SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human
SAPIENSSAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human
What makes you … you? And who tells what stories and why? In the fifth season of the SAPIENS podcast, listeners will hear a range of human stories: from the origins of the chili pepper to how prosecutors decide someone is a criminal to stolen skulls from Iceland. Join Season 5’s host, Eshe Lewis, on our latest journey to explore what it means to be human. SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human, is produced by House of Pod and supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation. SAPIENS is part of the American Anthropological Association Podcast Library. For more information, visit sapiens.org
All content included is used with permission or licensed for exclusive use by SAPIENS.
What makes you … you? And who tells what stories and why? In the fifth season of the SAPIENS podcast, listeners will hear a range of human stories: from the origins of the chili pepper to how prosecutors decide someone is a criminal to stolen skulls from Iceland. Join Season 5’s host, Eshe Lewis, on our latest journey to explore what it means to be human. SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human, is produced by House of Pod and supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation. SAPIENS is part of the American Anthropological Association Podcast Library. For more information, visit sapiens.org
All content included is used with permission or licensed for exclusive use by SAPIENS.
How come some people think eating insects is disgusting? Join SAPIENS hosts Jen Shannon and Chip Colwell as they dine on many-legged delicacies and delve into the world of entomophagy with anthropologist , author of the new book Edible Insects...
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A Brazilian archaeologist reexamines the way people treat ancestral Indigenous remains housed in museums—starting with one important encounter.
Gogi is a comic strip character who boldly addresses issues of women’s rights in Pakistan and the broader Muslim world. A cultural anthropologist interviews Gogi’s creator, Nigar Nazar, to talk about how comics can be a vehicle for social justice.
The proliferation of smartphones is transforming basic structures of human existence, experience, and performance. How do these machines change what it means to be human?
The scientific community in Argentina is facing a crisis. In response, scientists are protesting to stand up for their work and community.
An anthropologist shares his story of the environmental, sociocultural, and political consequences of a hydropower dam in India for communities living downstream.
A sociocultural anthropologist explores the cultural significance of funeral rituals and food traditions worldwide.
Three anthropologists meet to discuss the evolutionary purposes of gossip, and why it matters to so many people today.
An anthropologist uses courtrooms in Turkey as his field site to understand how digital evidence is shifting legal practices.
A researcher who studies animal behavior looks at tool use in nonhuman primates to better illuminate tool use in humans.
An anthropologist sets out to better understand the experience of a deaf migrant.
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The Mead-Freeman controversy draws to a close, with some answers to who was right and who was wrong. But, in the end, can we ever really understand people from a different culture?
Author and poet Sia Figiel and activist and anthropologist Doris Tulifau share their stories of being Samoan women and their struggles and survival.
The Mead-Freeman controversy reaches its climax. Scientists, scholars, and Samoans debate the nature of sexuality, culture, and truth.
A 1960s home economist runs a radical experiment in her preschool laboratory—with big implications for millions of kids living in poverty.
Christianity and colonization deeply reshaped Samoan culture starting in the 1830s, complicating how Margaret Mead and Derek Freeman saw the Pacific Islands.
Derek Freeman became Margaret Mead’s biggest critic, trying to undo her research in American Samoa and her reputation as a famed anthropologist. Who was Derek Freeman and what did he say?
In the controversies swirling around Margaret Mead’s work in American Samoa, one set of voices has too often been left out: that of Samoans.
A young anthropologist named Marget Mead journeyed to American Samoa in 1925 and claimed she found a culture where teenagers were sexually free. Fame and controversy followed.
Does the transition from childhood to adulthood have to be so difficult? This question sent famed anthropologist Margaret Mead to American Samoa in 1925—and ignited decades of controversy.
A famed anthropologist’s controversial research in American Samoa reveals the biggest questions about growing up and being human.
The chart-topping and Signal Award-winning PBS podcast “Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant” has returned for a brand new season! In each episode, host and acclaimed wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant explores all the different ways the natural world is interconnected with help of a notable scientist, activist, or adventurer.
How a rogue archaeologist in Peru found indisputable evidence of something previously unthinkable—ancient neurosurgery.
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Deven Grey, a young, isolated mother in Alabama, reached a point of no return on December 12, 2017. She shot and killed her boyfriend, John Vance. Rather than face a jury, Deven accepted a “blind plea” deal. This is Deven’s story, reclaimed....
When archaeologists excavate, they have some idea of what they will find in the ground. But in 2016, a team of archaeologists from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, was genuinely surprised when they uncovered a Victorian-era cache. In the...
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Jeri Hutton Green is a mother, daughter, and advocate for survivors of domestic violence and homicide in Baltimore, Maryland. Her journey as an advocate began when her mother went missing in April 2020. A text message launched a 2-year battle for...
“Prime harvest”—that’s how one early 20th-century explorer described his collection of Icelandic human skulls. But why did he “harvest” those skulls in the first place? And what should happen to them now more than a century after they were...
