About

I am Emily Rasmussen, an anthropologist with a BA in Sociology/Anthropology from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR and an MA in Environmental Anthropology from the University of Kent in Canterbury, United Kingdom.

This blog is my attempt to organize and keep up with all of my erratic anthropological thoughts, notes and jottings strewn throughout my house, books, laptop, phone and any other random places.

I was hoping, however, to not let these blog posts fall under the spell of academia – I was hoping that they could reach a more public audience. What I mean by this, is that I hope even non-anthropologists can find some use in what I have written and shared on this website.

As you will see, most of my posts are not my own words. Instead, I take the words of others to try and get a point across, this being a common anthropological trick. Most of what you will find on this blog are quotes from anthropological sources (books, articles, etc.), as well as quotes from interviews. Here and there I may add some field note excerpts, and most posts are annotated with my own thoughts on the topic. Please note, however, that while many of the words may not be my own, all of the photos are and they come from my personal experiences in the field and while traveling.

You will probably also quickly realize that there are some themes that run throughout my posts. Most apparent might be the prevalence of nature. I am, after all an ENVIRONMENTAL anthropologist (self-proclaimed) and thus most of my interests lie in the intersection of human and nature.

As for anthropological research, I have performed fieldwork for my BA and MA in the Marquesas Islands studying fishing practices and other forms of labor. I have also done a very short (three-week) research project in Arusha, Tanzania talking with locals about tribal languages and storytelling. My main anthropological interests lie in the realms of traditional ecological knowledge, intangible cultural heritage and multispecies ethnography.

I have lived on every continent except Antarctica, spending the most time in Chile (2010), Kenya and Tanzania (2013), Japan (2016), Australia (2017) England (2017-18) and French Polynesia (2014, 2015 and 2018). I am currently living in my home country and home state, Minnesota, USA.