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Measuring What Counts

Measuring What Counts

In “Measuring What Counts: The Global Movement for Well-Being” (2019), Stiglitz, Fitoussi and Durand build upon the work that was conducted following a 2009 commission to re-think what measures are used to assess the health of the economy (particularly GDP). The financial crises forced reflections on how the vulnerabilities were not understood; to which these […]

Tags: #Inequality #Metrics #Stiglitz #Trust #Well-being

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Becoming Legal

Becoming Legal

Ruth Gomberg-Munoz first book, Labor and Legality (2011), explores the lives of undocumented Mexicans living in Chicago. This book, Becoming Legal: Immigration Law and Mixed-Status Families (2017), explores the experiences of seeking legal status. The chapters follow the process, rooted in ethnographic research. The book is accessible. I used this book in a first-year undergraduate course […]

Tags: #Ethnography #Immigration #Law #Mexico #Migration

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Cooking Data

Cooking Data

More attention is being paid to data. In the context of the SDGs, it is the lack of data. In the broader conversation, it is about the quality of data. From these conversations, there is an emerging literature that might might classify as an ethnography of data. A recent addition to this set of literature […]

Tags: #Anthropology #Culture #Data #Development Studies #Politics

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The Historical Ecology of Malaria in Ethiopia

The Historical Ecology of Malaria in Ethiopia

James C. McCann has produced some excellent works of history, and specifically on Ethiopia. This includes From Poverty to Famine (1987) and People of the Plow (1990), as well as The Historical Ecology of Malaria in Ethiopia (2014). The most recent of these books brings readers into a complex story of malaria over the centuries […]

Tags: #Ecology #Ethiopia #History #James C McCann #Malaria

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People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent

People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent

In 2019, Joseph Stiglitz published “People, Power, and Profits: Progressive Capitalism for an Age of Discontent.” The book covers a wide range of topics, largely on contemporary American policy while also highlighting their histories – and is overtly political (Trump comes up frequently, throughout). The author provides an analysis of the challenges as well as potential […]

Tags: #America #Economics #Economy #Policy #Stiglitz

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Labor and Legality

Labor and Legality

I spent much of the summer looking for good ethnographies that would be suitable for first year undergraduate students – essentially a book that is not written for anthropologists, not heavy with theory, while still presenting the value that ethnography can offer. Gomberg-Munoz’s Labor and Legality (2011) fit that well. The book also provides insight […]

Tags: #Anthropology #Ethnography #Mexico #Migration #United States

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