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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future

Animals and humans Anthropology Archaeology Automation and robotics Cities Demography and migration Economic history Economics Education Environmental history Fairness and equality Future of technology Gender Global history History History of technology Human rights and justice Information and communication Making Nations and empires Politics and government Poverty and development Progress and modernity Public health Race and ethnicity Religion The ancient world The environment The future War and peace Work

Black and white photo of a group of people standing outdoors on a slope by a pond with trees and bushes in the background.

essay

Religion

The script creator

Pau Cin Hau dreamt of an alphabet for a language that had never been written down. So began the religion of Laipianism

Bikash K Bhattacharya

Close-up photo of a wooden mask with fur eyebrows, hollow eyes, a rounded mouth opening and long black hair against a dark background.

essay

Anthropology

Witches around the world

The belief in witches is an almost universal feature of human societies. What does it reveal about our deepest fears?

Gregory Forth

A child peeking over the back of a horse in a grassy open field with a distant horizon and a slightly cloudy sky.

video

Anthropology

Does Mogi’s future lie with her horses on the Mongolian steppe, or in the city?

16 minutes

A man and a woman smiling with their hands on the shoulders of a Neanderthal figure with long hair and a beard but in modern clothes.

video

Genetics

Why it took a century to work out that humans interbred with Neanderthals

22 minutes

A black-and-white photo of a person riding a horse in, with a close-up of another horse in the foreground under bright sunlight.

essay

Anthropology

Your body is an archive

If human knowledge can disappear so easily, why have so many cultural practices survived without written records?

Helena Miton

Three women in traditional attire stand outdoors in a dry landscape. One person carries a child on their back while another holds a walking stick.

essay

Anthropology

The Ju/’hoansi protocol

Hunter-gatherer societies are highly expert in group deliberation and decision-making which respects both difference and unity

Vivek V Venkataraman

Silhouette of a man, a child, and a cow with large horns sitting on the ground at sunset.

essay

Progress and modernity

In praise of magical thinking

Once we all had knowledge of how to heal ourselves using plants and animals. The future would be sweeter for renewing it

Anna Badkhen

Illustration of various human skulls and profiles with captions detailing different ethnic groups and regions, from a historical anthropological study.

essay

History of ideas

Baffled by human diversity

Confused 17th-century Europeans argued that human groups were separately created, a precursor to racist thought today

Jacob Zellmer

Close-up of a hammer, metal pot, and three copper spheres on a stone surface, with a hand holding the hammer.

video

Making

Trek to a remote Himalayan village where artisans craft teapots fit for kings

11 minutes

Open books arranged in a grid with pages featuring bright, hand-painted floral designs, around a drawing of a loaf of bread.

video

Rituals and celebrations

Flirtation, negotiation and vodka – or how to couple up in 1950s rural Poland

5 minutes

Ancient cave painting depicting bison and other animals, primarily in red and black hues, on a textured stone surface that shows visible cracks.

essay

Archaeology

Why make art in the dark?

New research transports us back to the shadowy firelight of ancient caves, imagining the minds and feelings of the artists

Izzy Wisher

A colourful abstract drawing of two people talking on the left, and three others walking with baskets on the right. There are boats in the background and watercolour splashes.

video

Anthropology

Why are witchcraft accusations so common across human societies?

4 minutes

A line of people in winter clothing stand pulling on a thick rope anchored in the snowy landscape. The ocean and a cloudy sky are in the background.

video

Rituals and celebrations

A whale hunt is an act of prayer for an Inuit community north of the Arctic Circle

8 minutes

Two women sleeping and leaning on each against a large sign reading ‘Japanese Zen Spa’.

video

Work

A Swedish expat in the Philippines wonders: what’s up with people sleeping at work?

14 minutes

Three children in colourful clothing walk through a dense, leafy forest with sunlight filtering through the canopy.

essay

Anthropology

Societies of perpetual movement

Why do hunter-gatherers refuse to be sedentary? New answers are emerging from the depths of the Congolese rainforest

Cecilia Padilla-Iglesias

A woman operates an antique phonograph next to a man wearing a traditional Native American headdress in a sepia-toned photograph.

essay

Language and linguistics

Our language, our world

Linguistic relativity holds that your worldview is structured by the language you speak. Is it true? History shines a light

James McElvenny

Men are seen in a nondescript office type rooma against sunlight streaming through the window, their hands raised in devotion

essay

Religion

Indomitable Sufis

Once a centre of Afghan culture, Sufism seems to have disappeared in the maelstrom of war and upheaval. But still it survives

Annika Schmeding

A man in a hat stands next to a door covered with yellow caution tape, casting a shadow on the rough grey wall.

essay

Earth science and climate

When does after begin?

Three earthquakes hit Mexico City on the same date in 1985, 2017 and 2022. The coincidence left the city stranded in time

Lachlan Summers

Woman standing at the edge of a foggy forest valley, with dense green trees and mist enveloping the background. She is wearing a shawl and bag.

essay

Anthropology

A glimpse of the world’s heart

I wanted to visit Colombia’s sacred mountains. But there are some places we cannot go – and some things we cannot know

Nick Hunt

A football player is celebrating in front of an enthusiastic crowd, including a marching band and cheerleaders holding red pom-poms.

video

Sports and games

A unique project frames college football as an intricately choreographed mass ritual

7 minutes

Illustration of two people in traditional Arctic clothing facing a futuristic city with glowing lights under the aurora borealis in the night sky.

video

Anthropology

A riveting collage portrays a century of Inuit history, and envisions a vibrant future

14 minutes

Four children are playing on and around wooden steps outside a raised house in a rural area, with logs and foliage in the background.

essay

Family life

Amazonian childcare

In the eyes of the Runa people, Western kids grow up indulged, over-mothered and incapable of facing outward to the world

Francesca Mezzenzana

Photograph of a dead black bird lying on brown soil with its head turned to the side.

essay

Anthropology

How to mourn a forest

The Marind people of West Papua deploy mourning not only to grieve their animal and plant kin but as political resistance

Sophie Chao

A dramatic black-and-white landscape of a vast lake, surrounded by mountains, under a large, turbulent sky filled with clouds.

essay

Anthropology

Memories within myth

The stories of oral societies, passed from generation to generation, are more than they seem. They are scientific records

Patrick Nunn