I'm looking forward to 4S and another visit to Toronto! The 4S meetings are definitely my favorite "big" conference (and they aren't even that big), with lots of variety in content and opportunities to meet new people.

This happens tomorrow! I hope you can join us (it's free and open to the public): us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

I'm so pleased to share the cover of Mapping Medical Anthropology for the Twenty-First Century. I've been working on this for the past few years with @eraikhel.bsky.social and Junko Kitanaka for @rutgersupress.bsky.social, and it will finally be available in April 2026! Read more: bit.ly/46zEzOF

In a new series at PB, Systems & Futures section editor Matthew Wolf-Meyer (@mw-m.bsky.social) introduces “No Future”: A Lexicon. Throughout the week, contributors will explore the question: Can we reject the future?

Anxiety about the future is nothing new. As @mw-m.bsky.social writes, “Rejecting future’s seeming inevitability has defined thought and practice around the world, likely for the whole of human history.” Our new series “No Future”: A Lexicon, begins today:

"Offering distance and difference in vantage, the post-post-apocalyptic allows the imaginary lens to recenter its focus on a freed moment in time, along with its sovereign, mutable future.” A new essay up at @publicbooks.bsky.social for a new series edited by @mw-m.bsky.social: shorturl.at/WdMDg

This piece in New City is an abbreviated version of the introduction of Proposals for a Caring Economy--it'll give you a sense of the tone and content of the book, which I hope is welcoming and provoking for readers from all sorts of backgrounds: nextcity.org/urbanist-new...

It's true! After a few years of work and waiting, this little book is here--suitable for use in intro anth and sociology classes, and a remedy for evidence-free policy proposals (I've been telling people it's like reading the @nytimes.com editorial page, but with actual evidence!).

Yesterday, I received a rejection on an article revision, which relied entirely on a peer review provided by a very cranky and mean Reviewer #2. Today, I wrote the editors of that journal an email encouraging them to exercise their editorial power and not send along useless and mean peer reviews.

I agree with all of what @rcolesworthy.bsky.social says here--and am also bad at it. I--probably like a lot of academic authors--am at war with myself about being more of a self-promoter, but I tend to blame it on my introversion rather than self-promotion squeamishness. Maybe they're the same?

I have a new piece in Lateral--on subjunctive grief. It started years ago when I was working on Unraveling and then languished during the early pandemic. But now it is here, thanks to generous peer reviewers and the editors at Lateral: doi.org/10.25158/L14...

It's (nearly) officially here: Proposals for a Caring Economy. It's full of thoughtful and thought-provoking pieces that take centering care as the basis of social organization, from everyday institutions to geopolitical relations. Thanks @uminnpress.bsky.social!

On May 30-31, the Society for Disability Studies is hosting two author-focused events with @drrobertchapman.bsky.social, Faye Ginsburg, and Rayna Rapp (and diverse panels of commentators). Registration is open and free. www.patreon.com/posts/regist...

If you need a dose of sincerity from me, this video has it! It's such an honor and pleasure to work with @uminnpress.bsky.social -- a press I idolized as a grad student (the THL series! posthumanities! theory out of bounds!) and have found so much support through as an author. Excelsior!

A new issue of Catalyst is out, including a piece from me on #bioethics and #disability. It draws on memoirs from #autistic authors and fleshes out a cybernetic theory of disability to argue against for more attention to atypical forms of communication. It's argumentative! doi.org/10.28968/cft...

"Proposals for a Caring Economy" comes out this spring. I often hope that a book will become irrelevant by the time it's published. Sadly, this little book is more relevant than ever. It offers a set of ethnographically-driven policy recommendations, suitable for any reader. bit.ly/4iS1tUS

Hey! I had a conversation with two fellow #microbial travelers-- Amber Benezra and Gloria Chan-Sook Kim--about our recent (and very different) forays into microbial worlds. Maybe you'll enjoy listening to it? It includes a lot of shit talk (for better and worse!) and feeling disgusted!

I wrote a piece for #anthropology news about middle theories of care as a way to advocate for diverse needs—maybe you’ll enjoy it? www.anthropology-news.org/articles/for...

The deadline for these jobs is quickly approaching (Jan 10)! #design #equity #technology

For over a decade, I've been blogging about academic professionalization and running a seminar for graduate students that includes a lot about writing article manuscripts. You can now download "How to Publish an Academic Article in 6 Steps" as a free eBook here (I hope): bit.ly/3D9lnLG

My department, Science & Technology Studies at Rensselaer, is hiring two positions in Design, Innovation & Society—one tenure track (equitable design) and one teaching track (open area). It’s a very supportive department with excellent students. Please share! careers.rpi.edu/mob/en-us/jo...

