Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology

The Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology (ISCA) is a leading centre for anthropological teaching and research in the UK and the world. Originally established as the only centre in the UK specialising in postgraduate teaching and research within the discipline, it continues to supervise large numbers of graduate and research students. The department came top of the Power Rankings for Anthropology in the UK in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise and received a score of 5 in the 2001 equivalent exercise. Research in ISCA is particularly broad based, including not only traditional ethnographic specialisms in social anthropology, but also thematic specialisms such as visual anthropology, material anthropology and museum ethnography, medical anthropology, and cognitive and evolutionary anthropology. The Institute's links with the Pitt Rivers Museum contribute a particular strength in material culture and the anthropology of representations. In 2001, the ESRC Centre on Migration Policy and Society (COMPAS) was established within within the School of Anthropology. COMPAS is now responsible for considerable research and an MPhil programme in Migration Studies.

All episodes

Title	Description	People	Date
Plantain island sirens	Jennifer Diggins (Oxford Brookes) discusses 'tales of poverty, fish, and seduction from maritime Sierra Leone' (26 February 2016)	Jennifer Diggins	15 June, 2016
Science, stories and indigenous wisdom: is the wider world waking up at last?	Joy Hendry (Oxford Brookes) examines indigenous knowledge and specific projects across the world, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand (13 May 2016)	Joy Hendry	15 June, 2016
The charm of 'things': ethnography and performance	Marta Rosa Jardim (UNIFESP, Brazil) examines the role of sculptures of Hindu gods in Mozambique and the influence of art history on her anthropological research (20 May 2016)	Marta Rosa Jardim	15 June, 2016
The certainty of futures lost	Lucy Lowe (Edinburgh) discusses motherhood, Caesarean sections and migration in 'Little Mogadishu', Mairobi (3 Fecember 2015)	Lucy Lowe	15 June, 2016
The fragility of conviction	Mathijs Pelkmans (LSE)'s seminar is based on 'walking with the Tablighi Jammat in Kyrgyzstan (12 February 2016)	Mathijs Pelkmans	15 June, 2016
Profane relations: the irony of offensive jokes in India	Andrew Sanchez (Kent) discusses why a multi-ethnic workforce in eastern India exchanges jokes about each other's religion and cultures as a form of irony (19 February 2016)	Andrew Sanchez	15 June, 2016
Brown adipose tissue, energy balance, and obesity - UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews	Michael Symonds, Karolinska Institutet, gives a talk for the UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews series.	Michael Symonds	14 June, 2016
Bariatric surgery in childhood and adolescence - UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews	Claude Marcus, Karolinska Institutet, gives a talk for the UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews.	Claude Marcus	14 June, 2016
Familial interventions for childhood obesity - UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews	Paulina Nowicka, Karolinska Institutet, gives a talk for the UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews series.	Paulina Nowicka	14 June, 2016
UK Food Network Responsibility Deal - UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews	Susan Jebb, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews series.	Susan Jebb	14 June, 2016
The Body Mass Index in Obesity Reporting - UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews	Philip James, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, gives a talk for the UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews series.	Philip James	14 June, 2016
Sugar, Metabolisms, and Taxation - UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews	Michael Goran, University of Southern California, gives an interview for the UBVO Instrument and Institutions Interviews series.	Michael Goran	14 June, 2016
Obesity, responsibility and ethics	Julian Savulescu, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Julian Savuelscu	14 June, 2016
The developmental origins of health and disease: adaptation reconsidered	Ian Rickard (Durham) places the origins of the science of health and disease within a framework of evolutionary theory and a medical anthropology perspective (18 January 2016)	Ian Rickard	8 June, 2016
Obstructed labour: the classic obstetric dilemma and beyond	Emma Pomeroy (Cambridge) places obstructed labour within an evolutionary perspective. A medical anthropology seminar given on 15 February 2016.	Emma Pomeroy	8 June, 2016
Inflammaging and its role in ageing and age-related diseases	Cristina Giuliani (Bologna) places inflammaging, and genetics, within an evolutionary perspective. A medical anthropology seminar given on 1 February 2016.	Cristina Giuliani	8 June, 2016
