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Training

Table of contents

Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8

Table of contents

Introduction 0 Why Write for the Public? 1 What to Expect, from Pitch to Publication 2 How to Write a Pitch 3 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 1: Structure 4 How To Tell a Great Story, Part 2: Style 5 Navigating Ethics and Reducing Harms 6 Habits of Thriving Public Anthropologists 7 Cultivating the Craft of Writing 8

A gray-haired woman sits on an exam table in a light-filled doctor’s office and looks out a window.

op-ed / Lost in Translation

Doctors Are Taught to Lie About Race

Decades ago, anthropologists dispelled the myth of biological race. Lagging behind in scientific understandings of human diversity, the medical profession is failing its oath to “do no harm.”

An ape-like mannequin, with protruding facial features and a body covered in fur, stands in a museum exhibition under dramatic lighting. Next to it, a text panel starts, “The human story begins.”

essay / Origins

Lessons From Lucy

Fifty years ago, the remains of an Australopithecus afarensis ancestor, named “Lucy” by archaeologists, rewrote the story of human evolution.

A photo shows the back of a person in a dark suitcoat standing at a podium and speaking to a large, captive, seated audience. Most onlookers wear red MAGA hats and Trump T-shirts.

essay / Standpoints

Five Reasons Why Trump Won Again

In an effort to address toxic polarization in the U.S., an anthropologist of the “Trumpiverse” explains MAGA supporters’ thinking in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

A large moose stands in the shallow waters of a lake at sunset, with the water reflecting vibrant golden and orange hues.

essay / Counterpoint

Do Moose “Belong” in Colorado?

William Taylor, Chance Ward, Emily Lena Jones, Jonathan Dombrosky, and John Wendt

As moose populations multiply in the Southern Rocky Mountains, decision-makers are questioning whether the animals are endemic or invaders. Archaeology can offer answers—and potential solutions.

The ruins of a gray stone building stand below a cerulean sky with fluffy white clouds.

essay / Standpoints

How Colonialism Invented Food Insecurity in West Africa

Archaeological evidence and Oral Histories show people in what is today Ghana lived sustainably for millennia—until European colonial powers and the widespread trade of enslaved people changed everything.

A black squirrel sits atop a trash can in a busy urban setting, with a crowd of people out-of-focus in the background.

essay / Mindsets

Are People Projecting Racist Stereotypes Onto Squirrels?

Lee Cronk and Ryne Palombit

Researchers refute a popular idea that black-furred squirrels behave more aggressively than gray ones—and suggest the myth stems from some people’s racist attitudes.

Two people crouch down to create colorful chalk art on a street. Intricate designs and language characters surround a central circular moti

essay / Expressions

Tackling the Impossibility—and Necessity—of Counting the World’s Languages

A language scientist delves into historic and current efforts to catalog the planet’s 7,000-plus languages, uncovering colorful tales and Herculean challenges.

Dos mujeres crean colorido arte con tiza en la calle para celebrar el Día Internacional de la Lengua Materna, con intrincados diseños y escritura bengalí alrededor de un motivo circular central.

essay / Expressions

La imposibilidad —y la necesidad— de contar las lenguas del mundo

Un científico del lenguaje se adentra en los esfuerzos históricos y actuales por catalogar los más de 7.000 idiomas del planeta, descubriendo historias pintorescas y retos hercúleos.

A gnarled tree stands on a reddish cliff, beyond which stretches a landscape of deeply hued sandstone plateaus that an ox-bowed river cuts through.

essay / Viewpoint

Gathering Firewood—and Redefining Land Stewardship—at Bears Ears

Kate Magargal, Adrienne Cachelin, Jesse Wyasket, Samuel Enke, and Rachel Christensen

At Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, a new co-management plan brings together federal agencies and a consortium of Native American tribes—revealing deep tensions over land rights and demands for environmental justice.

