All Hallows’ Eve was my friend Chris Adams’ favorite holiday. He loved its costume and horror that was the foundational décor of Halloween. He made annual pilgrimages to Salem, Massachusetts, drawn to its haunted history. He understood Halloween as America’s truest folk rite: a night when the nation remembers that it was founded on superstitionContinue reading “The Discipline of Fear”
Tag Archives: anthropology
Disgust
Molly Young covered the topic of disgust in her December 27, 2021 article in The New York Times Magazine, “How Disgust Explains Everything.” Her protagonist is Paul Rozin, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Young’s article is a quick introduction to the topic and Rozin’s work is important as an expansion ofContinue reading “Disgust”
Witches, Populism, Aikido
In the 19th century, anthropology’s great achievement was humility. Cultural relativism and structure-functionalism arose as correctives to imperial arrogance; a way to see “the native” not as savage, but as human within a coherent order. Yet in the 21st century, those same theories can feel dangerous. When all practices are deemed culturally valid, cruelty masqueradesContinue reading “Witches, Populism, Aikido”
Protective Arts 