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New Books in Anthropology

New Books Network
China
Anthropology
Caste
Climate Change
India
Colonialism
Race
Ethnography
Environmental Justice
Buddhism
Anti-Christian Violence
Cultural Expression
Hindutva
Cultural Identity
Mestizaje
Afro-Latinx Culture
Cats
Migration
African Diaspora
Civil Society

This podcast is a channel on the New Books Network. The New Books Network is an academic audio library dedicated to public education. In each episode you will hear scholars discuss their recently published research with another expert in their field. Discover our 150+ channels and browse our 28,000+ episodes on our website: ⁠newbooksnetwork.com⁠ Subscribe to our free weekly Substack newsletter to ... more

PublishesDailyEpisodes1059Founded16 years ago
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Artwork for New Books in Anthropology

Latest Episodes

In John Charles Simon and Jennalee Donian’s Understanding Laughter and Humor: Why We Laugh, Why We Don’t, and Why It Matters (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025), the authors put forward a comprehensive new theoretical approach to understanding laughter and th... more

Monasteries are typically characterized by physical and symbolic limitations on access as they are usually known through written texts and accounts by nuns who live in that world but do not allow others to have access. This has often resulted in rese... more

What does medical anthropology look like in the twenty-first century?

That is the central question of Mapping Medical Anthropology for the Twenty-First Century, a new edited volume by Matthew J. Wolf-Meyer, Junko Kitanaka and Eugene Raikhel, publis... more

What went wrong with global mental health?

Under the Gaze of Global Mental Health: A Critical Reflection (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025) critically examines how the globalisation of mental health through the dominant medical model has created barriers to... more

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Recent Guests

Matthew Engelke
Anthropologist; Professor and Chair of the Department of Religion at Columbia University
Columbia University
Episode: An Honest Death: Life's End and Humanist Funerals with Matthew Engelke
Ashanté Reese
Author of Gather, Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness
Norton; author
Episode: Ashanté M. Reese, "Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness" (W. W. Norton, 2026)
Ian Marcus Corbin
Philosopher, essayist, author; senior fellow at Capita; program director of the Public Culture Project at Harvard
Capita; Harvard University
Episode: A Cure for Loneliness: On Homecoming with Ian Marcus Corbin
Ting Hui Lau
Author of Decolonial Endurance, Lisu Worldmaking Against Chinese Settler Colonialism
National University of Singapore (Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology)
Episode: Ting Hui Lau, "Decolonial Endurance: Lisu Worldmaking Against Chinese Settler Colonialism" (Stanford UP, 2026)
Máximo Badaró
Professor of social anthropology, University of San Martín in Argentina; director of the Global China Study Program
University of San Martín, Argentina
Episode: Máximo Badaró, "Pedagogies of Value: Marketing Foreign Goods in China" (Berghahn, 2026)
Sophie Chao
Author of Land of Famished Beings: West Papuan Theories of Hunger
University of Sydney / Duke University Press
Episode: Sophie Chao, "Land of Famished Beings: West Papuan Theories of Hunger" (Duke UP, 2025)
Margaret Farrar
Professor of Political Science
John Carroll University
Episode: Margaret E. Farrar and Adam Kaul, "Becoming Utopia: History, Heritage, and Sustainability in the American Midwest" (U Nebraska Press, 2026)
Adam Kaul
Professor of Anthropology
Augustana College
Episode: Margaret E. Farrar and Adam Kaul, "Becoming Utopia: History, Heritage, and Sustainability in the American Midwest" (U Nebraska Press, 2026)
Ramnarayan Rawat
Associate Professor of History; co-editor of Dalit Studies (2016)
University of Delaware
Episode: Dalit Studies with Ramnarayan Rawat, K. Satyanarayana and Sanal Mohan

Host

Miranda Melcher
Host in the New Books Network; frequently collaborates on anthropology-related content.

Reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars from 139 ratings
  • Beautiful and Soothing

    Wonderful to feel connected and grounded in today’s troubling world.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    Lily Scott - One Love
    United Statesa year ago
  • Good podcast; shame about the gambling ads

    Hi, i really appreciate this podcast, but think that running gambling ads is in questionable taste given the disproportionate impact of gambling on the marginalised

    Apple Podcasts
    4
    Hugo JH
    Australiaa year ago
  • It's a common belief that if you can't explain something simpl, you don't understand it. That doesn't naturally lead us to deliver all knowledge for the lowest common denominator, but most maybe all, sources of information are being written for the person who won't understand it. This podcast has breaks from that bad habit. In a week I've heard ideas, sharpened from experience and repetition, delivered with thrust I've never met elsewhere.

