Anthropology blog

Primary page content

Guest blog post- Bethany Loft, second year Anthropology and Media & Communications student

Photo credit to TEDxUCLWomen

My name is Bethany and I’m about to enter my second year of studying Anthropology & Media at Goldsmiths. I found out about the opportunity to join the TEDxUCLWomen 2017 team through the Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths and am now on the hospitality team for this year’s event. Our team organises the warm up event, the catering and the goody bags as well as being responsible for the attendees’ experience on the day.

TEDxUCLWomen is in its fourth year and is run solely by volunteers. There’s a great atmosphere and collaborative spirit between the team and you get the opportunity to learn and develop the necessary skills to help create such an awesome event. Whilst TEDxUCLWomen is primarily based around UCL and their community, there are people involved from many other universities and we hope to broaden the reach of the event further this year.

Photo credit to TEDxUCLWomen

TEDxUCLWomen have created an event that enables the sharing of ideas and knowledge and creates a space where changing opinions, empowering individuals and building a community is possible. The event is happening in November and we aim to make it as accessible and inclusive as possible. The theme for the event this year is ‘home’, it’s a really relevant topic to current events and the (unreleased) speaker list reflects upon many of the challenges and great progress that is happening.

Photo credit to TEDxUCLWomen

Taking part in TEDxUCLWomen is a rewarding experience for many reasons, working amongst a team of incredibly talented individuals who work hard to create a wide-reaching event is a great initiative. As part of the team, we get to suggest potential speakers and help shape the experience of the attendees in ways which matter to us. Knowing how much thought and work goes into planning and selecting the speakers and the event, I have to recommend coming and seeing for yourself all the amazing speakers which will be there!

You can stay updated about the exciting announcements to be made through the Facebook Event Page. For more information about TEDxUCLWoman please visit their Facebook and Twitter page.

Rebecca Prentice- When buildings burn, from London to Dhak

Rebecca Prentice, former ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London with the Department of Anthropology has written an article on the Grenfell Tower fire for the Anthropology blog at Sussex University. Rebecca talks about talks about the fires in Dhaka and the distinct similarities between Grenfell in how strong the surrounding communities fought back, demanded compensation for those effected, justice for those who perished in the fires and holding accountable those responsible in court, for their negligence and clear failure to protect the community.

To read Rebecca’s full article, please visit Sussex University blog

Rebecca Prentice is a Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Sussex in Brighton.

Goldsmiths Events

Facebook Live: Grenfell: One month on, what can society learn?

14^th July 2017 4:00pm – 4:30pm

Facebook live link: https://www.facebook.com/events/131350804123894/

One month on from the fire at Grenfell Tower Dr Anna Carlile from the Department of Educational Studies will be discussing what society can learn from this tragedy.

After the talk we’ll also be holding a Q&A, giving you the opportunity to ask questions about the subject. Send us your questions now by commenting below.

For more information, please contact n.shaw@gold.ac.uk or visit Goldsmiths event page https://www.gold.ac.uk/calendar/?id=10907

Call for proposals: Displacements

2018 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Cultural Anthropology
Cosponsored by the Society for Visual Anthropology

Thursday 19th April- Saturday 21st April 2018
An online event: tune in from wherever you are or come together to invent and collaborate

“Displacements are in the air: episodes of profound political upheaval, intensified crises of migration and expulsion, the disturbing spectre of climatic and environmental instability, countless virtual shadows cast over the here and now by ubiquitous media technologies. What does it mean to live and strive in the face of such movements? What social and historical coordinates are at stake with these challenges? And what kind of understanding can anthropology contribute to the displacements of this time—given, especially, that our most essential techniques like ethnography are themselves predicated on the heuristic value of displacement, on what can be gleaned from the experience of unfamiliar circumstances?”

For the first time, in 2018, the SCA Biennial Meeting will take place as a virtual conference. All staff and students are welcome to apply! For more information please visit this link, deadline for proposals is Monday 16th October 2017. Proposals should be sent to displacements@culanth.org with a title and 200-word description of proposed presentations, panels, collaborations, and local events, or any other queries.

Screening of ‘The Twilight of Magical Socialism’, a documentary by Michele Calabresi

Thursday 15th June, 6:30pm

Richard Hoggart Building, room 309

Goldsmiths, University of London

Please join the department for a screening of The Twilight of Magical Socialism directed by Michele Calabresi, who will be joining us for a discussion along Professor Margarita Lopez after the screening. A Q&A will follow the discussion.

All welcome!

This event has been put together by the Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London and the Unit for Visual Anthropology.

London Graduate Fair at Senate House- Wednesday 21st June 2017

The next London Graduate Fair will be running on Wednesday 21st June 2017, 11:00am- 2:00pm or 3:00pm- 6:00pm, at Senate House, University of London. At the fair you can:

Discover thousands of vacancies and graduate schemes
Meet face-to-face with dozens of top companies from a range of industries
Network with recruitment teams

To attend, you can register here

An Evening with Literary Review & Aesop: Professor Emma Tarlo and Wendy Moore on the history of hair

Join Professor Emma Tarlo, Department of Anthropology, author of Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair, and Literary Review contributor Wendy Moore for a conversation on the history of hair – from fashion and beauty to religion, politics and cultural identity.

16 May 2017- 6:30pm
Aesop Soho, 41 Lexington Street, London, W1F 9AJ (directly across from the Literary Review office on Lexington Street)
Free, all welcome

Although this is a free event, please do RSVP to rsvp.uk@aesop.com with the subject line Literary Review to reserve your place.

Emma Tarlo is a professor of anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. She regularly gives public lectures worldwide and contributes to BBC Radio programmes and news articles. She lives in London.

Wendy Moore is a freelance journalist and author of several books, most recently The Mesmerist: The Society Doctor who held Victorian London Spellbound. She is a regular contributor to Literary Review.

How is human hair commodified? Watch Professor Tarlo discuss her research on the global human hair trade

Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair is published by Oneworld in hardback and is available on Amazon and in all good bookshops

Careers Event jointly run by Anthropology and Sociology