A black painted hand covered in red paint holds a skull figure decorated with floral patterns in shades of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Painted white with black accents to resemble a skull, the face—and also gray hair and flower headband—of the person holding the skull are blurry in the background.Cindy Ord/Getty Images

poem / Phenomenon

Harvest Song

Durba Chattaraj

A poet-anthropologist celebrates relatedness across difference in a poem that honors the festivals of Navratri, Durga Puja, Kali Puja, Day of the Dead, and Halloween—all of which draw on otherworldly connections and mysteries.

A stream of clear water pours into an orange bucket. Behind it, two slightly out-of-focus women and a child look on.

essay / Human Rights

How Water Insecurity Impacts Women’s Health

Paula Skye Tallman, Stroma Cole, Gabriela Salmón-Mulanovich, and Binahayati Rusyidi

Anthropologists and local activists in Indonesia and Peru uncover links between water scarcity and gendered violence, and work together to lessen the harms of gender inequality.

A bearded man in a vest and red scarf holds up his two hands in loose blue gloves, with a small tooth in each hand.

essay / Unearthed

Unraveling a “Ghost” Neanderthal Lineage

Remains in France found by archaeologists and geneticists suggest at least two lineages—not just one—of late Neanderthals in Europe.

Two pairs of scissors, two rocks, and two slips of paper rest on a pale-yellow surface.

essay / Field Notes

Playing Rock, Paper, Scissors Across the Red-Blue Divide

As toxic polarization deepens in the U.S., some global conflict prevention experts are now addressing political violence at home. An anthropologist shares three key insights from a community action program in Wisconsin.

A man in a t-shirt, jacket, and jeans sits comfortably with a leg folded, on a stage. A microphone extends in front of him.

essay / Maladies

Revisiting the Spiritual Violence of BS Jobs

Christopher Pollard

Anthropologist David Graeber’s celebrated theory of “bullshit jobs” continues to provide a critical window into why modern work is often so useless, soul-sucking, and absurd.

Massive vertical and horizontal stones stand in a field at night, with the sliver of a silver moon above.

essay / Unearthed

The Distant Origins of a Stonehenge Stone

Nicholas Pearce, Richard Bevins, and Rob Ixer

After two decades of research, scholars find that Stonehenge’s giant Altar Stone came from northeast Scotland.

video / Ask SAPIENS

Do You Want to Write for SAPIENS?

A free online webinar by SAPIENS Editor-in-Chief Chip Colwell to learn about how to write for the magazine and its peer publications.

A person wearing a black robe crouches beside a white building to tend to a bed of pea plants.

op-ed / Mindsets

People Are Not Peas—Why Genetics Education Needs an Overhaul

The decades out-of-date genetics taught in most U.S. schools stokes misconceptions about race and human diversity. A biological anthropologist calls for change.

Dozens of papers with text on them are punctured and strung horizontally on wires.

poem / Human Rights

Archived Haints

SAPIENS’ 2024 poet-in-residence conjures the voices of those imprisoned in archives.

Two people sit face-to-face on a bench and sign with each other. Behind them, a mural shows the outline of a human ear with Arabic writing inside it.

essay / Human Rights

Gaza’s Deaf Community in the Face of Genocide

An anthropologist who works with deaf communities in the Arabic-speaking Middle East argues that ending Israel’s war on Gaza and occupation of Palestine is a matter of disability justice.

A whale’s tail appears above the water, creating white foam as it splashes on the ocean’s surface. A small bird flies in the background.

op-ed / Viewpoint

Protecting Ancestral Waters Through Collaborative Stewardship

The proposed Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary, along California’s Central Coast, would be the first of its kind in the U.S. to be nominated by Native peoples.

An ancient circular stone structure lies exposed under the ground surface. In the distance, light-red and tan mesas and flat desert expanses lie under a piercing blue sky with scattered fluffy white clouds.

interview / Counterpoint

Digging Into an Ancient Apocalypse Controversy From a Hopi Perspective

When producers for a popular Netflix series sought a permit to film on public lands in the U.S. Southwest, many Native leaders objected. A Hopi tribal official, Stewart B. Koyiyumptewa, shares his views.

