Pedal Powered Anthropology is a lot of things. It started as a way to keep my brain warm while in between my undergrad and graduate school. Now I’m mostly making documentaries, but I’m also writing and teaching people about cultural history and human origins…and also apparently teaching people a little bit about film making.
And now, there is a podcast.
Hosted by Anchor and available on your favorite podcasting site, the Anthrospin podcast is available directly at anchor.fm/anthrospin
The podcast covers new publications and discussions in the various disciplines under the anthropology umbrella while giving nonspecialists a general understanding of the theoretical paradigms (fancy jargon for “stuff specialists talk about”) underlying a lot of the discussions that scientific papers and even popular press article coverage kind of assume readers already know.
There is also be a heapin’ helpin’ of what exactly can you do with your life once you have an anthropology degree.
With different guests on the show and hosted by Joe and Julie LyonWurm, perspectives will be fresh and suitable for specialists and nonspecialists alike. If you like particular guests and they like us, they’ll be back! Maybe some of them will even begin contributing regular content to the website.
Eventually I would like it to become a show with at least one or two rotating guests with frequent new voices included–even if only for single episodes.
If you’re an anthropologist or anthropology student and would like to be on the podcast, get in touch at anthrospin@gmail.com
Below are direct links to each episode:
Episode 1– Angela Achorn—In this episode I Skype with PhD candidate Angie Achorn about her research on Sulawesi Crested Macaques. In addition to her research we talk about the cultural differences between Indonesia, Germany, and Kenya. If you’re interested in Angie’s Indonesian Escapades, check out her travel blog at perjalanandanprimata.travel.blog
Episode 2—Justin Soares—In this episode I meet with Justin Soares, a Bronze Age archaeologist focusing on the Iberian Peninsula. In addition to his work in archaeology, we talk about creating more affordable access to field work, Eurocentrism and gatekeeping in academia, what we’re currently working on, and our own anthropological origin stories. Also you’ll get to listen to one of my dogs snoring for about an hour.
Episode 3– Taryn Johnson—In this episode we meet Taryn Johnson, a PhD student at Texas A&M University who specializes in isolating and extracting human DNA from paleofeces (real old poop). We talk about the different kinds of questions her research can answer, ancient DNA, specimen contamination, and where multidisciplinary perspectives can help.
Next Episode: John Thomas White. A First Americans archaeologist working in Alaska to recreate paleo environments and understand the first peopling of North America.