SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human

Protest and the Public University

Protestors against the US-enabled genocide of Palestinians face federal charges in New York City. Why do universities repress contemporary struggles for social justice while valorizing historical ones?

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The Purification of Gold—and the Racialization of Miners

Why is investing in and accumulating gold perceived as prestigious, but extracting it is seen as greedy?

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Milpa for the Future

As the influx of processed foods threatens traditional diets in rural Mexico, an intergenerational community is forming to keep people healthy.

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Zambia’s Chinese Connection

An anthropologist investigates the impacts of increasing Chinese migration to and investment in Africa.

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South Africa’s Road Out of Colonialism

A lawyer and anthropologist examines the history of the longest road in South Africa and why a proposed extension may repeat past violence.

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Ceasefire From the Earth and Sky

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) along the border of North and South Korea is the site of the longest ceasefire in the world. In this region, the effects of a never-ending war linger in the skies and beneath the earth.

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A Venezuelan Election … in Chile

Unable to vote in her home country, a Venezuelan immigrant in Chile decides to organize her own mock election.

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Hunting, Gathering, and the Fluidity of Gender Roles

Looking at the way people divide work in hunter-gatherer societies can tell us something about the evolutionary origins of gender roles.

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A Linguist’s Night at the Ball

Walk with a linguistic anthropologist through the sounds, politics, and fabulosity of a kiki ball in Puerto Rico.

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Cementing the Past

An anthropologist investigates the ongoing impacts of the U.S.-based United Fruit Company's fraught 1940s preservation of an ancient Maya site in Guatemala.

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Where Cultures Collide: Season 8 Trailer

For the eighth season of the SAPIENS podcast, we’re meeting at a crossroads of cultures—past and present—in search of humanity’s collective destination.

Introducing: Homegoings

How do you cook YOUR greens?

The Ancient Child Who's Changing Archaeology

A Brazilian archaeologist reexamines the way people treat ancestral Indigenous remains housed in museums—starting with one important encounter.

Comics As a Medium for Women’s Rights

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.

Smartphones Are Bicycles For Our Minds

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?

When Scientists Take to the Streets

The scientific community in Argentina is facing a crisis. In response, scientists are protesting to stand up for their work and community.

A Dam’s Downstream Consequences

An anthropologist shares his story of the environmental, sociocultural, and political consequences of a hydropower dam in India for communities living downstream.

Why Do We Eat at Funerals?

A sociocultural anthropologist explores the cultural significance of funeral rituals and food traditions worldwide.

Chatter That Matters

Three anthropologists meet to discuss the evolutionary purposes of gossip, and why it matters to so many people today.

The Problems of Digital Evidence in Terrorism Trials

An anthropologist uses courtrooms in Turkey as his field site to understand how digital evidence is shifting legal practices.