Anthropology on the Radio

A great way to engage with Anthropology is by listening to debates, discussions, and interviews with anthropologists on radio programmes. The following section provides links to audio podcasts categorised by subject matter or specialist area within anthropology.

Academia

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.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=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.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)

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 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=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)

Business and Anthropology

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)

BBC- Radio 4 – Listen to a talk on Anthropology in Business (Recorded in 2004)
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/news/shoptalk/shoptalk_20050920.shtml 

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)

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)

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)

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)

http://forum-network.org/lecture/mary-catherine-bateson-composing-further-life Anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson discusses her new book Composing a Further Life: the Age of Active Wisdom. (Recorded in 2010)

Race and Ethnicity

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)

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

http://forum-network.org/lecture/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)

Disclaimer: The RAI accepts no responsibility for material created by external parties or the content of external websites. The above programmes are listed for information only; inclusion implies no endorsement or otherwise on the RAI’s part.

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