Being human is complicated. We require food and shelter. We have histories to contend with. We create rituals to control fate. We steal. We fight. We kill. We love. We shape the environment to suit our needs—sometimes with terrifying results. This...
Today, we're sharing a teaser from our friends at Whetstone Magazine. They've started something called the Whetstone Radio Collective (WRC). The WRC is a collection of podcasts telling narrative stories through the lens of food...
The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, or NAGPRA, is supposed to curb the illegal possession of ancestral Native American remains and cultural items. But a year after it was passed by the U.S. federal government, a...
Archaeology helps reimagine a fuller range of experiences, including how people ate, innovated, and rebelled. In this episode, “slave cuisine” opens a window to honor the legacy of Black creativity, resistance, and community. Dr. Peggy...
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The SAPIENS podcast will return in several months, and we want you to help us understand what it means to be human amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Do you have a question, thought, or idea about what it means to be human right now? Tweet at us , message us...
Everyone seems to have a story about the moment when the novel coronavirus pandemic stopped being an abstract problem “somewhere out there” and started being a very real and personal threat. In this episode of the SAPIENS podcast, hosts Jen...
At some time in the future, the novel coronavirus pandemic will fade. What will this globally traumatic contagion leave in its wake? In this episode of the SAPIENS podcast, hosts Jen Shannon and Chip Colwell keep an eye on the future while looking to...
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The Denisovans have long been one of the most elusive ancient human cousins, until now. In May 2019, scientists revealed the first fossil evidence of Denisovans outside of the Denisova Cave in Siberia. As the historical human family tree grows, what...
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Surprise! As a special holiday treat, the SAPIENS team is presenting this unedited conversation between SAPIENS host Chip Colwell and acclaimed science journalist Carl Zimmer about DNA, identity, and heredity. This conversation was previously...
From space junk and the International Space Station to Elon Musk and SpaceX, space is becoming a more human place. What will it mean for us to live among the stars? SAPIENS host Jen Shannon probes the nascent field of space archaeology and looks to...
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Humans may have been in North America much earlier than previously thought. Here’s the evidence: chipped rocks, crushed mastodon bones, and reliable dates showing the remains are 130,000 years old. Is that enough to rewrite the history? SAPIENS...
It’s the end of the world as we know it. How do you feel? SAPIENS co-host Jen Shannon follows the trail of some contemporary preppers with the help of anthropologist Chad Huddleston. Then she dives into history with Tim Kohler, an archaeologist and...
Can robots care? And why should we care if they do? SAPIENS host Jen Shannon meets Pepper the robot, and host Chip Colwell goes on a quest to find out how the robotics industry is (re)shaping intimacy in Japan. He speaks with anthropologists Jennifer...
What does your DNA have to do with who you are? On a journey for answers, SAPIENS hosts Chip Colwell, Jen Shannon, and Esteban Gómez take consumer DNA tests and confront murky, interconnected issues of identity and heredity. Their guides include...
What makes you … you? Is it your DNA, culture, environment? SAPIENS hosts Jen Shannon, Esteban Gómez, and SAPIENS.org Editor-in-Chief Chip Colwell speak with anthropologists from around the globe to help us uncover what makes us human. Subscribe...
Eating Insects and the Yuck Factor
July 30, 201926min 31sec
How come some people think eating insects is disgusting? Join SAPIENS hosts Jen Shannon and Chip Colwell as they dine on many-legged delicacies and delve into the world of entomophagy with anthropologist Julie Lesnik, author of the new book Edible Insects and Human Evolution.
Julie is a professor of anthropology at Wayne State University. She tweets @JulieLesnik and her website is at www.entomoanthro.org. Learn more about eating insects at Sapiens.org: [Why Don’t More Humans Eat Bugs?](%20https:/www.sapiens.org/culture/eat-bugs/) SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human is part of the American Anthropological Association Podcast Library.
This episode of Sapiens was produced by Paul Karolyi, and mixed, audio edited and sound designed by Jason Paton. It was hosted by Jen Shannon and Chip Colwell. Sapiens is produced by House of Pod, with contributions from executive producer Cat Jaffee and intern Freda Kreier. Meral Agish is our fact-checker. Matthew Simonson composed our theme. Giancarlos Hernandez performed the excerpt from the diary of Diego Alvarez Chanca. A special thanks this time to Beau and everyone else at Linger, as well as our guest this week, Julie Lesnick. This podcast is funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, which has provided vital support through Danilyn Rutherford, Maugha Kenny, and its staff, board, and advisory council. Additional support was provided by the Imago Mundi Fund at Foundation for the Carolinas. Thanks always to Amanda Mascarelli, Daniel Salas, Christine Weeber, Cay Leytham-Powell, and everyone at SAPIENS.org. Sapiens is part of the American Anthropological Association Podcast Library. For this episode, we used the compositions, "Hello World", "4", "Cerutti", "Metadata in one Lesson", "School Daze", and "In Transit" by Matthew Simonson; aand "Thinking Music," and "Umbrella Pants," by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/.