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome	Charlotte K. Russell (Parent-Infant Sleep Lab, Durham) looks at how evolutionary anthropology and cross-cultural perspectives can have a huge impact on specific healthcare issues such as SIDS (22 February 2016)	Charlotte K. Russell	8 June, 2016
The dawn of Darwinian critical care medicine	James G. Morgan (Dept of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, Leeds General Infirmary) discusses how an evolutionary approach can help one understand medicine, such as adaptive defence mechanisms in the body (8 February 2016)	James G. Morgan	8 June, 2016
Maternal capital and offspring development	Jonathan Wells (UCL Institute of Child Health) presents an intergenerational perspective on the development origins of health and disease. A medical anthropology seminar given on 29 February 2016.	Jonathan Wells	8 June, 2016
Tracing the origins of the HIV/AIDS pandemic	Nuno Fario (Oxford) investigates the development of HIV since the discovery of its first, and diverse, genomes in 1959 and 1960. A medical anthropology seminar given on 7 March 2016.	Nuno Faria	8 June, 2016
Governing Plastic Biology: Biopolitics in Epigenetic Times.	Maurizio Meloni, University of Sheffield, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Maurizio Meloni	2 June, 2016
Agrarian change, climate stress and shifting class relations in the Nepal-Bihar borderlands	A special lecture by Dr Fraser Sugden, a Kathmandu-based social scientist at the International Water Management Institute (19 May 2016)	Fraser Sugden	1 June, 2016
Marett Memorial Lecture 2016: The Creole world between inequality and difference	Professor Thomas Hylland Eriksen (Oslo) delivered 2016's Marett Memorial Lecture on 29 April at Exeter College. The lecture examined controversies over Creole identity which are related to fundamental questions in anthropology.	Thomas Hylland Eriksen	1 June, 2016
The dynamics in the details: An ethnography of food aid, weights and measures in South Sudan.	Darryl Stellmach, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Darryl Stellmach	18 May, 2016
Paying attention to the journey	In this Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group seminar, Ginny Mounce (Oxford) discusses couples' experiences of investigating and starting infertility treatments, 19 October 2015	Ginny Mounce	14 March, 2016
Does 21st-century technology change the experience of early pregnancy and miscarriage?	In this Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group seminar, Ingrid Gramme (Oxford) discusses how our basic understanding of pregnancy and miscarriage has changed enormously over the last eighty years, 9 November 2015	Ingrid Gramme	14 March, 2016
Birds in heaven: social positioning of lost babies and their mothers in Qatar	In this Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group seminar, Susie Kilshaw (UCL), discusses the impact of pregnancy and loss on mothers and fathers, and other family members, in Qatar, 2 November 2015	Susie Kilshaw	14 March, 2016
Microbes and other spirits	In this Anthropology Departmental Seminar, César Enrique Giraldo Herrera (Oxford) discusses the role of hallucinogenics in interpreting reality and the role of visions in Lowland South America, 23 October 2015 (the opening few seconds are missing)	César Enrique Giraldo Herrera	14 March, 2016
Revisiting uncertainty: provisional electricity infrastructure and livelihoods in an African city	In this Anthropology Departmental Seminar, Idalina Baptista (Oxford), discusses the governance of electricity in urban sub-Saharan Africa, drawing on a case study focused on Maputo, Mozambique, 13 November 2015	Idalina Baptista	14 March, 2016
Negotiating enemy lines	In this Anthropology Departmental Seminar, Lauren Greenwood (University of Sussex) discusses the complexities of collaboration with the British military, 29 May 2015	Lauren Greenwood	14 March, 2016
Medical and psychological issues in the treatment of recurrent miscarriage	In this Fertility and Reproduction Seminar, Raj Rai (Imperial College and St Mary's Hospital) discusses the role of clinical trials and ways of addressing the potential exploitation of vulnerable couples, 26 October 2015	Raj Rai	14 March, 2016
Crossing religious borders: Jewish Cabo Verdeans	In this Anthropology Departmental Seminar, Alma Gottlieb (Illinois) discusses the blend of religious traditions that have developed on the Cape Verde islands, particularly early Jewish settlers, 6 November 2015	Alma Gottlieb	14 March, 2016
'Fat knowledge', epigenetics and the enchantment of relational biology	An Anthropology Departmental Seminar presented by Megan Warin (Adelaide) on the ways in which obesity is understood, embodied and enacted, 16 October 2015	Megan Warin	14 March, 2016
Evolutionary origins of technological behaviour: a primate archaeology approach to chimpanzees	An Anthropology Departmental seminar presented by Susana Carvalha (Oxford) on the archaeological sites of non-humans, 27 November 2015	Susana Carvalho	14 March, 2016
