Hi Lorenz! Thanks for your comment and for sharing your RSS feed. I added it to the next post in this series. Regarding the closing of this site, we talked as a group and decided it was time. We’re definitely going to archive the site, just like we did with Savage Minds. I know it seems kind of odd considering the recent posts I’ve been publishing, but I see the closing of Anthrodendum as part of a rebirth and refocus on other sites and projects. That’s my plan at least! I’m thinking we need a few more general anthro blogs again…so that’s the direction I’m heading personally. I’m planning on either reviving the ‘anthropologies’ project or just starting a new site.

I think you’re right about what blogging has become in the past decade or so–much of it is more about promotion and marketing than sharing ideas/conversations. Maybe we can find a way to push back against that tide.

You’re also so right about what paywalls and those other ‘walled gardens’ have done to the anthro community online. This has also impacted public outreach. Paywalls etc have made it harder to follow and connect one another, and also made it more and more difficult to share anthro news and research. There have been so many times when I’ve gone to share a link about some article or research and I just don’t do it because it’s behind a paywall. We need to find a way to get around that too. Much of this relates to broader conversations about open access and publishing. If you’d told me a decade ago that we’d see more enclosure today than back then there’s no way I would have believed it. But here we are.

Thanks for your comment Lee. Anthrodendum is closing, but I think now is a good time to create some new spaces and forums for anthropology online. Maybe we’ve learned a few lessons about going all-in on platforms like Twitter. Anthrodendum was meant to be the second act of Savage Minds, but it never really took off…for a number of reasons. There are certainly lessons to be learned from what worked–and what didn’t–with SM and then Anthrodendum. Group blogs have their place, but as you mention they can also be exclusive and limited. One thing I’ve learned is that it’s good to have various options–if I had it to do over again I would keep the anthropologies project as a separate site. Anyway, thanks for the mention of Academia.edu–I’ve seen some great discussions about papers there. Overall I think we may need a few more general anthro blogs/sites to help fill in the void that’s grown in the past few years.

Recently, I have also made some survey about the anthro blogging scene and I found that very few personal blogs are left. Most of them are group blogs (like Allegra https://allegralaboratory.net/ which is maybe the most important one today) or professional / commercial blogs run by journals, institutes where the main point of blogging is selv promotion. That’s what blogging has become in the recent ten years, it has, unfortunately, turned into a tool for personal and corporate marketing.

In my case, after more than ten years anthro-blogging, it was not Twitter that made my site less active (I am too introvert to feel at home at a place like Twitter) but things happening in my life (including financial contraints). But also general developments online: I was blogging about anthropology in the news: There is less and less content available nowadays as most news sites have disappeared behind paywalls. I also felt alone. There is no community any more as, as you said, most people moved to Twitter and other walled gardens. Recently some anthropologist moved to the the Fediverse (Mastodon, Friedica etc), new communties seem to develop there.

In case you need more links to blogs. I have been collecting them as a feed here https://feeds.antropologi.info/ with the sources here https://feeds.antropologi.info/sources/ (including some non-English ones that are often overlooked and forgotten)

I am looking forward to more posts!

Thanks Kirsten. I think that’s an important point you make about anthropology (and other related perspectives) basically disappearing when programs get cut…and how that highlights the importance of the institutions we do have. I’m glad you enjoyed this blog–I was drawn to this site and blogging in general for many of the reasons you mention. I hear you about not having time to join other platforms and search hashtags and all that. It’s nice to have a space/site where things are brought together. This site may be closing down, but we should all keep in touch about new projects and ideas. I think a new site/project (or a few of them!) that gathers anthropology may indeed be in order. Thanks again for your comment.

Thanks for your comment and for reading Angela. I will definitely add the CASTAC blog to the list of new blogs that are out there! Thanks for sharing with us!