The Extraordinary Dakinis
- Publishing
We are hard at work on Issue 03 and we are more excited than ever to get it to our readers. /03.04.2017
- Business
Interviewed by Aliah El-houni /
Photographed by Nation Wong /08.28.2016
John McGarr, president and co-founder of Fresh Squeezed Ideas (FSI)—an award-winning brand and marketing consultancy—describes himself as a lifelong student of marketing, people and culture. John realized early in his career that he was interested in brand strategy and so, with his partner Karen McCauley, he started FSI. What began as a small research company has become a 20-person applied anthropology consultancy with clients across North America and in Europe. In his words, “It’s been a really fun ride alongside some very smart people.” READ MORE
- The Practice
Understanding the lives of ethnographers through the lives of spies | By Carrie Yury /04.17.2016
I have a confession to make. I am a secret, impassioned lover of detective fiction. Although I began my academic career pursuing serious literature, these days, I don’t read the classics. Instead, I read whodunits. Cozies. Mysteries. READ MORE
- Education
By Mitra Emad | Photography by Brett Groehler /04.19.2016
Professor Mitra Emad discusses how she and her class used Peeps Magazine as a resource this year. READ MORE
- Healing Culture
The healing capacity of narrative—by Emma Louise Backe /02.15.2016
When I cracked my head on the floor, words leaked out as quickly as blood from the wound in my scalp. Yet the damage from my brain contusion was as much internal as it was external. Blood seeped into my frontal lobe as I lay, head throbbing, in a hospital bed, ravaged by pain and fear of what had truly been broken in my injury. READ MORE
- Peeps
From the Editors’ Desk | by Anya-Milana Sulaver & Aliah El-houni /04.17.2016
Every issue we create starts with an idea. It’s usually a great idea. And then it evolves into something we could never have imagined ourselves as the contributions we receive are put side by side. READ MORE
- World Affairs
/03.30.2016
Recently, vast numbers of people have been moving across borders, catching global media attention and producing complex responses from countries- those which host these refugees, and those which refuse. The same phrase is used repeatedly in describing the exodus: refugee crisis. READ MORE
- The Practice
The story of one research team's journey into the brand culture of alcoholic energy drinks | By Gavin Johnston /03.24.2016
In its original formulation, Sparks was one of the first alcoholic beverages to contain caffeine. Its other original active ingredients included taurine, ginseng, and guarana, the backbone ingredients of traditional energy drinks. READ MORE
- Culture
How Millennial values are redefining the landscape of love—Written by Megan Melissa Machamer /02.10.2016
Red roses, representing the color of passion. A pink box of chocolate to color code budding love and desire. A diamond necklace in a velvet, heart shaped box. You sit alone on your couch, frustrated that the last three commercials have not been directed at you—you are just trying to watch the game! READ MORE
- Publishing
A review of Peeps Magazine by Leslie Carlin and Simon Coleman, University of Toronto /02.09.2016
The University of Toronto Anthropology program has been interested in Peeps Magazine since we introduced ourselves to them with our Kickstarter campaign last June. When the issue finally dropped in November, the program kindly offered up the services of Drs. Leslie Carlin and Simon Coleman to provide us with some constructive feedback and their thoughts. READ MORE
- General
- The Arts
A close look at Supergirl and Jessica Jones—Written by Charissa Dechène /01.20.2016
In the summer of 2015, I bought a Supergirl keyring in the LEGO store in my hometown of Gouda, The Netherlands. The moment my eyes caught the keyring hanging on the wall I just had to have it. READ MORE
- World Affairs
A photo essay of China’s much anticipated post-80s generation—Photos and text by Yuyang Liu /01.21.2016
In his work for Issue 01 of Peeps Magazine, Chinese photographer Yuyang Liu captured a day in the life of members of the much anticipated generation that anthropologist Graham Candy identifies as reputedly "only know[ing] of China’s rise in fame and fortune.” READ MORE
- Digital Culture
Unraveling our ties to technology to remember the art of making things—By Elisabeth Bennett / Photography by Curtis James /12.10.2015
When we characterize younger generations today, perhaps what most differentiates them from others is their nativity and literacy in the digital age. We make much of this difference and contemplate how it affects and reflects language, brain development, and future innovation in technology. READ MORE
- The Arts
An interview with Academy Award winning documentary filmmaker Cynthia Wade /12.10.2015
