Anthropology of the Absurd Archives - Allegra Lab https://allegralaboratory.net/category/thematic-threads/anthropology-of-the-absurd/ Anthropology for Radical Optimism Thu, 19 Mar 2026 12:38:05 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://allegralaboratory.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/cropped-Icon-Allegra-Lab-Fixed-32x32.png Anthropology of the Absurd Archives - Allegra Lab https://allegralaboratory.net/category/thematic-threads/anthropology-of-the-absurd/ 32 32 Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt: On the importance of ambiguity in an authoritarian state https://allegralaboratory.net/denial-aint-just-a-river-in-egypt-on-the-importance-of-ambiguity-in-an-authoritarian-state/ https://allegralaboratory.net/denial-aint-just-a-river-in-egypt-on-the-importance-of-ambiguity-in-an-authoritarian-state/#respond Fri, 07 Jun 2024 08:00:34 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41823 In 1931, an American newspaper competition asked its readers to submit the best use of the word denial in a […]

The post Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt: On the importance of ambiguity in an authoritarian state appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/denial-aint-just-a-river-in-egypt-on-the-importance-of-ambiguity-in-an-authoritarian-state/feed/ 0 Waiting for ghosts https://allegralaboratory.net/waiting-for-ghosts/ https://allegralaboratory.net/waiting-for-ghosts/#respond Fri, 26 Apr 2024 08:00:36 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41670 I am walking along a road on the outskirts of Leh town, in the Himalayan region of Ladakh. It is […]

The post Waiting for ghosts appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/waiting-for-ghosts/feed/ 0 Against making sense: Appreciating absurd roundabouts in Malaysian Borneo https://allegralaboratory.net/against-making-sense-appreciating-absurd-roundabouts-in-malaysian-borneo/ https://allegralaboratory.net/against-making-sense-appreciating-absurd-roundabouts-in-malaysian-borneo/#respond Thu, 25 Apr 2024 08:00:41 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41533 In Kuching, the capital of the Malaysian state of Sarawak, I found a musical roundabout. Large loudspeakers turn this otherwise […]

The post Against making sense: Appreciating absurd roundabouts in Malaysian Borneo appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/against-making-sense-appreciating-absurd-roundabouts-in-malaysian-borneo/feed/ 0 The sound of the absurd: Learning to listen in the Emergency Room https://allegralaboratory.net/the-sound-of-the-absurd-learning-to-listen-in-the-emergency-room/ https://allegralaboratory.net/the-sound-of-the-absurd-learning-to-listen-in-the-emergency-room/#respond Wed, 24 Apr 2024 08:00:16 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41654 It was a crowded, freezing Monday morning in late January, in the large university hospital in northern Italy where I […]

The post The sound of the absurd: Learning to listen in the Emergency Room appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/the-sound-of-the-absurd-learning-to-listen-in-the-emergency-room/feed/ 0 The folly of little kings https://allegralaboratory.net/the-folly-of-little-kings/ https://allegralaboratory.net/the-folly-of-little-kings/#respond Mon, 22 Apr 2024 07:00:10 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41480 On Monday, May 25th, 2020, Cuba’s new president, Miguel Diaz-Canél, involuntarily found himself in the spotlight. Diaz-Canél had become the […]

The post The folly of little kings appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/the-folly-of-little-kings/feed/ 0 War and its absurdities https://allegralaboratory.net/why-war-is-absurd/ https://allegralaboratory.net/why-war-is-absurd/#respond Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:00:28 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41537 When Nadja was evacuated from the bomb shelter in eastern Ukraine, she took her cheese with her. She took the […]

The post War and its absurdities appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/why-war-is-absurd/feed/ 0 “Great job, mommy!” On the absurdity of teaching Ethiopian women to breastfeed https://allegralaboratory.net/great-job-mommy-on-the-absurdity-of-teaching-ethiopian-women-to-breastfeed/ https://allegralaboratory.net/great-job-mommy-on-the-absurdity-of-teaching-ethiopian-women-to-breastfeed/#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:00:37 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41619 One scalding hot June day in 2014 in a remote village health post in North Shewa, Ethiopia, I attended an […]

The post “Great job, mommy!” On the absurdity of teaching Ethiopian women to breastfeed appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/great-job-mommy-on-the-absurdity-of-teaching-ethiopian-women-to-breastfeed/feed/ 2 Of rails and rubbish: critique and the absurdity of cleaning days https://allegralaboratory.net/of-rails-and-rubbish-critique-and-the-absurdity-of-cleaning-days/ https://allegralaboratory.net/of-rails-and-rubbish-critique-and-the-absurdity-of-cleaning-days/#respond Wed, 17 Apr 2024 08:00:16 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41505 In January 2020, the Senegalese President Macky Sall announced a nation-wide ‘Cleaning Day’. Together with a ‘Zero waste’ campaign and followed […]

The post Of rails and rubbish: critique and the absurdity of cleaning days appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/of-rails-and-rubbish-critique-and-the-absurdity-of-cleaning-days/feed/ 0 The violent face of bureaucracy https://allegralaboratory.net/the-violent-face-of-bureaucracy/ https://allegralaboratory.net/the-violent-face-of-bureaucracy/#respond Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:00:44 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41552 Whenever I meet Merule, a 42-year-old Nigerian citizen living undocumented in Milan, Italy, I am struck by the number of […]

The post The violent face of bureaucracy appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/the-violent-face-of-bureaucracy/feed/ 0 Anthropology and absurdity: Introduction https://allegralaboratory.net/anthropology-and-absurdity-introduction/ https://allegralaboratory.net/anthropology-and-absurdity-introduction/#respond Mon, 15 Apr 2024 08:00:45 +0000 https://allegralaboratory.net/?p=41560 Anthropology is often seen as the discipline that makes “the strange familiar and the familiar strange”. Here, however, we are […]

The post Anthropology and absurdity: Introduction appeared first on Allegra Lab.

]]> https://allegralaboratory.net/anthropology-and-absurdity-introduction/feed/ 0