Created in 2011, Hot Spots goes beyond the headlines to consider current events and pressing global issues from the perspective of anthropologists and others on the scene. Hot Spots series are reviewed by the editors of Cultural Anthropology; series editors must be current members of the SCA.
The "Marcha a Lima" against the Denial of Modern Political Rights
Pedro Castillo, a rural school teacher, was sworn in as President of Peru on July 28, 2021; his victory built on solid electoral support from Andean Indigenous ... More
After Roe
On June 24, 2022 in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a conservative supermajority of the US Supreme Court overturned the court’s rulings in Roe v.... More
Negotiating the Crisis: Critical Perspectives on Climate Governance
This Hot Spots series critically examines the global apparatus of climate change governance, through ethnographic analysis of the United Nations Framework Conve... More
Haiti beyond Crisis
This series suggests new ways to understand the current situation in Haiti and poses questions about what is, and isn’t, happening in Haiti right now. We seek t... More
Russia’s War in Ukraine, Continued
This is a continuation of the series, Russia's War in Ukraine, published on March 11. Every war is distinctive in its sources, consequences, and legacies. Some ... More
Russia’s War on Ukraine
Russia launched its unprovoked war of aggression on Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Anthropologists, with intimate experience on the ground, are striving to conte... More
The Damage Wrought: Immigration Before, Under, and After Trump
The anthropologists and activists gathered for this series have long been on the front lines fighting for migrant and racial justice. They have assisted familie... More
Firestorm: Critical Approaches to Forest Death and Life
The earth is aflame. The now annual fires—in Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, the United States, and beyond—are the most visible way that forests are dying. Forest... More
Technology and Anthropological Ways of Knowing
In this series, we ask anthropologists working in tech to reflect on the place of anthropology in their quotidian practices and professional lives. We use the d... More
3.11 Politics in Disaster Japan: Ten Years Later
In July 2011, three months after the Tohoku tsunami and subsequent nuclear reactor destabilization, we published the first Hot Spot series on the Society for Cu... More