After much exhaustive research, I have come to some definitive conclusions about the relative superiority of British and American culture. My anthropological training has prepared me to handle such a delicate issue with both grace and cultural sensitivity, so there are no sweeping generalizations made below. vs – – – – – Food: On the… Continue reading U.S. vs. U.K. – Head to Head
“We could live off of dumpsters if we have to Sell our blood by the pint to make rent This kind of dignity doesn’t come easy But you’ll never find it for sale” – Against Me! One of the things that surprised me in Uganda was that there were no beggars. I expected Kampala, the… Continue reading Indulgences
For the past three years, I haven’t asked for anything for Christmas. Partly, this is just an inevitable consequence of gradually maturing beyond the age where the prospect of a gigantic Lego set is enough to keep me up on Christmas Eve. In part, though, it’s also because I’ve consciously been rejecting the idea of… Continue reading Desert Island
The book Dead Aid is totally hot right now. Now, I realize this statement isn’t actually true, and that most people have no idea what I’m talking about. While Dead Aid may have cracked twenty-ninth on the New York Times bestseller list, and its author Dambisa Moyo was labeled one of 2009’s most important figures,… Continue reading Killing Off “Dead Aid”
I am excited to report that I am back in the United States and even very nearly healthy. My parents decided to celebrate my return by scheduling me to have my wisdom teeth out, despite my protestations that pre-historic (or, pre-dental surgery) humans must have had some way of surviving with their wisdom teeth firmly… Continue reading Some Meta-Blogging About Blogging
Great Britain’s National Health Service is (choose one): A shining example of the power of government to provide health care for everyone. A bloated and sclerotic bureaucracy which demonstrates the impossibility of effective socialized medicine. Both As the debate over health care reaches new heights of absurdity—with the label “socialized medicine” continuing to be the… Continue reading A wholly unsatisfying (for the reader, that is) treatise on the NHS
Graduate students are all really smart. Everything graduate students write is of publishable quality. Graduate students don’t bathe frequently, but only because they are busy writing brilliant dissertations. Graduate students can read volumes in a day and quickly grasp complicated theories. When they speak in class, what they say is profound. Graduate students don’t have… Continue reading Grad Student
On Friday, two friends from my department and I decided that we would use our post-examination freedom to explore some of Oxford’s more ancient, beautiful, and storied colleges. Most of them have rather austere exteriors, perhaps intended to ward off the legions of tourists crawling around the city, but gorgeous interiors. We walk past them… Continue reading Lost Soul in All Souls
There are a few questions that seem to get asked at every single animal rights event I’ve ever been to, in spite of their complete inanity. At the end of any lecture by a vegan philosopher, it’s inevitably that some carnivore with raise their hand and smugly—as if they had come up with an idea… Continue reading On “Happy Meat”
So, here are some research findings with interesting implications for contemporary policy debates in the U.S.: Kenyans—despite living in a country with nine times the infant mortality rate of the United States and living twenty-two fewer years—report being as satisfied with their health care system as Americans are. Afghanis, for their part, are part of… Continue reading Smile! At least you’re poor!
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 