The Familiar Strange is a podcast about doing anthropology: that is, about listening, looking, trying out, and being with, in pursuit of uncommon knowledge about humans and culture. Find show notes, plus our blog about anthropology's role in the world, at https://www.thefamiliarstrange.com. Twitter: @tfsTweets. FB: facebook.com/thefamiliarstrange. Instagram: @thefamiliarstrange.

Brought to you by your familiar strangers: Ian Pollock, Jodie-Lee Trembath, Julia Brown, Simon Theobald, Kylie Wong Dolan; produced by Deanna Catto and Matthew Phung, and with support from the Australian Anthropological Society, the Australian National University’s Schools of Culture, History and Language and Archeology and Anthropology, and the Australian Centre for Public Awareness of Science, and produced in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association. 

We acknowledge and celebrate the first Australians on whose traditional lands we record this podcast, and pay our respects to the elders of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, past, present, and emerging.

The Familiar Strange

There are so few podcasts out there about anthropology, so admittedly my review comes from a place of disappointment being that this isn't what I was hoping it to be. 

This podcast, while one of the few of its kind, has a lot of insider speak. The topics are less about the cultures and people that anthropology studies, and more about the field and its inner workings (which interests me not at all). I find the interviews dull. The substance / storytelling lacking, the introspection stuck in an echochamber of the field itself.

Substance is lacking, disappointing

As a student of anthropology, this podcast keeps me thinking about various topics that I encounter in academia in a more humane and dialectical context!

Insightful discussions on intriguing topics

We’re not anthropologists but after every episode my husband and I discuss the topic for another hour. So much to think about — that we never thought about before!