Cynthia Wade is an award winning documentary and commercial director known for intimate and gripping storytelling. Whether in a remote village in Cambodia or a conference room on Madison Avenue, Cynthia has been recognized for her ability to find and capture moving stories. READ MORE
- Multiculturalism
The Sensuous Geographies of Ethnic Festivals—By Kelley McClinchey /08.25.2015
Ethnic festivals benefit individuals and communities; not only for the community at large, but for recent migrants, first generation, second, or even third generation community members. Ethnic festivals may begin and maintain themselves as grassroots events, but others generate widespread notoriety frequently becoming hallmark events. READ MORE
- Research
How names can shape consumer preferences—By Sam Maglio and Cris Rabaglia /07.28.2015
The study of language has the power to turn the average person into a mind reader. Take a look at the two figures above. If we told you that one of these shapes is called a kiki and the other a bouba, how would you match these names to the two shapes? READ MORE
- Research
On bringing together two different approaches to research—By Tim Fisher /08.03.2015
As a curious six year-old, I studied each nook and cranny of the farm where I grew-up. I felt intimately familiar with every element of the landscape. Then, one day, my mother showed me an aerial photograph of the farm and it reshaped my understanding of the place where I lived. I now had two ways to see my world—an “on the ground” view that was filled with richness and nuance, and a view from above that helped me to place my understanding in a broader perspective. READ MORE
- World Affairs
Reflecting on narrative, grief and violence in the wake of Baltimore—By Sarah Stefana Smith, Cultural Analyst /08.03.2015
In late April, I watched from Toronto as Baltimore, a landscape I had weeks prior inhabited, bubbled over from the confines of ‘respectable’ grief and rage. I encountered the first of numerous broadcasts quite off guard. I was sitting in the lobby of a hotel where I often went to write to use the free wifi. In the background the television screen flashed “Violent Riots in Baltimore” as CBC anchors offered up detailed accounts of looting and burning in the streets. How is one supposed to feel when watching their home in conflict? READ MORE
- The Arts
/06.24.2015
As a filmmaker and an anthropologist, I am always looking for films that explore popular topics from an unlikely point of view. George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road is such a film. READ MORE
- World Affairs
/05.25.2015
As an anthropologist interested in outer space, I was immediately struck by the implications of taking a flag off of our planet. READ MORE
- Beauty
The new power of the plus-sized market—By Cat Ashton /05.27.2015
In the fall of 2011, at the One of a Kind Show in Toronto, I entered one of the clothing booths in the hope of finding a Christmas present for my mother. As I began to look over colourful sweaters and patchwork hoodies, the booth owner quickly moved to intercept me. “We don't have anything for you here,” he said. Mortified, I slunk away; the anger came later. READ MORE
- Business
Our cultural analyst and forum editor at Peeps reflects on her lived experience as part of the new Web 2.0-based sharing economy. /12.02.2014
- World Affairs
By Graham Candy / Photography by DM Chung /10.13.2014
Myths are the way we make sense of our world, they are the stories we are told, and in turn tell to others. Myths provide a sense of purpose in a complex world, and fundamentally, hope for the future. READ MORE
- Research
On the nature of qualitative research—By Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman /05.18.2015
Let’s talk about bias. I have it. You have it. As humans all of us have our own opinions towards virtually everything that comes across our plates in our daily lives, be it (literally) a menu option or (the more serious) potentially deadly first impression. And researchers, from the molecular biologist to the cultural anthropologist, are not excluded from this inherent trait. READ MORE
- The Practice
A visual-ethnographer’s insights from the field—By Jacob Langvad Nilsson /10.13.2014
Youth are much more connected today than, say, 15 years ago. We are all more connected. And the same thing is happening in emerging markets, there are smart phones and internet cafes, and people know what is going on in other countries. READ MORE
- The Practice
Stepping into the shoes of an ethnographer—By Megan Melissa Machamer /06.19.2015
- Design
Four steps to designing products with impact—By Aaron Otani /01.08.2016
Understanding the psychology and science behind how people interpret information, make decisions, and take action enables us to deliver more effective designs. READ MORE
- The Arts
Performing arts organizations like opera or ballet help to attract knowledge workers—By Richard Florida /01.08.2016
A new study published in Economic Development Quarterly finds that the arts do in fact add to urban economies overall. READ MORE
- Migration
