Soap Box: The Political Life of Cheese

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:30:52 GMT

Heather Paxson, an associate professor in MIT's Anthropology Program, studies the people and culture behind the renaissance of artisanal cheese making in the United States.

MIT 21A.453 Anthropology of the Middle East - The Merchant of Art

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 07:03:00 GMT

MIT 21A.453 Anthropology of the Middle East, Spring 2004
View the complete course: http://ocw.mit.edu/21A-453S04
Instructor: Susan Slyomovics

Directed and produced by: Susan Slyomovics

Awadallah Abd al-Jalil Ali is the "merchant of art," a professional epic singer. The son and grandson of itinerant illiterate poets who have for generations recited the cycle of Arabic heroic tales called Sirat Bani Hilal. Awadallah narrates the epic and other tales in his repertoire in the marketplace, local small cafes, and at saints’ pilgrimage sites. He is also commissioned to perform at certain festive occasions, such as weddings, circumcisions, Ramadan breaking the fasts, and welcome parties to celebrate the return of pilgrims from the hajj to Mecca. Accompanying himself on the tar, the large Nubian frame drum, he sings rhymed quatrains in Sa’idi Arabic dialect. Filmed in 1986 in Awadallah’s home village of Mahamid, Aswan Governorate, Egypt.

MIT 21A.453 Anthropology of the Middle East - Wedding Song

Sat, 16 Jun 2012 07:03:00 GMT

MIT 21A.453 Anthropology of the Middle East, Spring 2004
View the complete course: http://ocw.mit.edu/21A-453S04
Instructor: Susan Slyomovics

Directed and produced by: Susan Slyomovics, Amanda Dargan

This film brings the viewer into a Pakistani living room in Queens, New York, where Shenaz Hooda uses henna dye to paint intricate patterns and designs on the hands and feet of a bride-to-be, while the bride’s friends sing humorous wedding songs mocking her future in-laws. The film explores the exquisite mehendi body painting tradition as it is found in India and Pakistan and provides insight into new immigrant traditions.

6.370 Battlecode: Jan. 20

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:52:54 GMT

Final lecture of Battlecode: Differential Equations for Strategy.

Heather Paxson - The anthropologist and the person

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 20:26:31 GMT

Associate professor of anthropology Heather Paxson, shares a little bit about herself in this short video.

David Harvey

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 18:17:01 GMT

David Harvey March 4, 2011 The Enigma of Capital

Doing Anthropology: Thoughts on Fieldwork From Three Research Sites

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:49:31 GMT

Thoughts on Fieldwork From Three Research Sites

Cultural Anthropology is a social science that explores how people understand - and act in - the world. But what, exactly, is it that Cultural Anthropologists do? How do they approach their research? In this short film, three members of MIT's Anthropology Department, Stefan Helmreich, Erica James, and Heather Paxson, talk about their current work and the process of doing fieldwork.