In Episode 11 of Anthropological Airwaves, we speak with Professors Adia Benton of Northwestern University and Miriam Ticktin of The New School about multimodal and public anthropology through the lens of humanitarianism. Benton shows us how visual analysis can be used to plumb the depths of contradictions in humanitarianism, both in its ethos and specific interventions, exposing the white supremacist framework baked into the humanitarian project. Ticktin picks up where Benton leaves off, sharing insights from her work with immigrant and refugee populations in Europe, showing how the same logics are at work in the constitution of and efforts to ameliorate the "Refugee Crisis" in Europe. These conversations both challenge us to think more deeply about our commitments to our interlocutors and our various audiences, disciplinary, public, or otherwise.
Episode Transcript
Thumbnail Image: ABC News Still Depicting Salma Hayek and a Sierra Leonean baby (part of the sequence discussed in Adia's interview)
Credits:
Producer: Nooshin Sadeq-Samimi
Editor and Host: Kyle Olson
Interviewers: Sarah Rendell and Sharon Jacobs
Music:
Takuya Kuroda - "Rising Son"
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Anthropological Airwaves is the official podcast of American Anthropologist, the flagship journal of the American Anthropological Association. It is a venue for highlighting the polyphony of voices across the discipline’s four fields and the infinite—and often overlapping—subfields within them. Through conversations, experiments in sonic ethnography, ethnographic journalism, and other (primarily but not exclusively) aural formats, Anthropological Airwaves endeavors to explore the conceptual, methodological, and pedagogical issues that shape anthropology’s past, present, and future; experiment with new ways of conversing, listening, and asking questions; and collaboratively and collectively push the boundaries of what constitutes anthropological knowledge production. Anthropo...