Africa and abroad since the early 1990s. His art is inspired mainly by the love and appreciation of his social and physical environment (landscape) as well as social issues that are subtly evoked by such a theme. However, there is always something enigmatic about some of the creative ideas that flow into his mind whilst creating - something that seems to defy definition of any sort. https://asai.co.za/artist/mduduzi-xakaza/ Jeannine-Madeleine Fischer is a cultural anthropologist at the University of Konstanz and is currently researching aesthetic activism in South Africa. She is part of the interdisciplinary research group "Traveling Forms". https://www.uni-konstanz.de/en/research/research-institutions/nomis-research-project-traveling-forms/research-fields/activism-as-a-mobile-aesthetic-form/ Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC. Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

Episode 25. The Future of the Anthropological Journal. by Cambridge Anthropology

Who is responsible for making a work of art? In each episode of this collaborative podcast series, one anthropologist, specialising in a particular cultural context, has a conversation with an artist of their choosing, exploring issues of authorship and responsibility in art. Ranging across geographical locations and creative practices, discussions address and unpack the conceptualisation of the artistic person, authorship as centred upon an individual or bounded group, and the development of responsibility for artworks during and after their making. Each episode brings a fresh perspective on where ideas come from, what agency an artist feels in the creation of their work, and how, and in which contexts, ownership and responsibility for the artwork are claimed. Ultimately, as a collection, the series encourages listeners to think about ‘the artist’ and ‘the artwork’ as dynamic processes in a relationship of authoring. Maree Clarke is a Mutti Mutti/Wemba Wemba/Boonwurrung/Yorta Yorta artist, from Mildura in northwest Victoria, Australia, now living and working in Naarm (Melbourne). With over 30 years experience as an artist, Clarke’s work focuses on new ways of telling old/ongoing stories through art-making, much of which occurs in her backyard. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/maree-clarke/ https://vivienandersongallery.com/artists/maree-clarke/ Fran Edmonds is an interdisciplinary scholar who has worked extensively with Aboriginal artists, community organisations and galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAMs) for almost 30 years. Her work supports First Nations people to reclaim their stories from the ‘archives’. https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/livingarchiveofaboriginalart/ https://omeka.cloud.unimelb.edu.au/livingarchivenaidoc/blog https://www.facebook.com/LivingArchiveofAboriginalArtandKnowledge/ Artery is a podcast organised by Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) and Robert Simpkins (SOAS, London) and supported by the AHRC. Music: Footsteps, by Robert Simpkins.

With the arrival of home recording technology in the early 1980s, many Shi’i Muslims in Pakistan started to record the majlis mourning assemblies and processions that are central to their faith. Soon after, some established family-run religious media stores beside Muslim shrines or in Shi’a-majority neighbourhoods. In this episode, Dr Timothy Cooper (Research Fellow at the Department of Social Anthropology) examines the distinct sonic aesthetic of Shi’i religious media in Pakistan through interviews with his interlocutors in Lahore, as well as through extracts from their personal archives of Shi’i majlis assemblies, rituals, and recitations. He is joined by Karen Ruffle from the University of Toronto and Charles Hirschkind from the University of California, Berkeley, who help to put Shi’i relationships with sound in a wider geographic and disciplinary context. This podcast forms the final part of a three-part multi-platform sound essay titled The Recorded and the Live that examines Shi’i faith, ritual, and recording media in Pakistan. It was produced through the support of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Postdoctoral Fellowship (ES/V011669/1). Part 1 is an ethnographic film titled This is a Majlis: A Sound Essay co-directed with Abeera Arif-Bashir that was screened at the 2021 Royal Anthropological Institute Film Festival. https://festival.raifilm.org.uk/film/decolonising-the-archive-shorts-2/ Part 2 is an hour-long collection of laments and elegies from the collections of Shi’i media traders in Pakistan titled Recitations for Muharram and Ashura, broadcast and archived on NTS Radio. https://www.nts.live/shows/pirate-modernity/episodes/pirate-modernity-2nd-august-2021 Acknowledgements: My immense gratitude goes to Karen Ruffle, Charles Hirschkind, and Abeera Arif-Bashir for taking the time to work with me on this podcast, and to my interlocutors in Lahore, Muhammad Shehzad, Muhammad Ashiq, Ali Raza, Hurr Abbas, whose patience and intellectual generosity knows no bounds. The interviews featured in this podcast were conducted in Lahore between January and February 2020.

On the 9th of November 2019, Germany celebrated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Yet, the country appeared to be once more divided along political lines as the far-right party Alternative for Germany gained enormous success in the Eastern regions. Laura Tradii was on fieldwork in rural Brandenburg as the electoral campaign unfolded, and she discusses the debates that emerged around the failures and successes of the German Reunification.

In November 2019, Max Bolt came to the department of Social Anthropology at Cambridge to deliver the weekly senior seminar. Kevin Yildirim spoke with him beforehand to learn more about his recent work in Johannesburg, which concerns inheritance laws and custom in post-apartheid South Africa. The interview was recorded by Javier Ruiz. Max Bolt is Reader in Anthropology and African Studies at the University of Birmingham. He is the author of the book Zimbabwe's Migrants and South Africa's Border Farms: The Roots of Impermanence, published by Cambridge University Press in 2015.

Alisi Mekatoa and Nina Fudge are health researchers. They came to Cambridge to speak about how their undergraduate anthropology degree has informed their careers in and outside of academia. They spoke with Sian Lazar about general practice and primary health care in the UK, and the role of anthropological approaches in health research.

Gareth Ward visited Cambridge just before he began his appointment as British Ambassador to Vietnam. He spoke with David Sneath about how anthropology has informed his career in the diplomatic service. (We are sorry that the recording quality of this interview is not as good as we would usually aim for.)

Tropes of 'running away' abound in popular notions of the circus, but how true is this to the lived experiences of circus folk? In this episode of the podcast, Laura Byng uses interviews with different members of a contemporary UK circus to explore they ways in which they came to work in the circus, and, once there, why they stayed. What emerges is a varied set of relationships to the circus, but a shared passion for this way of life.