9: Tina Harris on What Pilots Do When Technology Fails, and Why Cows Matter in Aviation

Anthropologist Tina Harris studies aviation - flying - in countries like Nepal, where landing strips are short and the weather can change quickly from clear skies to dangerous storms. How do pilots and aviation staff navigate safe flights? It's not through the type of high-tech you might expect, discovers Harris. Learn how cows, birds, and old-fashioned cellular phones help travelers safely reach their destination.   Tina Harris is Associate Professor of Anthropology and a member of the Moving Matters research group at the University of Amsterdam. She holds a PhD from the City University of New York Graduate Center, and her research focuses on aviation, infrastructure, cross-border mobility, and the circulation of commodities across borders. She is the author of Geographical Diversions: Tibetan Trade, Global Transactions (University of Georgia Press, 2013), is co-Managing Editor of Roadsides journal, and is one of the main organisers of the Asian Borderlands Research Network.

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Join anthropologist Roanne van Voorst and her guests during fieldwork in Inuit villages in Greenland, poor riverbank-settlements in Indonesia, or the buzzling city of Amsterdam. While she shares the wisest lessons that she learned in the field - often from unexpected teachers -, you will hear the sounds that surround her: chirping snow, a street musician playing the guitar, singing birds, or a noisy traffic road. In anthropology, the ‘emic’ perspective means the insider’s perspective. During fieldwork, anthropologists try to understand the perspective of the people who live within a specific group, or subculture in society. Want to learn more about Roannes' fieldwork, see her notes, photos or drawings from the field? Then subscibe to her monthly letters at www.anthropologyofthefuture.com/the-emic The podcast includes guest episodes from fellow anthropologists, or other listeners: if you want to share your 'emic' moment (see this file: https://anthropologyofthefuture.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Emic-radioplay-instructions.pdf for an explanation), you may send Roanne a 5 minute audio recording of your story - the most beautiful ones are produced by Roanne and her team into a radioplay, where we will add sounds to your voice!