Grey in Gateshead

My JRAI paper (with Paolo Heywood) On the Problem of Continuity is out online first -- an attempt to theorise culture beyond the logic of invention:

rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Thanks Bruce! The longer paper is out with American Anthropologist later this month but happy to share the accepted draft if of interest -- feel free to email or DM!

Marking work post-AI feels like a very different thing

At my current rate of reading, would conservatively estimate the stack of books beside my bed will take about 10 years to clear.

Enjoyed this lovely piece, even more so when I found it was based on my old friend @tomyarrow.bsky.social's anthropological potterings (Tom & I once spent 2 days running across Eryri's mountains and our silences were prob more than long enough to make @gabyhinsliff.bsky.social deeply uncomfortable).

Thanks Neal! Was thinking back to that run the other day with a lot of fondness and remembering me trying to talk about this research then as I panted my way slowly up Eryri -- been a while in the making!

@durhamanthropology.bsky.social

Mental health: Research shows not all men should open up to their friends Professor of Anthropolgy at Durham University, Thomas Yarrow, explains his findings.

Me on Sky News waffling nervously about friendship and intimacy:

news.sky.com/video/mental...

Postdoctoral Research Associate | King's College London

I'm hiring 2 postdocs on my Wellcome project "How Did Infectious Diseases Become Wild?: Plague, Yellow Fever, and Disease Ecology in the Brazilian Hinterland (1920-1975)"

Department of Global Health and Social Medicine
King's College
3 years 01/10/26- 30/09/29
Deadline: 01/02/26
shorturl.at/KZ6Vh

Snow covered archaeological excavation - pits, baulks and wooden pegs

Working in a Winter Wonderland! #EarlyBronzeAge #FlagFenBasin #Fenland (not Finland)

Male bonds develop one way, female friendships another. Should we stop trying to make men more like women? | Gaby Hinsliff The strong and silent masculine image is often derided, but why? Perhaps companionship via trains, golf or a quiet drink is enough, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

Male bonds develop one way, female friendships another. Should we stop trying to make men more like women? | Gaby Hinsliff

Professor / Associate Professor or Assistant Professor / of Anthropology Professor / Associate Professor or Assistant Professor / of Anthropology

My department is hiring! Open rank faculty position in Helsinki Anthropology

jobs.helsinki.fi/job/Helsinki...

My argument is that friendship, care and intimacy take many forms, including those grounded in silent companionship and shared activities, which pervasive narratives about 'opening up' routinely devalue. It is not an argument against sharing feelings, or a reactionary defense of toxic masculinity!

Very weird and troubling to see my ethnographic research on male intimacy morph into right wing click bait.

@drodurham.bsky.social @durhamanthropology.bsky.social @durham.ac.uk

@durhamanthropology.bsky.social @drodurham.bsky.social @durham.ac.uk

Very unexpectedly, my forthcoming @amanthro.bsky.social paper on male friendship and emotional reticence was featured in the Sunday Times yesterday:

Great to be on @skynewsrss.bsky.social this morning, talking about my forthcoming @amanthro.bsky.social paper on male friendship and intimacy.

@durhamanthropology.bsky.social

My @uk.theconversation.com piece on male friendship and intimacy beyond words is out today:

Builds on perspectives from maintenance and repair studies, ritual, heritage and beyond, including engagements with @hannahcknox.bsky.social

@durhamanthropology.bsky.social

Really pleased my paper (with Paolo Heywood) 'On the problem of continuity' just got accepted by JRAI. It proposes a theory of culture beyond the inventive assumptions that often dominate analyses and over-determine ethnography. DM or email if you're interested to see the accepted draft.

I seem to buy books in inverse proportion to my time for reading

Absolutely loved archaeologist Rose Ferraby's R3 programme Earthworks -- a lovely, lyrical exploration of materials with thoughtful reflections on time, craft and the traces people leave, and told with so much humanity.

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, EarthWorks, Stone Archaeologist Rose Ferraby explores rock art in Northumberland.

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Being able to see any GP would be a start!

Adam Reed's new book just arrived and looks terrific -- an ethnography of animal protection, which opens out new ways of thinking about human-animal relations, activism, expert knowledge and imperatives of moral action.

Admittedly hot take but IMO Sycamore Gap is a more interesting place without the sycamore. And the social significance of its absence seems on balance to be greater than the presence of the tree itself (not that I condone those who cut it down and with all sympathies to those who grieve its loss!)

Medical Anthropology Past, Present, and Future: The State of the Art Published in Medical Anthropology: Cross-Cultural Studies in Health and Illness (Ahead of Print, 2024)

Our final editorial for #MedicalAnthropology - reflecting on the state of the sub discipline - is now out, with free imprints for the first 50 takers: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/8KVSQ... #anthropology