Kate B. Harding

  I am on a Claude Lévi-Strauss kick, so indulge me, kindly. During World War II, Lévi-Strauss escaped Vichy France for New York, where he taught at the New School and developed a great affection for America. I was especially taken aback by this passage this morning from Tristes Tropiques: “Those who maintain that New [...]

  Today, as I write my dissertation on anthropology and the art of storytelling, I am steeped in Claude Lévi-Strauss and his writings on myth and meaning. I discovered this interesting passage in which he explained that he had always hoped to become a musician.   Central Park, NYC “I have always dreamed since childhood [...]

    Revelation can be more perilous than Revolution. – Vladimir Nabokov     There Is No Word   By Tony Hoagland   There isn’t a word for walking out of the grocery store with a gallon jug of milk in a plastic sack that should have been bagged in double layers   —so that [...]

  Ok, I’m an anthropologist. You think that has nothing to do with business and leadership. But I spend all my waking hours thinking about business and leadership–and using my anthropology background to do it. So they are very related, and I’m going to start writing about that. First of all, businesses are little cultures. [...]

  I love reading Young Adult fiction from time to time, in part because I am always surprised by just how good some of the stuff is. Last week, on a whim, I picked up Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman. Handler is better known by his pseudonym Lemony Snicket, while Kalman [...]

  In Algeria, I had begun to get into literature and philosophy. I dreamed of writing…   – Jacques Derrida    

  Flickr user ralphrepo has beautifully restored these early photographs of China, making the images pop out of history with a new life. There are more stunners available here.  

  People ask me all the time why anthropology matters. Here’s my answer: I grew up in a small college town where there were two fates: either you were going to college or you weren’t, and it was painted on your forehead from the time you were born. The kids who were going to college [...]

  To understand what is happening in these maps, click here. But if you’re like me and you’d rather just look at colorful, abstract pictures of the world’s cities without understanding, then view below. New York     London     Paris     San Francisco     Berlin     Tokyo     More [...]

  1890, by Smithsonian photographer Thomas Smillie