Platypod, The CASTAC Podcast

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Platypod is the official podcast of the Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing. We talk about anthropology, STS, and all things tech. Tune in for conversations with researchers and experts on how technology is shaping our world.

Worrying over Speaking and the Pretentiousness of Podcasts

Rebecca Carlson October 2, 2024
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Read the transcript here. This was meant to be a podcast about making podcasts. But in the end, this podcast is really just a conversation between two people who used to be close friends. It rambles and meanders. It doesn’t always stick to a coherent point. I wondered then whether it could also be academically useful. Relevant to conversations in anthropology? Or even interesting to anyone other than me? This podcast is a conversation with Thuy Nguyen, founder of the Berkeley Community Acupuncture clinic and licensed TCM practitioner who has her own podcast, You Are Medicine. We first started talking about what it’s like for her to make a podcast back in March, on a long drive together from Bakersfield, California to Window Rock, Arizona. Thuy runs acupuncture pop-up clinics and is training interns as part of her Navajo Healing Project there and she invited me to spend a weekend (read more...)

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Cover for Ground Control: : An Argument for the End of Human Space Exploration by Savannah Mandel.

Space Anthropology with Savannah Mandel

Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes September 4, 2024
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View/Download the transcription for this episode. For this episode of Platypod, I interviewed space anthropologist Savannah Mandel about her new book Ground Control: An Argument for the End of Human Space Exploration (Chicago Review Press, 2024) where she writes about commercial space exploration in the US based on her ethnographic fieldwork with SpacePort America in New Mexico, and with space policymakers in Washington DC.  (read more...)

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The Many Modes of Ethnography

Rebecca Carlson July 3, 2024
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Download the transcript for this episode. This podcast episode talks to three anthropologists, Rachel Douglas-Jones, Rine Vieth, and Kara White, scholars working in three different parts of the world who use multimodal methods in their teaching and research. It is not a history of multimodal methods, or even a really detailed review of them; instead, it is a consideration of some of the issues they raise or resolve for ethnography. Whatever Tim Ingold has or hasn’t said about ethnography, he inadvertently offered what I think is the most compelling definition when he wrote: It is where we, “join with things in their passage through time, going along together with them, working with them, and suffering with them” (24, 2020). I’m tweaking the first part of this sentence to make it work here, as he’s actually describing the Latin prefix co- and his idea of “the gathering,” but it works for (read more...)

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Decorated image used as an invitation for CASPR 2023

Platypod, Episode Eight: CASPR 2023

Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes December 12, 2023
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Download the full transcript of this episode. The 2023 edition of CASPR: CASTAC in the Spring discussed digital ethnography and its multiple facets. The event was moderated by Dr. Baird Campbell, who, along with guest speakers Dr. Ilana Gershon, Dr. Nicole Taylor, and Dr. Patricia G. Lange, shared their experiences and valuable insights based on their many years of interactions with digital ethnography—much before the recent spike in interest in this method due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some critical insights from the event: On the online-offline divide, guest-speakers pointed out that this division will not matter in the future as interlocutors are increasingly interconnected. Speakers were skeptical about how much this topic still matters now, coming to the conclusion that this separation is largely artificial. The speakers mentioned how digital technologies, social media platforms, and other technological products would indirectly be part of future ethnographies, even if the researcher had (read more...)

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Platypod, Episode Seven: An Anthropology of Data, AI, and Much More

Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes June 13, 2023
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Download the transcript of this interview. For this episode of Platypod, I talked to Dr. Tanja Ahlin about her research, work, and academic trajectory. She’s currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and her work focuses on intersections of medical anthropology, social robots, and artificial intelligence. I told her of my perspective as a grad student, making plans and deciding what routes to take to be successful in my field. Dr. Ahlin was very generous in sharing her stories and experiences, which I’m sure are helpful to other grad students as well. Enjoy this episode, and contact us if you have questions, thoughts, or suggestions for other episodes.  (read more...)

