Anthropology on the Radio

Home Education Anthropology Resources Anthropology on the Radio

Academia

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120066035 A clip honouring the life and work of the famous French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. (Recorded in 2009)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6541080 – Debbie Elliot reflects on the life and work of Clifford Geertz, a world-renown anthropologist and founder symbolic anthropology or interpretive anthropology. (Recorded in 2006)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1150399 – Host Howard Berkes talks to author Ellen Meloy about her new book, The Anthropology of Turquoise. The book reflects on the ways in which colour (in particular the colour turquoise) unites different communities around the world. (Recorded in 2002)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/2001_50_fri_04.shtml
Professor Adam Kuper and June Goodfield, reflect on Margaret Mead’s career and her impact on anthropology. (Recorded in 2001)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01phfsw Culture and the Anthropologists. Melvyn Bragg continues his exploration of the idea of culture by considering its use in the discipline of anthropology. In 1871 the anthropologist Edward Tylor published Primitive Culture, an enormously influential work which for the first time placed culture at the centre of the study of humanity. His definition of culture as the ‘capabilities and habits acquired by man’ ensured that later generations saw culture as common to all humans, and not simply as the preserve of writers and philosophers.(Recorded in 2013)

The Alan McFarlane website has an extensive collection of material including video interviews with famous anthropologists, lectures and articles by Alan McFarlane on many different anthropological topics

Archaeology

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/making_history/makhist10_prog4d.shtml
“When is it not ethical for archaeologists to dig up old bones? Is it to do with how long they’ve been in the ground or where they are buried? At what point do human remains lose their right to rest in peace?” All of these questions and more are answered when “Making History” consults Simon Mayes on the topic of Archaeology and law. (Recorded in 2004)

 Anthropology in Schools

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05wyhp8 Anthropology: the future of the A level. Laurie Taylor talks to Joy Hendry, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at Oxford Brookes University, about the proposed cancellation of this course. At a time of global conflict, is it the right time to axe a discipline which allows insight into cultures and ideas very different from our own?

Anthropology of Sport

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128626037 Anthropologist Dan Lieberman looks at endurance running without the fancy footwear. (Recorded in 2010)

Biological Anthropology

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=122620064 Ira Flatow explores the debate of whether there is a biological basis for race with anthropologist Alan Goodman, Esteban Gonzalez Burchard, MD and Pilar N Ossorio. (Recorded in 2010)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=100648070 – Scientists in Germany say they have drawn up a map of about 60 percent of the genetic “letters” in the genome of Neanderthals. (Recorded in 2009)

http://forum-network.org/lecture/human-origins-complexities-and-controversies Daniel E. Lieberman discusses how fossils can help us understand our past, acting as keys to unlock the mysteries of human origins. (Recorded in 2002)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1126937 – Recent fossil finds in Ethiopia of bone remnants over five million years old may make scientists redraw the human family tree yet again. (Recorded in 2001)

Business Anthropology & Economic Anthropology

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05447pc The Moral Power of Debt. Anthropologist David Graeber explores the ways debt has shaped society over 5000 years. In this episode, he examines the moral power that debt holds over us. (Recorded 2015)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036tz9w Gillian Tett: The Anthropology of Finance. Tim Harford is joined by Gillian Tett for the second in this new series of talks inspired by ideas in anthropology and the social sciences. The financial journalist describes how her background in anthropology led her to predict the financial crisis in 2008. (Recorded 2013)

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fj2vy The Lives of Others .  Having spent time working among UK bookmakers, Rebecca Cassidy of Goldsmith’s College, London, discusses the social life of betting shops, the notion of ‘anthropology at home’ and the value of anthropologists immersing themselves in the lives of others.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01lpgx4/Sunday_Morning_with…_12_08_2012  In this series, Cathy speaks to social anthropologist Dr. Neil Thin and Yvonne Taylor, who’s involved with campaigns for animal welfare charity, PETA- to discuss if graphic images in charity campaigns are necessary to stir our conscience. (Recorded in 2012)

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134208312/nobel-winner-removed-from-bank-he-founded The government of Bangladesh is trying to remove Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunis from the bank he founded nearly three decades ago to help the country’s poorest people. NPR host Melissa Block speaks with anthropologist Dr. Lamia Karim and others about the subject. (Recorded in 2011)

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=131934618&m=131946657 CHASS anthropologist Scott Fitzpatrick was recently featured on NPR’s “Planet Money” about how on the island of Yap, people used to use stone coins that weighed thousands of pounds. (Recorded in 2010)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p2z8g Laurie Taylor talks to anthropologist Dr. Karen Ho who gave up her academic life for over a year to become an investment banker in order to study life on Wall Street. (Recorded in 2009)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4210830 NPR’s Eric Weiner reports on the emerging field of corporate anthropology, where researchers dissect consumer appetites and help engineers build user-friendly products. (Recorded in 2004)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/shoptalk/shoptalk_20050920.shtml Listen to a talk on Anthropology in Business (Recorded in 2004)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054zdp6 – David Graeber’s 10 part series on BBC Radio 4 where he explores the ways debt has shaped society over 5,000 years.

Environmental Anthropology

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00ml2r5 – Geoff Watts talks to anthropologist Professor Tim Ingold, about his previous work living amongst reindeer herders in Lapland, and his new project on architecture and conservation. (Recorded in 2009)

Ethnomusicology

http://www.npr.org/2011/01/31/133374805/Johnny-Clegg-Mixes-Infuses-Music-With-Anthropology Performer Johnny Clegg is a singer, songwriter and dancer who might also be described, without irony, as an anthropologist and a musical activist. Host Michel Martin speaks with the man who popularized the fusion of Western pop and African Zulu rhythms about his latest CD titled “Human.” (Recorded in 2011)

History of Anthropology

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06zjhfx/episodes/guide From Savage To Self Farrah Jarral explores the history of anthropology

International Relations

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125502485 This programme looks at the debate of US forces in Afghanistan using civial anthropologists and other social science researchers to advise miltary commanders on how to work with locals. (Recorded in 2010)

Methodology and Ethics

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fj2vc Anthropology and Espionage. John Gledhill, professor of social anthropology at the University of Manchester, charts his long-term research among the Zapatistas in Chiapas, Mexico, and discusses the ethics and responsibilities of anthropologists in the field as well as uncovering the overlapping history of anthropology and espionage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00jvdh8 Anthropology at War. Mark Whitaker reports from Washington DC on the recent policy of the United States army to embed anthropologists and other social scientists with combat brigades in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06r81v9 – Alpa Shah argues that tribal people need a better development model.

Medical Anthropology

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111379908 With tens of thousands of Americans on a waiting list for donations, there is a thriving international black market for organs. Lindy Washburn, senior writer at The Record, and Nancy Scheper-Hughes, director of Organs Watch (as well as a professor of medical anthropology at UC- Berkeley), explain the exchange of money for human organs.(Recorded in 2009)

Race and Ethnicity

http://forum-network.org/lectures/sidney-mintz-haiti Anthropologist Sidney Mintz dicusses the so-called “black republic” of Haiti. (Recorded in 2003)

http://forum-network.org/lectures/artists-activists-muslim-women-artists  Anthropologist Munir Jiwa’s discusses his research entitled: Toward an Anthropology of Islam: Visual Arts and the Construction of Muslim Identities in the USA. (Recorded in 2003)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1128156 – As delegations gather in South Africa for the U.N. conference on racism, NPR’s Christopher Joyce looks at how humans classify each other. (Recorded in 2001)