Birthdays have not always been the light-hearted affairs we know today. Tracing back to ancient civilizations, such as the Greeks and Egyptians, significant days like these were often marked by rituals of appeasement towards gods or evil spirits. These practices, viewed through a psychoanalytic lens, reveal a societal struggle with themes of power, innocence, and […]
anthropology
Freud upside down
In ‘Civilization and Its Discontents,’ Sigmund Freud presents a common view of human nature: ‘Homo homini lupus’ (man is a wolf to man). Civilization, according to Freud, works tirelessly to curb our aggressive instincts through love, sexual repression, and moral ideals, albeit with limited success. The issue arises when considering the agents of civilisation – […]
Who domesticated humans?
I have long been entertaining the following hypothesis about the origin of our species. Millions of years ago, an ape began to take an active interest in its progeny. Children became a resource. Mothers and others would favour docile, educable offspring who could be turned into reproductive allies that would give them more descendants. Human […]
On Anthropology (I)
Sapiens is a digital magazine whose mission is to bring anthropology to the public. It has a pop-up window that asks you whether you are ‘a human’ and would like to subscribe, otherwise you are ‘not a human’. I found it funny and witty, but also odd.