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Platypod, Episode Six: An Anthropology of Algorithmic Recommendation Systems

Ana Carolina de Assis Nunes April 6, 2023
Também disponível em português.
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Download the transcript of this interview. On the morning of Friday, March 10, 2023 Nick Seaver and I met over Zoom to talk about his new book Computing Taste: Algorithms and Makers of Music Recommendation, which was published in 2022 by the University of Chicago Press. In that meeting, we recorded an episode for the Playpod podcast, which is available at the link above. (read more...)

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Platypod, Episode Five: CASPR – CASTAC in the Spring 2022

Angela VandenBroek, Dawn Nafus, Melissa Cefkin November 3, 2022
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This episode presents a recording of CASPR 2022, or the CASTAC in the Spring 2022 event, which took place on May 10, 2022. CASPR 2022 was organized to encourage dialogue on breaking down binaries that have separated academe and industry. Angela VandenBroek (TXST), Melissa Cefkin (Waymo), and Dawn Nafus (Intel) discuss their work in leading socially-informed research in industry contexts. (read more...)

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Platypod, Episode Four: Connections and Disconnections on Social Media

Baird Campbell, Ilana Gershon October 27, 2022
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In this episode, Platypod presents a conversation between Baird Campbell (Rice University) and Ilana Gershon (Indiana University Bloomington). They discuss the politics of connection and disconnection via social media in Chile and the US. (read more...)

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Platypod, Episode Three: Disability, Toxicity, and the Environment

Elizabeth Roberts, Sophia Jaworski September 27, 2022
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In this episode, Platypod presents a conversation between Elizabeth Roberts (the University of Michigan) and Sophia Jaworski (the University of Toronto). They discuss the complexities of corporeal life in toxic environments. This episode was created with the participation of Elizabeth Roberts (the University of Michigan, speaker), Sophia Jaworski (the University of Toronto, speaker), Svetlana Borodina (Columbia University, host, producer), Gebby Keny (Rice University, host, sound editor), and Angela VandenBroek (Texas State University, CASTAC web producer). The transcript of their conversation is available below. We thank Sophia Jaworski for her work on editing the transcript for comprehension. (read more...)

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Platypod, Episode Two: Ableism in Anthropology and Higher Ed

Laura Heath-Stout, Rebecca-Eli Long August 9, 2022
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In this episode, Platypod presents a conversation between Laura Heath-Stout (Brandeis University) and Rebecca-Eli Long (Purdue University). They discuss their research and experiences of ableism in academia, anthropology, and higher ed, in general. This episode was created with the participation of Laura Heath-Stout (Brandeis University, speaker), Rebecca-Eli Long (Purdue University, speaker), Kim Fernandes (University of Pennsylvania, host), Svetlana Borodina (Columbia University, host), Gebby Keny (Rice University, sound editor), and Angela VandenBroek (Texas State University, CASTAC web producer). The transcript of their conversation (edited for comprehension) is available below. (read more...)

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Platypod, Episode One: Technologies and Politics of Accessibility

Zihao Lin, Cassandra Hartblay July 26, 2022
阅读中文版
Данная статья доступна на русском.
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In its opening episode, Platypod presents a conversation between Cassandra Hartblay (University of Toronto) and Zihao Lin (University of Chicago). They discuss their research on accessibility cultures, politics, and technologies. This episode was created with the participation of Cassandra Hartblay (the University of Toronto, speaker) and Zihao Lin (the University of Chicago, speaker), Kim Fernandes (University of Pennsylvania, host), Svetlana Borodina (Columbia University, host), Gebby Keny (Rice University, sound editor), and Angela VandenBroek (Texas State University, CASTAC web producer). The transcript of their conversation is accessible below. (read more...)

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Platypus on Platypod

The bonus episodes below are the most recent readings from Platypus, The CASTAC Blog. Look for more readings in the Platypus archives or find them on your favorite podcast app.

Translucent anatomical heart model with tube-like connectors displayed against a dark background.