The 'Unfortunate Mesopotamian Foetus'	Pregnancy loss and miscarriage in the ancient Near East - a Fertility and Reproduction Studies Group seminar, 30 November 2015 given by Marie-Françoise Besnier (University of Cambridge)	Marie-Françoise Besnier	14 March, 2016
Migrant subjectivities and crisis narratives in the Euro-Mediterranean region	Michael Collyer, University of Sussex, gives a talk for the COMPAS Hilary 2016 term Seminar Series entitled: Open the Way: Understanding the Refugee Crisis on 4th February 2016.	Michael Collyer	22 February, 2016
The fat(tened) American: Between consumption, disgust, and animality	Chris Forth gives a talk for the UBVO Seminar series on 26th October 2015.	Chris Forth	22 February, 2016
What's next? The National Obesity Observatory	Harry Rutter is interviewed about the National Obesity Observatory.	Harry Rutter	22 February, 2016
Hacking the Food System: Technologies of Justice and Inequality	Melissa Caldwell gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series on 3rd December 2015.	Melissa Caldwell	8 February, 2016
Food as Media	Eva Giraud gives a talk for the UBVO seminar seires on December 2nd 2015.	Eva Giraud	8 February, 2016
Celebrity Chefs as Political Activists: Audiences, Moments and Affect	Michael Goodman gives a talk for the UBVO seminar seires on 1st December 2015.	Michael Goodman	8 February, 2016
Keynote: When Food Goes Digital: From a Mundane Point of View	Steve Woolgar gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series on 30th November 2015.	Steve Woolgar	8 February, 2016
Digital Food Activism	Karin Eli and Tanja Schneider gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series on 29th November 2015.	Karin Eli, Tanja Schneider	8 February, 2016
The Who and What of Diabetes on Twitter	Mariano Berguerisse Diaz, Amy McLennan and Stanley Ulijaszek give a talk for the UBVO seminar series on 28th November 2015.	Mariano Berguerisse Díaz, Amy McLennan, Stanley Ulijaszek	8 February, 2016
Political Food Served Digitally All Day? An Online/Offline Perspective on Food- Related Political Consumerism	Katharina Witterhold gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series on 27th November 2015.	Katharina Witterhold	8 February, 2016
Marketing Conscious Consumption	Ryan Foley gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series on 26th November 2015.	Ryan Foley	8 February, 2016
Unravelling the Mediterranean migration crisis: Reflections from the field	Heaven Crawley, Coventry University, gives a talk for the COMPAS Hilary term 2016 seminar seires; 'Open the Way: Understanding the Refugee Crisis' on 21st January 2016.	Heaven Crawley	4 February, 2016
The time of our lives: Migration and slow pain	Yasmin Gunaratnam, Goldsmiths College, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series.	Yasmin Gunaratnam	27 January, 2016
Love and Legality: questions of wellbeing for irregular migrants and their citizen partners	Melanie Griffiths, University of Bristol, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series.	Melanie Griffiths	27 January, 2016
Migrants, conditionality and welfare in the UK	Peter Dwyer, University of York, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series.	Peter Dwyer	27 January, 2016
Beyond the 'asylum-seeking market': spaces of responsibility and moments of care within the privatisation of asylum accommodation	Jonathan Darling, University of Manchester, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series.	Jonathan Dwyer	27 January, 2016
Migration and the health trajectories of immigrants and host country nationals	Osea Giuntella, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the COMPAS seminar series.	Osea Giuntella	27 January, 2016
Intergenerational and inter-ethnic wellbeing of migrants: an analysis for the UK	This paper uses a UK nationally representative data set to examine the extent to which family migration history helps explains inter-ethnic variations in subjective well-being. By Cinzia Rienzo, National Institute of Economic and Social Research [NIESR].	Cinzia Rienzo	9 November, 2015
The Limits of collaboration: attempting a reciprocal Gypsy/Roman life story	In this Anthropology departmental seminar, Paloma Gay y Blasco (St Andrews) evaluates a twenty-year collaborative project she has undertaken with her Gypsy informer (15 May 2015)	Paloma Gay y Blasco	4 August, 2015
Mary Douglas Memorial Lecture 2015: The Societalization of Social Problems	Professor Jeffrey C. Alexander (Yale University) delivered the Mary Douglas Memorial Lecture on 3 June 2014 at Oxford. The lecture was 'The societalization of social problems: recent social crises and the civil sphere'	Jeffrey Alexander	4 August, 2015
Migration in the Media	Rob McNeil, COMPAS, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the Immigration and democracy in the UK COMPAS Seminar Series.	Rob McNeil	27 July, 2015
