Author: Matt Thompson

Dear dendrites: Quarantine ethnography

By Matt Thompson | April 16, 2020

Here at Anthro{dendum}, we receive a light stream of correspondence by way of our contact form. Usually they are pitches for guest posts or questions following up on one of our older pieces. But recently we were humbled by a new development, when a student reader turned to us as a place for advice. Here …

Illustrated Man #12 — Charles Addams and joking about “the primitive”

By Matt Thompson | May 30, 2019

Ask any Boomer or some of the older Gen X-ers to hum the theme to The Addams Family and you will quickly be rewarded by “Da-nuh nuh-NUH,” followed by an iconic pair of snaps. “They’re creepy and they’re kooky/ Mysterious and spooky…” Or maybe I’m overselling this generation thing? After all, Daniel Mallory Ortberg did …

Sequential art for your shopping cart

By Matt Thompson | November 16, 2018

In the past two years I’ve had the opportunity to read some really fantastic graphic novels, including a few that will be of interest to anthropologists. As we enter the gift giving season I thought I might share with you the cream of the crop. Who doesn’t love giving books? Its like they don’t even …

Turning the page

By Matt Thompson | September 14, 2018

This summer I started a new job. My former position, in museums and special collections, was grant funded. We worked that contract until the money was gone. And though I like to think they wished they could keep me, budgets at non-profits are extraordinarily tight. I was back on the job market. Out of ten …

+ Read More Turning the page

Designs for the Pluriverse — [book review]

By Matt Thompson | August 27, 2018

In Designs for the Pluriverse : Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds, theorist and distinguished critic of development Arturo Escobar joins a chorus of works that seek to articulate the recent ontological turn with our shared global, ecological crisis. As I made my way through this challenging and well written work, I came …

Anthropology Bite Club

By Matt Thompson | May 29, 2018

The first rule of Bite Club is that we’re going to talk about cookbooks. The second rule of Bite Club is I need some of ya’ll to help me out talking about cookbooks. … Do you read cookbooks and think they are, in fact, practical ethnography?? When you look at a recipe do you …

+ Read More Anthropology Bite Club

Illustrated Man #11 – (H)afrocentric

By Matt Thompson | February 16, 2018

Re-spawn. Its been on since dawn. Illustrated Man check your king with a pawn. Don’t know where but I send ’em Make my posts now on Anthrodendum Hey, ya’ll its been a minute but now I’m back with another installment of Illustrated Man, my semi-irregular series where I discuss comic books and illustration from an …

Make Green OA your New Year’s resolution

By Matt Thompson | November 28, 2017

Why should you care about Green Open Access? Self-archiving, also known as Green Open Access or simply Green OA , is a way for authors to allow at least partial access to their toll-gated work. You might care about this for political or practical reasons, or a combination of the two. As an added kink, …