“Is This the End of Disability?”: Eugenics and the Technification of Normalization

Cristian Gustavo Gutiérrez Pinzón June 3, 2026
Este contenido también está disponible en español.
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New reproductive and bodily intervention biotechnologies not only promise to cure or prevent diseases, but are also shaping a new regime of bodily normalization that redefines which lives are desirable, correctable, or eliminable. For several years, countries such as Iceland have stood out for medical procedures that identify the conditions under which a fetus is developing and then ask parents whether they wish to continue or terminate the pregnancy. Between 80–85% of pregnant women in Iceland undergo prenatal screening and, when the result is positive for trisomy 21, termination rates approach 100%. In Denmark the percentage is 98%, in France 77%, and in the United States 67%. Geneticist Kari Stefansson, founder of deCODE Genetics, stated: “My understanding is, basically, that we have almost eradicated Down syndrome from our society; there will hardly ever again be a child with Down syndrome in Iceland” (Quijano, 2017). (read more...)

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Food (In)Security Under the Microscope

Leonardo Vilaça Dupin, Ana Paula Perrota, Rosângela Pezza Cintrão June 2, 2026
Este conteúdo também está disponivel em português.
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In November 2025, in Rio de Janeiro, the seminar (in)SAM — “Food (in)Security Under the Microscope: Rethinking the Relationship Between Food Systems, Microorganisms, and Sanitary Norms” — brought together researchers from different countries and professionals from various fields of knowledge for two days, with the aim of contributing to the development of inclusive sanitary norms for non-industrial food production. The panel discussions, which featured social science researchers and leaders from traditional peoples and communities, addressed topics such as: challenges for multispecies planetary health and for promoting food and nutritional sovereignty and security; food, microorganisms, and sanitary regulations; biopolitics in global food systems, agribusiness, and the production of large-scale (in)securities; and methodological and interdisciplinary challenges for research and regulations involving microorganisms. (read more...)

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Three girls sit together outdoors, leaning in to watch content on a smartphone held in one girl’s hand.

Domesticating Affordances: From Surveillance to Navigation of Interfaces, How Affordances Are Reappropriated across Contexts by Rural Indian Women

Debjani Chakraborty May 29, 2026
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Joginder Kaur (54) had no formal schooling. For her, phone calls  always  meant pressing the green button to receive a call. Dialling numbers or navigating menus were not part of that routine—until they became unavoidable. In came emojis, used to mark different people in her contact list: Birds, hearts, and just a smiley face. Each representing a new contact. (read more...)

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A colorful hammock, with red tones, is centered in the image and tied between two trees, in a forest setting, with a green hill and a blue sky with white clouds in the background.

Why Do We Weave Networks? Mapping the Common Territory of Latin American Feminist Anthropology of Science and Technology

Clarissa Reche May 27, 2026
Este conteúdo também está disponível em português.
Este contenido también está disponible en español.
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Continuing the series that began in 2025, this year we will present five more posts prepared for Platypus by researchers from the Latin American Network of Feminist Anthropology of Science and Technology (RAFeCT). You can learn more about the network in the introductory post and check out the other posts in this series here. (read more...)

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Introducing Citizen Technology: Ethnographic Insights from Makerspaces

Sandrine Lambert May 25, 2026
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When I first arrived at the makerspace known as Fab Casa del Mig, in the Sants neighborhood of Barcelona, I crossed a large urban park called La España Industrial. I later learned that the park occupies the site of a former textile factory with the same name. Walking through the park, I passed people walking their dogs, groups playing basketball or pétanque, and others simply spending time with their family there. At the end of the park stands Fab Casa del Mig, the last remaining building of this former industrial complex. Inside, there is a large makerspace. (read more...)

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Photograph of a building corner showing extensive wall damage with large cracks and exposed underlying material. The white exterior wall has multiple vertical and horizontal fractures, with visible rust stains and deterioration near the base. The image shows blue and grey skies and the wet concrete indicates it had previously been raining.

