Modus vivendi

It has not been long since I stumbled across Fabian's all time anthropology classic. Time and the Other . Another canonical book worthy of my attention! People talk about the book. It's commended, its author hailed. And as I hate Yetti books (in Daniel Dennett's words: "one of those books that is often cited by people who haven't read it but read about it, and think they know what is in it"), I immediatelly ordered it from my favourite trafficker in ideas. The book arrived. Pretty slim. Good. Will not take long to read. I like essay-like condensed arguments (I enjoyed Barth's Cosmologies in the Making  or Goody's The Domestication of the Savage Mind ). Not long after I had began reading it, Colin Hay's lyrics acquired a brand new meaning:  Alone between the sheets  only brings exasperation Desperation... ...produced some action and I googled the book. Ultimately, I found some consolation. So if you face ...

This summer I visited a small Bohemian village Malé Svatoňovice which is situated close to Czech-Polish borders. The village is a birthplace of one of the greatest writers, a seven-time Nobel Prize nominee (how unfortunate), Karel Čapek. Maybe you have heard about him. If you are interested,  there's a museum in the town dedicated to the works and lives of Karel and his older brother Josef.

In the midst of a transcriptional mayhem (damn too many interviews), I found some time for some educational activism. I hope the CEU cause is not lost! Do you want to support it? Learn more here:  https://www.ceu.edu/category/istandwithceu .

HAU FB page shared this list of 30 essential books in anthropology compiled by AllegraLab . The original post is here . So if you are up for a round of humiliation , do not hesitate to share your ignorance. Mine is marked  in bold and makes two thirds of the list. Geertz, C., 1973,  The Interpretation of Cultures . Basic Books. Lévi-Strauss, C., 1955,  Tristes tropiques . Librairie Plon. Malinowski, B., 1922,  Argonauts of the Western Pacific . E.P. Dutton. Mauss, M., 1950[1923-24],  Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l’échange dans les sociétés archaïques . Presses Universitaires de France. Appadurai, A., 1996,  Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization . University of Minnesota Press. Boas, F., 1911,  The Mind of Primitive Man . MacMillan. Tylor, E.B., 1871,  Primitive Culture . John Murray. Mead, M., 1928,  Coming of Age in Samoa . William Morrow and Co. Evans-Pritchard, E.E., 1937,  Witchcraft,...

Exactly after three years I teach again! Hoooray! I have a small course called Anthropology and the supernatural at the Faculty of Humanities in Prague. The course resembles my old course which I taught back in 2014 during my unsuccessful Ph.D. I reworked my lectures and here I am. My course basically serves as an introduction for complete beginners in sociocultural anthropology. Instead of focusing on basic stuff like nature-nurture controversy, relativism-universalism issues or "What is anhtropology and how do you explain it to your grandma?" I decided to focus on the inner architecture of essential arguments and theories related to anhtropological theories of witchcraft, religion, magic or ritual. Also, I try to put less stress on biographical anecdotes (Malinowski's troubles on the Trobriand Islands, Leach's lost fieldnotes or Evans-Pritchard's WWII escapades) and hackneyed descriptions of the so-called paradigms in anthropology. Contrary to my previou...

Source:   https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-telescope-reveals-largest-batch-of-earth-size-habitable-zone-planets-around Note: Actually, I love Evans-Pritchard and his work :P