Oops, I did it again: wrote a 2000+ word peer review of a really quite good paper. I'm really sure it's no one here, but if you ever get one of those from me, please understand I wouldn't have written a 2000+ word review of your crappy paper, so take it in that spirit?

Join our fantastic department at #Rutgers University. We are hiring an assistant professor in socio-cultural #anthropology who focuses on language and power. Ad here: jobs.rutgers.edu/postings/260...

Submissions are now open for the 2025 SAS Carol R. Ember Book Prize. This prize recognizes books whose significant theoretical, empirical, or methodological contributions to anthropology embody the mission of SAS to advance the scientific study of human societies.

Apparently today is the day for bad personal and life news around my academic network. So, if that's you too, I'm thinking of you and my friends who are hurting.

Great new article by Katarzyna Mikulska, "Symmetry as a Cognitive Tool in Mesoamerican Divinatory Books" in the special issue of Topics in Cognitive Science, "Cognitive Technologies and their Histories", which I'm co-editing with @helenamiton.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Great new article by Conor Snoek, "Material Anchors in Language Learning" in the special issue of Topics in Cognitive Science, "Cognitive Technologies and their Histories", which I'm co-editing with @helenamiton.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Are you interested in working with me or one of my great colleagues here at Wayne State Anthropology? We have strong guaranteed PhD funding, lots of MA opportunities (some funded) and a really collegial and inclusive program! clas.wayne.edu/anthropology...

They've lost the 9yos

Meanwhile, I've declared the em dash (—) the 2025 Punctuation Mark of the Year: mashedradish.com/2025/09/24/2...

Anthro (or adjacent) friends: I'm developing a roundtable for the @anthrosciences.bsky.social annual meeting (at SfAA, Albuquerque, 03/17-03/21), "Unhexing the Hexagon: Cognitive Anthropologists in Dialogue" where each presenter talks about a new-ish #cogsci paper (not their own) of anthro interest.

Anthro (or adjacent) friends: I'm developing a roundtable for the @anthrosciences.bsky.social annual meeting (at SfAA, Albuquerque, 03/17-03/21), "Unhexing the Hexagon: Cognitive Anthropologists in Dialogue" where each presenter talks about a new-ish #cogsci paper (not their own) of anthro interest.

Does anyone have a favourite short article (~15 pages max) on mixed / intertwined languages like Spanglish (or any other case) suitable for undergrads?

This is definitely not enough - but it is a step far beyond what any previous Canadian government has taken. It is not how I would have framed it - but it is a positive decision. It will also be met by ridicule by Maple MAGA clods, sadly. So I'm not going to let its insufficiency guide my response.

Here's my message to MAGA ambassador Pete Hoekstra. He gaslights our nation, blames Canadians for being mean to the US. He accuses of us being anti-American. He says we are mean and nasty and doesn't like us saying Elbows Up. Too bad Pete. We are proud anti-fascists www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Jh...

Is it just me, or is the term 'servant leader' that is seemingly omnipresent among upper administration in higher ed these days a weird red flag?

Restricting visas doesn’t lead to hiring non-immigrants—it leads to hiring foreigners. For every H-1B visa rejection, multinationals add ~0.4–0.9 foreign employees, especially in R&D hubs like India, China, and Canada. via @florianederer.bsky.social

Pretty much all international faculty in the US, including some postdocs, start on H-1Bs. I started on an H-1B as a Canadian due to weird rules that made that make sense at the time. If universities are paying $100K per visa, well ... let's face it, they're just not. Ridiculous.

More than thirty years of working with filenames and I still shudder a little whenever I think about composing a filename that includes periods. Stupid 8.3 filenames, stuck in my head rent-free.

Are there good options for cloud storage / online hard drive backup ? I've had Backblaze for years but all of a sudden it's causing huge problems and their tech support was worse than useless. Looking at other options.

How to delete your account without agreeing to the new TOS: In the dialogue box asking you to agree, DO NOT click agree. Instead, click on the TOS link which will open another tab. In the top right of that tab you can go to your account settings and delete your account.

One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “An information-theoretic foreshadowing of mathematicians’ sudden insights.” Explore the article here: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... For more trending articles, visit ow.ly/Me2U50SkLRZ.

Hello #academicsky! I'm sharing a cfp for an edited collection on "Naming & Classifying," pulled together by me, Kristin Girten, & @aaronrhanlon.com . We'd love to see your work! Please also circulate to anyone you think might be interested. Deadline 10/31. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

In my social theory grad proseminar this term, I'm having each student choose a text from the 'quiet canon' to write a paper on. These are important pre-1970 texts that allow anthro folks from different subfields to explore their interests. Here's what I've got; additional suggestions welcome!

In my social theory grad proseminar this term, I'm having each student choose a text from the 'quiet canon' to write a paper on. These are important pre-1970 texts that allow anthro folks from different subfields to explore their interests. Here's what I've got; additional suggestions welcome!

