On this week’s panel, we feature the president of the Australian Network of Student Anthropologists, Hanne Worsoe and Dinith Adikari who is a PhD candidate from the Australian National University.

Hanne kicks us off [1:37] by discussing a recent article by Judith Butler about the recent US election. She asks us to consider how identity politics has come into play more and more, not only in the US election, but also in Australia’s elections. How important do you think identity is when it comes to politics? Should Politics with a capital P be separate from identity?

Continuing in the same vein as Hanne, Dinith [6:31] discusses the spectacle that has been the US election. He poses a commonly repeated question of “why do people care so much about the US election?” What do you think? What motivates people to keep up with elections not in their own countries?

Next, Carolyn [11:31] changes topics to discuss deepfake technology. We have covered this topic previously too, but Carolyn asks some questions about the potentially insidious applications of this technology, and begs the question who owns your face and likeness? How do you think the likeness of people could be used?

Finally, Alex [15:50] the self-professed nerd asks the strangers to consider how our likes and dislikes are shaped by society and social interactions and what that means to us as Anthropologists. If we know how and why these likes and dislikes arise, shouldn’t that answer all the questions of anthropology? What do you think? Where do you think likes and dislikes come from?

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This anthropology podcast is supported by the Australian Anthropological Society, the ANU’s College of Asia and the Pacific and College of Arts and Social Sciences, and the Australian Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, and is produced in collaboration with the American Anthropological Association.

Music by Pete Dabro: dabro1.bandcamp.com
Shownotes by Matthew Phung
Podcast edited by Alex D’Aloia and Matthew Phung