Becoming Experts: Activists Working Against Science Based on Misinformation

Kaitlyn Kathleen Rabach May 22, 2026
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In County Donegal, Ireland, an estimated 30,000 buildings are crumbling due to governmental and commercial mishandling of building materials such as concrete. A lack of urgency in governmental response has left homeowners living with severe mold, electrical risks, structural cracks and the impending threat of their homes collapsing, see image below. Homeowners have described living in these homes as being in a constant state of fear—fear their homes will crumble on top of them but also fear that the government they once trusted “to do right by them” will never fix their homes. (read more...)

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The image shows thin white lines on a black background, resembling overlapping star constellations. Small dots at the end of the lines contain the letters j, u, s, t, i, c, and e. When viewed more closely, the word ‘justice’ appears in different configurations.

“Tech-ing” the “Justice Gap” and/or (Re)imagining Access to Justice in Africa

Nicole Ahoya May 20, 2026
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“What would we say if a health system did not cure 60 to 70 per cent of health problems properly? And I can tell you more, this gigantic justice gap affects more people in the world than some of the big diseases we all know and read about – malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis!” a speaker exclaimed at an international conference called “Tech the Justice Gap” in 2020. Drawing a comparison between healthcare and access to justice, he continued, “5.1 billion unmet justice needs,” emphasizing that the lack of access to justice requires greater international attention. (read more...)

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An artificial embankment of black tarpaulin stretches across the image, against an arid gray landscape. The water level is low and white streaks are visible on against the black tarpaulin.

Salt: A Provocation

Jackie Ashkin, Alexander Foster, Madeline Augusta Turner May 18, 2026
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Salt. That everyday thing we use to season our meals, relax our muscles, or make our icy roadways safer to traverse. Salt is an inescapable part of human experience, and yet, as anthropologists, it often escapes our attention. In recent years, anthropologists have turned their attention to what Cymene Howe (2026) calls the ‘elemental’, referring to the objects and processes – often simultaneously both – that constitute the world. Ongoing environmental crisis means coming to experience the elemental in new ways, both within and around the body. Salt, or sodium chloride, is one of these elements. (read more...)

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A cameraperson from the film crew records the CyberKnife radiation therapy system.

Seeing, Acting, Believing: The CyberKnife and the Transformation of Medical Imaging

Thomson Chakramakkil May 14, 2026
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Dr. Sinha is the anti-Benjamin of our times. He asks his patients to believe in the aura of the machine. When I meet him in the treatment room at the corner of the Radiation Oncology wing on a Thursday afternoon—its ceiling painted blue with drifting, improbable clouds—he speaks in paragraphs, waxing lyrical about the CyberKnife’s precision. The CyberKnife’s industrial robotic arm, he tells me, is a direct import from the automobile assembly line. At his cue, the technologists in the control room set it in motion. The arm whirrs as it moves along three linear and rotational axes; it is designed to track the movements of the patient’s body in real time. Dr. Sinha walks me through each piece of the ensemble: the ceiling-mounted x-ray machines that track the tumour’s position, the large linear accelerator that charges the radiation beam, a phantom skull laid on the table for setting delivery coordinates. “High dose and minimal margins,” he insists, “is the future of radiation therapy.” (read more...)

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The image is a photomicrograph, taken through a microscope. It shows a hookworm larva.

Microbes and the Permeable Body: Rethinking Health Through the Holobiont

Bronte Jones May 12, 2026
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Donna Haraway opens When Species Meet with the proclamation that “human genomes can be found in only about 10 percent of all the cells that occupy the mundane space I call my body” (Haraway, 2007). The rest of the human body is comprised of bacteria, viruses, archaea and other microorganisms – largely invisible to the human eye, but nonetheless living on and within us. In recent years we have seen a proliferation of research and attention towards these microorganisms, particularly in the gut, skin, lungs, and mouth, with each comprising their own microbiome. Although this research is still developing, it is increasingly clear that these microorganisms may actually be fundamental to the development and functioning of human bodies. (read more...)