Now that the #anthropology feed is more robust, I’m passing along this notice of the @uminnpress.bsky.social #AAA2024 sale:

After a few years of work, a small edited volume called Proposals for a Caring Economy comes out this spring: It has the vibes of being at a workshop of ideas and pushes thinking about care to address energy transitions, art exhibits, agriculture, etc. And me articulating a temporal labor theory!

There are a bunch of wonderful books on sale through the University of Minnesota Press’s annual #anthropology sale—as well as my most recent books, American Disgust and Naked Fieldnotes (with Denielle Elliott): www.upress.umn.edu/aaa24/ Please reskeet! (1/7)

I don’t tend to post about politics, because who needs another academic opining about politics? But I need to exorcise some ideas and if making them public helps anyone… The Democrats are not a national party. You can’t plan to lose the middle of the country and think you can win reliably. 1/10

I often ask my students whether they would eat a candy bar that they found on a bench to get them to think about taboo and disgust. How is it different to eat candy from a stranger? Would you eat an unwrapped candy bar presented by a friend or co-worker? Today, the dilemma presents itself IRL…

Here’s my guide to applying to graduate school. Ostensibly it’s for anthropology, but I think it’s generally applicable—I’d be happy to learn if it doesn’t work for other disciplines! matthewwolfmeyer.com/2012/08/12/s...

I’ve tried to put together a non-exhaustive list of anthropologists on bluesky together. Did I miss anyone? Should I add you? go.bsky.app/GYEM3YK #anthropology #anthrosky

In which I embrace being slightly cranky about something that people have been talking about for 20+ years: Academics: Opt Out of For-Profit Publishing Extraction, Already! matthewwolfmeyer.com/2024/09/16/a...

Not to add to the current academic job market discourse, but I wrote a new piece about job letters using some rhetorical insight from our memeified lives: bit.ly/4efV6bQ #AcademicChatter

Are you using Naked Fieldnotes (from @uminnpress.bsky.social) in class this term? It now has a website with more pictures, videos and soundscapes for you to explore—and links to reviews and interviews. Check out nakedfieldnotes.com

I wrote about mandatory retirement ages for federal employees--as a spur to get Americans to support mechanisms for retirement and embrace retirement. It should be non-controversial, but Americans love work: bit.ly/4dLOjpY (through @us.theconversation.com)

Are you using Naked Fieldnotes from @uminnpress.bksy.social in class this fall? Just want a copy for yourself? It's on sale--along with a ton of great sociology and anthropology books--for 40% off thanks to the #ASA2024 meetings. z.umn.edu/asa24 40% off discount code: MNASA24

Every once in a while I publish something that I’m surprised editors let me get away with. My chapter,“technological fantasies,” is a meditation on Murderbot and the Terminator films, including a discussion of why Terminators have human teeth. Thanks to @marthawells.bsky.social for such rich texts!

Are you or someone you know the person to write a piece for @publicbooks.bsky.social on "The Future Liberals Want"? It would mean reviewing Adler-Bolton and Vietkant’s "Health Communism," Metzl’s "What We've Become," and Washington’s "The Case for Open Borders" (at least). DM me!

@ifbookspod.bsky.social finally got to Pinker’s Better Angels and his misreading of Norbert Elias. If @michaelhobbes.bsky.social and @notalawyer.bsky.social want some insight, let me know. Elias is sure the civilizing process is all ideology—Pinker thinks it’s real. It’s a bummer!

Denielle Elliott and I were interviewed for the New Books Network about our new edited collection, Naked Fieldnotes. If you’re up for some chitchat about what kind of genre Fieldnotes are, the problems with learning ethnographic methods, and my frustrations with anthropologists, give it a listen:

If you’ve ever wanted a deep dive into why Americans think certain things are disgusting (like fecal microbial transplants), your quest is over (and your summer beach reading is here!). Behold, American Disgust. And there’s time to preorder at 40% off: www.upress.umn.edu/book-divisio...

Do you do or teach qualitative methods? Do you wish you had a nearly 400 page book of other people’s actual, unedited fieldnotes (and introductory essays)? Then have I got the book for you—which you can still preorder at 40% off. www.upress.umn.edu/book-divisio...

Michele Friedner and I have a new piece in American Ethnologist about centering disability in anthropological praxis and theory—and why anthropologists have such a hard time doing so (and it’s OA): doi.org/10.1111/amet...