SAPIENS

1 month ago | sapiens.org | Bob Holmes

This article was originally published at Knowable Magazine and has been republished under Creative Commons. ✽LISTEN CAREFULLY TO a spoken conversation and you’ll notice that the speakers use a lot of little quasi-words—“mm-hmm,” “um,” “huh?,” and the like—that don’t convey any information about the topic of the conversation itself.

2 months ago | sapiens.org | Mariam Durrani |Nilosree Biswas

Roti, an unleavened flatbread, originated with ancient peoples of the Indus River Valley on the Indian subcontinent. Known by many names, including chapati and parotta, roti and the practice of roti-making has traveled the globe to become a culinary mainstay across many foodways in the “Global South.” Today roti and its many varieties connect cuisines and peoples across South and Southeast Asia, in East and South Africa, in the Caribbean, and their respective diasporas.

Feb 11, 2025 | sapiens.org | Josh Reno |Holly High

✽We both recall the exact moment when we heard that U.S. anthropologist and activist David Graeber had died in Venice, Italy, at the age of 59. I (Holly) remember the cold of the brown leather sofa where I was sitting. I was at home in the chilly highlands south of Sydney and felt my phone buzz. “I just wondered if you saw that,” read the text from a former student. I clicked on the article link they’d sent. My first reaction was denial. “Is this a hoax?” I shot back, slightly irritated.

Jan 29, 2025 | sapiens.org | Julien Louys

✽FROM THE AIR, endless rows of palm trees swallowed the topography as we flew over Bintan Island in the South China Sea. On the ground, an occasional fallen palm tree and piles of red palm fruit scattered along the roadsides. Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil and signs of the industry are everywhere in this palm-studded tropical island nation.

Jan 13, 2025 | sapiens.org | Grace Zhou |Christine Weeber |Alma Simba

✽A detainee prays in a prison cell at Guantánamo. Rural women in Brazil tend to a bounty of crops, despite threats of expanding agribusinesses. A poet unravels an 1846 British treaty “selling” Kashmir, weaving it into a new form. The poems in this collection attest to the fact that wherever there is oppression, there is resistance. Wherever there is injustice, there is refusal. Wherever power seeks to constrain and dominate, there are ways of forging other paths forward and through.