Divining Truth

This article considers predictive AI as a cultural epistemological form akin to divination, which is to say, a future-oriented technology of knowledge that concerns itself with risk and uncertainty. The article explores some of the cultural …

To Exist is a Form of Resistance

Photography has long been associated with acts of resistance. In this interview, Sarah Allen, Head of Programme and co-curator of the exhibition Acts of Resistance: Photography, Feminisms and the Art of Protest at the South London Gallery, e…

A Cause, but no Rebels?

This article analyzes the political activities of residents in a 50-year-old slum in New Delhi. Based on long-term fieldwork undertaken periodically between 2004 and 2019, we describe the forms of oppression experienced by slum residents, ho…

Doing Being Senior/Junior

In this article, I will reconsider the naming and kinship relationships of the !Xun San in north-central Namibia from the perspective of child socialization. I will thereby deconstruct the naturalized view in which ‘relative age’ (a concept …

Stuck in Representation

This article aims to discuss how Muslims participating in the Norwegian public debate experience what we refer to as representation work activism. Building on Conner’s and Rosen’s understanding of activism ‘as acts that challenge the status …

Street Rhythms and the Revolution

Cuban street vendors use pregones, high-pitched rhymes and rhythms, to promote their goods and services. This ambulant form of small-scale commerce has been part of the urban soundscape since the early years of Spanish colonization. While of…

Singing Wives and Oligarch Patrons

Based on extensive ethnographic fieldwork on Swedo-Russian musical collaborations, this article explores the link between popular music and the conspicuous consumption of Russia’s wealthy elite. Presenting two specific cases, one following a…

Marriage, Divorce and Mutual Indebtedness

This article offers an original insight on the gift economy in Tajikistan. As long shown by the literature, ceremonial expenditures sustain social status and convey moral obligations and social order. In this context, we find that marriage b…