The cage of freedom: Mobility and labour in contemporary Bangkok	Claudio Sopranzetti, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series.	Claudio Sopranzetti	27 July, 2015
Immigration and the NHS	Carlos Vargas Silva, COMPAS, University of Oxford, gives a talk for Immigration and democracy in the UK COMPAS Seminar Series.	Carlos Vargas Silva	27 July, 2015
Damaged trust and a changing electorate?: Migration as a contemporary political issue in the UK	Scott Blinder, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, gives a talk for the Immigration and democracy in the UK COMPAS Seminar Series.	Scott Blinder	27 July, 2015
The border is everywhere: Refugee journeys in Europe	Daniel Trilling, New Humanist Magazine, gives a talk for Shifting Powers, Shifting Mobilites COMPAS Seminar Series	Daniel Trilling	27 July, 2015
The Urban Outlaw as Rights Broker	Nicholas Simcik Arese, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series.	Nicholas Simcik Arese	27 July, 2015
How informalities and diversification make an arrival neighborhood: International migrants in Kumkapi, Istanbul	Kristen Biehl, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series.	Kristen Biehl	27 July, 2015
Arrival cities under occupation? Political economies of urban consolidation and rural migration in the contemporary West Bank	Kareem Rabie, CUNY Graduate Center, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series.	Kareem Rabie	27 July, 2015
The xenophobic city: Security, neoliberalisation and violence from the bottom of Aegean Sea to the centre of Athens	Dimitris Dalakoglou, University of Sussex, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series.	Dimitris Dalakoglou	27 July, 2015
The scale and scope of citizenship in early modern Europe: Preliminary estimates	Chris Minns, London School of Economics, gives a talk for the Arrival Cities COMPAS Seminar Series.	Chris Minns	27 July, 2015
Safeguarding children from destitution: How do local authorities respond to families with ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’?	Sarah Spencer and Jonathan Price, COMPAS, Oxford, give a talk for the COMPAS series.	Sarah Spencer, Jonathan Price	14 July, 2015
Stacking Ontologies: Mundane Technoscience in the Silk Mill	Dimitris Papadopoulos (University of Leicester) discusses different ways to think about technoscience beyond its core institutions (13 March 2015)	Dimitris Papdopoulos	27 May, 2015
Obsessed by Love: Erotic Magic, Delirious Love and Female Power in Mozambique	Christian Groes-Green (Roskilde University Copenhagen) discusses the nature of being in love and how this is seen and discussed in Mozambique and written about in other African nations (6 March 2015)	Christian Groes-Green	27 May, 2015
Anthropology, Ethnomusicology, the Anthropology of Dance: Same Difference?	Andrée Grau (University of Roehampton) discusses the anthropology of dance and its development as a discipline of anthropology. The talk also reflects on the discipline's neglected figures (27 February 2015)	Andrée Grau	27 May, 2015
The Agency of Eating: Mediation, Food and the Body in Highland Ecuador	This Anthropology departmental seminar by Emma-Jayne Abbots (University of Wales Trinity St David) aims to define and extend the theoretical boundaries of food studies	Emma-Jayne Abbots	27 May, 2015
What can the lived experiences of white working class communities tell us about social cohesion?	This briefing explores the lived experiences and concerns of segments of the majority population in Higher Blackley, a ward in the north of Manchester. Part of the COMPAS Breakfast Breifing Series.	Daniel Silver	21 May, 2015
Lost objects, imaginary assemblages and the mass graves of the Spanish Civil War	Layla Renshaw (Kingston University London) discusses objects recovered during the exhumation of Civil War victims and considers their imaginative power and life cycle (6 February 2015)	Layla Renshaw	7 May, 2015
On representation and power: portrait of a Vodun leader in present-day Benin	An Anthropology Departmental Seminar by Emmanuelle Kadya Tall of IRD, Paris (30 January 2015)	Emmanuelle Kadya Tall	7 May, 2015
Moving the cracks: motorcycle taxis, politics and the fragility of power in Bangkok	Claudio Sopranzetti (Oxford) discusses the Red Shirts, the motorcycle taxi drivers whose protests in 2010 brought Bangkok to a standstill (23 January 2015)	Claudio Sopranzetti	7 May, 2015
Ecology of undernutrition and infection	Professor Stanley Ulijaszek (University of Oxford) presents a lecture on undernutrition and infection (14 November 2014)	Stanley Ulijaszek	7 May, 2015
Biocultural approaches to Type 2 diabetes	Stanley Ulijaszek (University of Oxford) presents a lecture on Type 2 diabetes from the Disease Ecology Lecture series (28 November 2014)	Stanley Ulijaszek	7 May, 2015
Obesity: epidemiology and biocultural factors	Professor Stanley Ulijaszek (University of Oxford) presents a lecture on obesity from the Disease Ecology Lecture series (21 November 2014)	Stanley Ulijaszek	7 May, 2015