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Black and white dog standing behind a barbed wire fence, looking directly at the camera, with a blurred green rural background.

Animals in War: Multispecies Agency and the Memory of the Colombian Armed Conflict

Valeria Sánchez-Prieto May 6, 2026
Este contenido también está disponible en español.
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In one testimony from Colombia’s armed conflict, a parrot named Lola repeated the phrases she heard around her: “Paraco asesino” (“paramilitary murderer”), “Viva la guerrilla” (“long live the guerrilla”), and “The vultures are coming” Her voice condensed the sounds, fears, and political tensions of war into a multispecies archive of memory. Far from being passive witnesses, animals moved within the infrastructures of conflict as companions, alarms, transportation, and sometimes even weapons. Yet these violent incorporations are only the most extreme expression of a broader multispecies world of conflict. (read more...)

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An individual stands outside of an off-white building that reads ShanghART with Canontese characters below it. The individual is holding a piece of paper in their right hand and a mobile phone to their ear with their left. On both sides of the large entrance to the building, posters for art exhibits are prominently featured.

Making for the Feed: Creativity, Platforms, and Visibility in China

Christina Kefala May 4, 2026
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Creativity is often imagined as a deeply human capacity: a moment of inspiration, a flash of originality, or an individual act of expression. Yet in contemporary digital environments, creativity rarely unfolds in isolation from technological systems. Across creative industries, from fashion and design to visual media, branding, and online content production, creative work increasingly takes shape within infrastructures of platforms, software tools, and algorithmic systems. These technologies do not simply enable creativity; they actively shape how creative ideas are imagined, produced, circulated, and evaluated. (read more...)

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It is a three-dimensional network generated in TouchDesigner, where connecting the software to sound signals allows the image to react in real time, transforming its structure and movement according to variations in the audio.

What Would Happen if Ethnographers Learned to Process Signals?

Mauricio Baez May 1, 2026
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During my doctoral research, focused on neuroscience laboratories and their forms of engagement with other spaces in the city of Bogotá, Colombia, I have been observing how artists and researchers use different processes to modulate, transform, and process biological signals in order to create artistic works. This experience led me to try to learn how to use the same software they employ. I created a small piece that I would like to show, along with a brief presentation of some of the reflections that emerged from it. (read more...)

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Blood Circulation: Opening Up a Closed System

Awa Diagne April 29, 2026
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On any given day, at any given moment, blood flows through bodies, flesh and viscera, shaping our world from the inside out. The process is rather simple, I have been told: in the human body, blood is propelled by the heart, repetitively flowing from the right atrium and right ventricle, through the pulmonary system, into the left atrium, left ventricle, and aorta. It then unfurls into the rest of the body and back to our starting point, the right heart. (read more...)

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What’s in a Name?

Faridah Laffan April 27, 2026
Este conteúdo também está disponível em português.
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“My Dear Sir,” wrote Henry Fox Talbot one Wednesday in late 1870, “I am informed by Mr. Cooper that a new Society under your auspices is going to be…formed for the promotion of Egyptian and Assyrian Archæology and Biblical Chronology…It will perhaps be difficult to devise a suitable name for the Society, that of Syro-Egyptian being preoccupied. Perhaps Egypto-Chaldæan would do – I know nothing of the Syro-Egyptian beyond its name, but I suppose from the fact of your promoting a new society, that you think the Syro-Egyptian a failure.” Talbot was a British aristocrat and a scholar of Assyrian cuneiform, writing to Dr. Samuel Birch, keeper of Oriental Antiquities at the British Museum. The two men had corresponded about Assyrian antiquity for almost twenty years, working to decipher cuneiform texts stamped into ancient clay tablets. Birch’s response was swift. His new project would combine the Syro-Egyptian Society with another organization, the Chronological Institute, to create an expanded journal for “researches connected with Biblical lands.” (read more...)

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