It is odd to wonder whether I sit between two generations of Canadians: those American war resisters and countercultural figures who came here in 1965-75 (who were many of my teachers), and the next generation of American migrants of the political left (who will teach those who are now young).

Discussing #Algorithmic Bias and Social Justice with Dr. Safiya Noble at Wayne State University on Wed, Oct. 22 at 2 pm #Detroit #researchmatters events.wayne.edu/2025/10/22/d...

Wayne State breaks ground on new $200M health research building in Detroit

📢 Job Posting! 📢 We are hiring TWO postdocs at Detroit PEER at Wayne State (detroitpeer.org)! We are looking for one quant/mixed methods expert and one qual/mixed expert to work with me & @jeremylsinger.bsky.social on attendance research. Apply by Oct. 10, but flexible on start date! Please share!

Really excited that this news has finally become public! Gordon is dearly missed around here, but this will ensure his legacy: Wayne State anthropology museum receives $1.3 million bequest clas.wayne.edu/anthropology...

12 characters maximum for a password, you say? What nonsense!

@helenamiton.bsky.social and I have a new paper out: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Past theories focus on how we evolve complex technologies (jet engines), but neglect cultural innovations that help us operate these technologies (pilot checklist) Paper has tons of examples and new theory!

Look, you tell me to use APA style, I will do that. But APA style doesn't require publisher location anymore, so don't then turn around and tell me to add that in at proofs.

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia: doi.org/10.5281/zeno... We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity. 1/n

Following up on yesterday's semi-rant, here's another piece of cop shit I've abandoned. No notes needed. No notes from doctors, no notes from employers, definitely no funeral notices or death certificates. You actually don't need to give me any rationale at all for absences or extensions.

I had never heard of 'institutional economics' before reading this new paper (Whitman 2025). But it integrates major strands of my work and key important numerals scholars. Maybe not super novel in terms of my literature, but great to see it applied to a very different field. doi.org/10.1017/S174...

I am fascinated by this guy who was a Higher Ed administrator and has now moved into teaching classes as a faculty member. He is documenting his whole journey on TikTok. Over the summer, he had so much excitement 🧵

Check out this excellent new article by Ekstrom et al., "The Phoneme as a Cognitive Tool", in the special issue of Topics in Cognitive Science, "Cognitive Technologies and their Histories", which I'm co-editing with @helenamiton.bsky.social. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Having gotten through the first two weeks of classes, it's hard to convey just how radical my pedagogy has become, especially post-pandemic. Sure, AI and learning outcomes and other intrusions, but more just rethinking some of the cop shit that goes on in classrooms (including mine, in the past).

Just about ten years now in the making: The IE-CoR database paper has finally been published. C. Anderson, M. Scarborough, [ ... 96 further authors ... ], R. Gray & P. Heggarty. 2025. The Indo-European Cognate Relationships Dataset. Scientific Data 12:1541.

It's definitely a faux pas to take a nap during one's office hours, isn't it? Asking for a very tired friend who has been here since 8:30am and will be here till 8:30pm.

Rationally I know that if, when reviewing, I am concerned about being an asshole, that I'm probably not actually being an asshole. Assholes very rarely are self-critical in that way. Still, to have to sit down and be 'that guy' is not the most fun.

On the definite plus side, one of the students in my undergrad course wore their @gamechangershow.bsky.social sweatshirt to the first day of class this morning, so at least one of these folks has good taste!

Anyone have tips on teaching in a horizontal (wider than it is deep) classroom? I can try to squeeze the students towards the middle but the doors are right by either side, so they gravitate to the edges, outside my peripheral vision.

A really tough, difficult day as our wonderful, wonderful colleague Boris Baltes passed so suddenly yesterday. We were running in his honor at the Wayne State 5k Warrior Pride Run. It was good to be with kind colleagues in this moment. @waynestateclas.bsky.social @waynestateresearch.bsky.social

This book exists and none of you ever told me about it? I'm not angry, just ... disappointed.

This is just to prove that every few years (but in this case, not since 2018) I can get my campus office fully clean and tidy.

Well, UChicago has paused new PhD admissions in my department now, too. One of the flagship departments for anthropology in the US and worldwide. This on top of hum, social thought, social work, and others. What happens to UChicago's brand--the so-called "life of the mind"--now?

An interview and article on the use of human hair in khipus and the social status of their makers - featuring new research by VIEWS friend Sabine Hyland and VIEWS visiting fellow Kit Lee. www.npr.org/2025/08/13/n...

Check out my new review of: Cultures of Computation and Quantification in the Ancient World: Numbers, Measurements, and Operations in Documents from Mesopotamia, China and South Asia (Chemla, Keller, Proust, eds.) authors.elsevier.com/a/1ldDc17f6k...