From Amazonian couvade to neo-couvade in cosmopolitan trends of co-parenting: a comparative analysis	In this Fertility and Reproduction Seminar Françoise Barbira-Freedman (Cambridge) examines ideas and behaviour that intimately associates a man with the birth of his child (1 Dec 2014)	Françoise Barbira-Freedman	13 April, 2015
Infant feeding and child health and survival in early twentieth-century England	A seminar for the Fertility and Reproduction Group by Alice Reid of the University of Cambridge (24 November 2014)	Alice Reid	13 April, 2015
Revisiting breastfeeding in light of the gift logic. Is a comparison of Gogo and Italian women possible?	A seminar for the Fertility and Reproduction Group by Mara Mabilia of the University of Padua (17 November 2014)	Mara Mabilia	13 April, 2015
How to protect your newborn from neonatal death: spirits and infant feeding practices in the Gambia	A seminar for the Fertility and Reproduction Group by Sarah O'Neill of the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp (10 November 2014)	Sarah O'Neill	13 April, 2015
Bangladeshi women's experiences of infant feeding in Tower Hamlets	This Fertility and Reproduction Seminar by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Public Health Team looks at why so many Bangladeshi women in the borough are mix feeding with breast and bottle (3 Nov 2014)	Christine McCourt, Juliet Rayment	13 April, 2015
Breastpump technology and 'natural' motherly milk in Enlightenment France	In this Fertility and Reproduction Seminar Margaret Carlyle (Cambridge) discusses developments in breastpump technology in 18th-century France (27 October 2014)	Margaret Carlyle	13 April, 2015
Hiring a wetnurse in seventeenth-century England	In this Fertility and Reproduction Seminar Leah Astbury (Cambridge) discusses the increase of maternal breastfeeding in 17th-century England (20 October 2014)	Leah Astbury	13 April, 2015
Negotiating nutrition: from baby to toddler in the Peruvian Andes	In this Fertility and Reproduction Seminar Bronwen Gillespie (Sussex) examines the the use of Sprinkles, a multiple-micronutrient product recommended by the state, in Peru (13 October 2014)	Bronwen Gillespie	13 April, 2015
Keynote: Evolutionary Ecology of Present-Day Obesity Production	Stanley Ulijaszek, ISCA, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the Australasian Society for Human Biology Annual Meeting, Adelaide.	Stanley Ulijaszek	16 February, 2015
Famine, Starvation, and Narratives of Hunger	Stanley Ulijaszek, ISCA, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Stanley Ulijaszek	16 February, 2015
UNU Lecture- Nutrition and Health Transition	Stanley Ulijaszek, ISCA, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Stanley Ulijaszek	16 February, 2015
UNU Lecture- Societal Change and Health	Stanley Ulijaszek, ISCA, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Stanley Ulijaszek	16 February, 2015
UNU Lecture-Systems Change and Obesity	Stanley Ulijaszek, ISCA, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Stanley Ulijaszek	16 February, 2015
Keynote: Nutritional States and Welfare Regimes	Stanley Ulijaszek, ISCA, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Stanley Ulijaszek	16 February, 2015
Nutritional Anthropology Lecture- Evolution of Human Nutrition	Stanley Ulijaszek, ISCA, University of Oxford, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Stanley Ulijaszek	16 February, 2015
Malaysian Food Barometer	Elise Mognard gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Elise Mognard	16 February, 2015
Clothes, Sizing and Obesity	Maciej Henneberg, School of Medical Sciences, University of Adelaide, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Maciej Henneberg	16 February, 2015
Is Obesity a Disease?	Paul Griffiths, Charles Perkins Center, University of Sydney, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series.	Paul Griffiths	16 February, 2015
Obesity and time urgency	Peter Whybrow gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series, part of the Welfare Regimes Hypothesis.	Peter Whybrow	16 February, 2015
Political ecology of obesity	Stanley Ulijaszek gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series, part of the Welfare Regimes Hypothesis	Stanley Ulijaszek	16 February, 2015
Inequality and obesity	Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, Welfare Regimes Hypothesis, gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series on 27th November 2009.	Richard Wilkinson, Kate Pickett	16 February, 2015
The history of the obesity epidemic	Thorkild Sørensen (University of Copenhagen) gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series on 27th November 2009	Thorkild Sørensen	1 February, 2015
Behavioral biology and obesity	Trent Smith (Washington State University) gives a talk for the UBVO seminar series on 27th Novmber 2009	Trent Smith	1 February, 2015

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