Undocumented immigrants risk scorching temperatures, venomous creatures, and military surveillance to get into the U.S.—By Simon Worrall /01.08.2016
Despite the arduousness of the crossing and the high-tech surveillance systems arrayed against them, most of the survivors will attempt to cross again. READ MORE
- Food Culture
By Marie-Anne Suizzo / Photography by Natasha Mileshina /01.08.2016
One of the most common New Year’s resolutions people make is to lose weight by dieting. The idea is that restricting the pleasures of tasty foods will lead to greater fitness and a finer physique. READ MORE
- Business
On the origins of corporate evil—and idiocy—By Jerry Useem /01.11.2016
One day in 1979, James Burke, the chief executive of Johnson & Johnson, summoned more than 20 of his key people into a room, jabbed his finger at an internal document, and proposed destroying it. READ MORE
- General
- Research
By Gideon Lewis-Kraus /01.18.2016
Before the morning last September when I joined her at Newark Airport, I had met Alice Goffman only twice. But in the previous months, amid a widening controversy both inside and outside the academy over her research, she and I had developed a regular email correspondence, and she greeted me at the gate as if I were an old friend. READ MORE
- Healing Culture
By Professor Deborah Lynn Steinberg /01.18.2016
"I was asked today if I would consider writing something about the death of David Bowie and about public mourning. This is awkward timing. The subject of mourning has become a vexed and maybe unwelcome one for me." READ MORE
- Architecture
By Miia Halme-Tuomisaari /01.19.2016
There was a time when universities were modelled after churches. Today their designs echo temples of different kinds—namely corporate headquarters. In light of what is going on in the academia, this makes perfect sense. READ MORE
- General
By Dr Zuleyka Zevallos /01.20.2016
Dr Martin Luther King Jr was born on the 15th of January 1929. Our American colleagues and others might know that King had a degree in sociology and theology (of course!). As the Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Sociology notes, King remains “a public sociologist par excellence.” READ MORE
- Design
Why researchers in various disciplines are using the principles of design to solve problems big and small. / By Tim Johnson /01.21.2016
Much of our modern life, it seems, has been designed in the heart of Silicon Valley, so it made perfect sense that the concept of “design thinking” finds its greatest expression here. At least that’s what I learned over lunch with Doug Wightman, one of design thinking’s foremost proponents. READ MORE
- Peeps
By Steve Watson /01.24.2016
I first came across Peeps magazine last year as a Kickstarter campaign and was immediately fascinated by the premise of a magazine built around anthropological research and insight. READ MORE
- The Practice
By Maria Bezaitis, Alexandra Mack & Ken Anderson /01.28.2016
EPIC2015 was notable for so many excellent reasons. São Paulo enabled an influx of new participants and presenters from Latin America, expanding the community and conversation with new colleagues and stakeholders as well as new ways of thinking about people that develop out of different cultural perspectives. READ MORE
- Beauty
Why is South Korea the world’s plastic-surgery capital? / By Patricia Marx /01.29.2016
If you want to feel bad about your looks, spend some time in Seoul. An eerily high number of women there—and men, too—look like anime princesses. READ MORE
- The Practice
"I encourage our clients to focus less on trend-chasing and more on understanding the broader cultural forces." / By Kathy Caprino /02.01.2016
Susan Kresnicka works at Hollywood’s leading integrated branding and marketing agency Troika, spearheading their Research and Insights group. READ MORE
- Business
Company success and employee satisfaction depend on social ties that are hard to forge in a globalized era. / By Alexandra Mack /02.01.2016
George Macartney had a bad day at work. The deal he was sent to close was rejected, despite months of advance negotiation. He followed the agreed-upon protocols, though they made both parties uncomfortable. He returned home feeling misunderstood and empty-handed. READ MORE
- Publishing
/02.03.2016
You know the saying: you can’t judge a book by its cover. With magazines, it’s pretty much the opposite. READ MORE
- Publishing
Peeps Magazine recognized as one of the 'Very Best in New Independent Magazines' /02.06.2016
"At last, an indie mag about anthropology! If that turns you off, think again. Like the best magazines, Peeps is a magazine about people and there are some great universal stories here."— Jeremy Leslie, magCulture, quoted in AnOther Magazine READ MORE
- Digital Culture
For all the smart tech, we still feel pressed for time. Are digital services the problem, or are we humans to blame? / By Judy Wajcman /02.08.2016