A close-up image features two stained-orange hands holding a cluster of objects that look like small, orange strands.

essay / Fiction

The Land of Dreams

In a dystopian short story, an anthropologist imagines an alternate world in which Kashmiris are forbidden to dream.

A man with long, dark hair tied in a braid holds up a small child to a mirror, which reflects the child’s pensive face.

essay / Creative Nonfiction

Finding Our Way Forward—by Remembering

In a personal essay, a mixed-race and Native anthropologist draws strength from his ancestors.

A white cartoon speech bubble on a red background is wrapped in barbed wire.

essay / Standpoints

Speaking Truth to Israel Requires More Than Academic Freedom

Educators and students critical of Israel’s war on Gaza face censorship, harassment, and dismissal. An anthropologist who researches coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians argues such critics need more than free speech protections.

A person wearing a gray T-shirt and tan baseball cap pushes buttons on a camera that is attached to a tree in the forest.

poem / Phenomenon

Payangko, or Echidna (Zaglossus attenboroughi)

Durba Chattaraj

After a 60-year haitus, an Attenborough’s long-beaked echidna was seen in Indonesia’s Cyclops Mountains. A poet-anthropologist reflects on the echidna’s message through the storied lens of the people of Yongsu Sapari.

A person wearing a rust-colored hooded coat and a black face mask stands in front of a large facility while holding a red sign that reads: “It’s Been a Long Time Coming but I Know a Change Is Coming!”

op-ed / Participant Observation

Inside Amazon’s Union-Busting Tactics

An anthropologist reports on the impediments to labor organizing—and why it’s still worth trying.

A close-up view features an art exhibit composed of multiple photographs arranged side by side. The photos show people riding a horse, receiving medical care, and speaking at a women’s event.

essay / Crossroads

Fighting for Reproductive Rights in Retirement

An anthropologist conducts research in an Arizona retirement community, where older women share hard-won insights about how limitations on sexual and reproductive freedom impacted their lives.

A large group of people walks down a tree-lined street, with some holding colorful flags.

op-ed / Lab Bench

Can Ancient DNA Support Indigenous Histories?

María Pía Tavella

A biological anthropologist reflects on how scientific research can be used to reaffirm or undermine Indigenous land ties in Argentina.

Un numeroso grupo de personas camina por una calle arbolada, algunas de ellas con banderas de colores.

op-ed / Lab Bench

¿Puede el ADN antiguo apoyar las historias indígenas?

María Pía Tavella

Una antropóloga biológica reflexiona sobre cómo la investigación científica puede utilizarse para reafirmar o socavar los lazos territoriales indígenas en Argentina.

A person in a dark-blue velvet coat stands face to face with a replica of an ancient dark-colored statue of a man and places their hands on its chest.

essay / Viewpoint

Can Embracing Copies Help With Museum Restitution Cases?

Many museums are wrestling with returning looted or unethically obtained ancient objects. An archaeologist considers how a shift in public attitudes toward plaster and 3D copies could make a difference.

A large metal sign with the letters S.O.S. carved through it stands in a shallow lake in front of a blue sky with pink clouds.

essay / Culture Lab

Can Art Save the “Post-Apocalyptic” Salton Sea?

Meredith Reifschneider

In this Mad Max–like California landscape, artists and activists are inventing renewable alternatives to the capitalist system that’s developing but also destroying the region.

A historic black-and-white photograph shows a small group of workers on the floor of a pin manufacturing plant tending to rows of machines.

essay / Human Nature

How Allocating Work Aided Our Evolutionary Success

Vivek V. Venkataraman

Societies divide labor by gender and age. A biological anthropologist considers when and why this behavior arose.

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Podcast S2 TRAILER | 4 min

The SAPIENS Podcast Is Back

A person in near silhouette stands in front on an ocean landscape with wind chime objects hanging down, all tinted orange.

1 Sep 2023

Why can eating insects be so gross? Who were the ancient Denisovans? How are dreams shaped by culture? Are people naturally generous? The SAPIENS podcast is back, exploring an array of curious questions about the human experience.

The SAPIENS podcast is supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and produced by House of Pod.

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