    Audible
    5
    Nahvis
    United States5 years ago
  • mostly a podcast by experts for experts

    It's a common belief that if you can't explain something simpl, you don't understand it. That doesn't naturally lead us to deliver all knowledge for the lowest common denominator, but most maybe all, sources of information are being written for the person who won't understand it. This podcast has breaks from that bad habit. In a week I've heard ideas, sharpened from experience and repetition, delivered with thrust I've never met elsewhere.

    Audible
    5
    Jer
    United States5 years ago
  • Engaging and informative

    This podcast covers a wide range of books, and the conversations are really interesting.

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    dkd84
    United States7 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Some prefer shorter episodes for quick book overviews.
Fans appreciate hearing authors discuss complex ideas in approachable ways.
Listeners praise the breadth of scholarly topics and accessible interviews.
A few critics note occasional ad placements but overall high-quality analysis.

Chart Rankings

How this podcast ranks in the Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube charts.

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

An Honest Death: Life's End and Humanist Funerals with Matthew Engelke
Q: What implications do these practices have for the broader understanding of modern religion and secular life?
Engelke argues that secular rituals reveal a sophisticated Enlightenment-influenced rationalism that still deeply engages emotions, showing how secular communities ritualize grief and meaning-generation in ways that parallel traditional religious practices without theology.
An Honest Death: Life's End and Humanist Funerals with Matthew Engelke
Q: How do secular funerals differ from religious ones in practice?
The core differences are in language, assumptions about the afterlife, and the use of metaphysical claims; secular funerals foreground finitude, memory, and values the deceased embodied, while avoiding promises of afterlife or divine intervention.
An Honest Death: Life's End and Humanist Funerals with Matthew Engelke
Q: What drew you to study the Humanist UK and the celebrants who conduct funerals?
Engelke explains that his ethnographic work began with an interest in secular communities, exploring how they create meaningful rituals without invoking the metaphysical, and how celebrants serve as a bridge between non-religious identities and communal rites.
Sophie Chao, "Land of Famished Beings: West Papuan Theories of Hunger" (Duke UP, 2025)
Q: Can you tell us more about the central idea of satiation and why readers should look to the forest to understand hunger?
Satiation in the forest reframes eating as an exchange of vitality between humans and more-than-human worlds, emphasizing that nourishment comes from a generative, life-sustaining relationship with the forest and its beings, not just from human-centered nutrition.
Ka-ming Wu, "Infrastructural Urbanism in Contemporary China: Volunteering, Infrastructures and Civic Imaginations" (Leiden UP, 2026)
Q: What surprised you most when you looked at the everyday lives of volunteers, beyond the common perception of a party-state toolkit?
I found that volunteers operate across a spectrum—from compliant service providers to activist agents who repurpose infrastructure for social causes—showing that city life is produced through everyday acts of care, critique, and improvisation.

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Frequently Asked Questions About New Books in Anthropology

What is New Books in Anthropology about and what kind of topics does it cover?

This series features in-depth conversations with scholars about recently published books across anthropology, history, and related social sciences. Episodes typically center on primary themes like colonialism, heritage, food systems, urbanism, gender, and multispecies futures, with a strong emphasis on ethnographic methods, regional studies, and interdisciplinary context. Guests are often established academics or rising scholars who bring historical, cultural, or theoretical perspectives to contemporary questions, making the show valuable for researchers, students, and professionals seeking nuanced, rigorously argued insights. A notable strength is the breadth of topics and geographic focus, which helps listeners discover new authors and cr... more

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Which podcasts are similar to New Books in Anthropology?

These podcasts share a similar audience with New Books in Anthropology:

1. New Books in Critical Theory
2. What's Left of Philosophy
3. Philosophy Bites
4. Jacobin Radio
5. Acid Horizon

How many episodes of New Books in Anthropology are there?

New Books in Anthropology launched 16 years ago and published 1059 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

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What guests have appeared on New Books in Anthropology?

Recent guests on New Books in Anthropology include:

1. Matthew Engelke
2. Ashanté Reese
3. Ian Marcus Corbin
4. Ting Hui Lau
5. Máximo Badaró
6. Sophie Chao
7. Margaret Farrar
8. Adam Kaul

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