More than 40 years ago, as a young woman in Melbourne, Australia, I had a pen friend in Papua New Guinea. She lived in a coastal village, an hour’s slow boat trip from the city of Lae. I went to visit her. The abundant tropical fruit, vegetables such as taro and sweet potato, and fish fresh from the sea made up for the mosquitoes that plagued me. No one was in a rush to do anything. READ MORE
- Multiculturalism
scientists argue
Racial categories are weak proxies for genetic diversity and need to be phased out. / By Megan Gannon / Photo by smcgee /02.10.2016
More than 100 years ago, American sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois was concerned that race was being used as a biological explanation for what he understood to be social and cultural differences between different populations of people. READ MORE
- Technology
of Myanmar
A dispatch from an Internet revolution in progress. By Craig Mod /02.14.2016
For six weeks last October and November, just before Myanmar held its landmark elections, I joined a team of design ethnographers in the countryside interviewing forty farmers about smartphones. READ MORE
- The Arts
By Naila Keleta-Mae /02.15.2016
“Formation,” is a master class in how pop artists can clearly articulate political views that differ from the mainstream without being labeled didactic and marginalized by the media. READ MORE
- Digital Culture
By Gabriella Coleman /01.25.2016
A "hacker" is a technologist with a love for computing and a "hack" is a clever technical solution arrived through a non-obvious means. It doesn't mean to compromise the Pentagon, change your grades, or take down the global financial system, although it can, but that is a very narrow reality of the term. READ MORE
- General
By Brian Resnick /01.26.2016
There's a constant conflict between social scientists and the reporters who cover them. It's derived from "a fundamental tension between the media's desire for novelty and the scientific method," as Sanjay Srivastava, who researches personality at the University of Oregon, tells me. READ MORE
- Design
An old, but still very relevant article / By Peter Merholz /02.26.2016
Whenever I see a business magazine glow about design thinking, as BusinessWeek has done recently with this special report, and which Harvard Business Review did last year it gets my dander up. Not because I don’t see the value of design (I started a company dedicated to experience design), but because the discussion in such articles is inevitably so fetishistic, and sadly limited. READ MORE
- Education
technical design
By Leo King /02.27.2016
The right STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education at a young age makes a massive difference in what career a child goes on to pursue. One New York City-based entrepreneur is transforming how that education is delivered, with a fantastic hands-on approach to learning and technology. READ MORE
- Research
Why We Post is a global anthropological research project on the uses and consequences of social media. /03.08.2016
- The Practice
For business, what do anthropologists bring to the party? / By Patricia Sunderland & Rita Denny /03.11.2016
- Design
The prestigious global consultants elevate Planned Parenthood's patient experience with human-centered design. / By Diana Budds /03.20.2016
In 2014, Planned Parenthood embarked on an ambitious collaboration with the global design consultancy Ideo to hatch plans that would help the nonprofit do what it does best: care for patients. Now, as Planned Parenthood celebrates its centennial, the fruits of that collaboration are beginning to take shape. READ MORE
- Design
By Kaan Turnali /03.27.2016
Customer-centric solutions demand empathy. But, how we employ this principle within design thinking is as critical—if not more—as what we do in the process. READ MORE
- The Practise
By Rebecca Lemov | Photo by Harald Sund/Getty/licensed by aeon.co /08.26.2016
- The Practice
How reading ethnography has helped me to understand the power of observation and gain greater empathy with my users | By Quentin Parizot /08.31.2016
- Education
Partnering with changemakers to design the most innovative systems, tools and experiences for learners of all ages | By IDEO /09.01.2016
- Urban Culture
A wonderful new podcast by two urbanists with years of experience studying, commenting on, and creating urban spaces. Coming from the perspective called "third wave urbanism", this is the new normal of human-scale urban thinking from a female point of view. | Podcast by Kristen Jeffers and Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman /09.11.2016
- Education
Practical Ways for Writers and Teachers to Get Involved Right Now | By Anu Jindal /11.14.2016
- Food Culture
| By Dana Schuster /03.19.2017
- Education
- General
A new study supports our hunch that kids who are exposed to the arts gain benefits beyond just being "more creative." / By Jennifer Miller /04.20.2016
- Culture
The campaign against cultural appropriation is part of the broader attempt to police communities and cultures / By Kenan Malik /05.06.2016
- Culture
