Hugh Raffles
Anthropology Professor, The New School, New York City
Hugh Raffles grew up in London, England. He has been an ambulance driver, a nightclub DJ, a theater technician, a busboy, a cleaner, and a scrap metal yard worker. Currently, he lives in New York City where he teaches anthropology at The New School.
Hugh's writing has appeared in academic journals and more popular venues such as Granta, Natural History, and The Best American Essays. His first book, "In Amazonia: A Natural History" (Princeton University Press, 2002) was awarded the Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing and selected by the American Library Association as an Outstanding Academic Title. In 2009, he received a Whiting Writers' Award. His new book "Insectopedia" was published by Pantheon in 2010.
The New School University anthropologist thinks insects are “astonishingly beautiful,” both individually and en masse.
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The New School anthropologist explains why, instead of killing bugs, we should pay attention to them and think about their place in the world around us.
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4 min
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There’s a lot of irrational fear of insects among humans, but there are some that can be lethal.
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5 min
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The New School anthropologist explains how using language about insects in reference to people can lead to violent acts.
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Some men find videos of women crushing insects a turn-on, which the professor thinks is probably connected to their size, sound and texture.
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6 min
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People tend to think of insects as having very rigid and well-developed social organization. During the Cold War, insect colonies were considered examples for how communist social systems should work.
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6 min
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People project their fears, desires, and yearnings onto insects, and many of our ideas about society and social organization have been worked out on them.
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4 min
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A conversation with the anthropology professor at New School University.
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30 min
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