To them, it was a sign of their culture gaining mainstream acceptance. To me, it was thievery and a selfish promotion tactic. / By Nikita Redkar /05.09.2016
- Publishing
By Arthurious /08.17.2016
It’s fascinating to see the printed magazine scene enriched with new voices and creative energy. I’ve scouted for some new titles—here’re 21 of them—read, dissected, and stress-tested by my bookshelf. The ratings represent the overall amount of curiosity you’ll be able to feed. READ MORE
- Culture
/02.24.2015
The museum planner and thought leader joins the dots between culture and energy. READ MORE
- Urban Culture
An anthropologist’s perspective by Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman /05.11.2015
- Food Culture
Ethnographer Bruno Moynié's road trip into the American South /08.25.2014
Imagine you are sitting down to eat, when all of a sudden you look up and see a bald, middle aged man, wearing a large skull ring and a dark t-shirt, who introduces himself to you with these words... READ MORE
- Multiculturalism
Diversity through the lens of Colin Shafer /10.13.2014
Participatory Photography project “Cosmopolis Toronto” combines collaborative authorship between subject and photographer to create a visual metaphor for Toronto’s diversity. READ MORE
Curations
- Food Culture
| By Dana Schuster /03.19.2017
- Education
Practical Ways for Writers and Teachers to Get Involved Right Now | By Anu Jindal /11.14.2016
- Urban Culture
A wonderful new podcast by two urbanists with years of experience studying, commenting on, and creating urban spaces. Coming from the perspective called "third wave urbanism", this is the new normal of human-scale urban thinking from a female point of view. | Podcast by Kristen Jeffers and Katrina Johnston-Zimmerman /09.11.2016
- Education
Partnering with changemakers to design the most innovative systems, tools and experiences for learners of all ages | By IDEO /09.01.2016
- The Practice
How reading ethnography has helped me to understand the power of observation and gain greater empathy with my users | By Quentin Parizot /08.31.2016
- The Practise
By Rebecca Lemov | Photo by Harald Sund/Getty/licensed by aeon.co /08.26.2016
- Culture
To them, it was a sign of their culture gaining mainstream acceptance. To me, it was thievery and a selfish promotion tactic. / By Nikita Redkar /05.09.2016
- Culture
The campaign against cultural appropriation is part of the broader attempt to police communities and cultures / By Kenan Malik /05.06.2016
- Education
- General
A new study supports our hunch that kids who are exposed to the arts gain benefits beyond just being "more creative." / By Jennifer Miller /04.20.2016
- Design
The prestigious global consultants elevate Planned Parenthood's patient experience with human-centered design. / By Diana Budds /03.20.2016
- The Practice
For business, what do anthropologists bring to the party? / By Patricia Sunderland & Rita Denny /03.11.2016
- Research
Why We Post is a global anthropological research project on the uses and consequences of social media. /03.08.2016
- Design
An old, but still very relevant article / By Peter Merholz /02.26.2016
- The Arts
By Naila Keleta-Mae /02.15.2016
- Technology
of Myanmar
A dispatch from an Internet revolution in progress. By Craig Mod /02.14.2016
- Multiculturalism
scientists argue
Racial categories are weak proxies for genetic diversity and need to be phased out. / By Megan Gannon / Photo by smcgee /02.10.2016
- Digital Culture
For all the smart tech, we still feel pressed for time. Are digital services the problem, or are we humans to blame? / By Judy Wajcman /02.08.2016
- Publishing
Peeps Magazine recognized as one of the 'Very Best in New Independent Magazines' /02.06.2016
- Business
Company success and employee satisfaction depend on social ties that are hard to forge in a globalized era. / By Alexandra Mack /02.01.2016
- The Practice
"I encourage our clients to focus less on trend-chasing and more on understanding the broader cultural forces." / By Kathy Caprino /02.01.2016
- Beauty
Why is South Korea the world’s plastic-surgery capital? / By Patricia Marx /01.29.2016
- General
By Brian Resnick /01.26.2016
- Design
Why researchers in various disciplines are using the principles of design to solve problems big and small. / By Tim Johnson /01.21.2016
- General
By Dr Zuleyka Zevallos /01.20.2016
- Architecture
By Miia Halme-Tuomisaari /01.19.2016
- Healing Culture
By Professor Deborah Lynn Steinberg /01.18.2016
- Business
On the origins of corporate evil—and idiocy—By Jerry Useem /01.11.2016
- Food Culture
By Marie-Anne Suizzo / Photography by Natasha Mileshina /01.08.2016
- Migration
Undocumented immigrants risk scorching temperatures, venomous creatures, and military surveillance to get into the U.S.—By Simon Worrall /01.08.2016
- The Arts
Performing arts organizations like opera or ballet help to attract knowledge workers—By Richard Florida /01.08.2016
- Design
Four steps to designing products with impact—By Aaron Otani /01.08.2016