Engaged Anthropology, Development and the Meanings of Violence with Dr Lyndsay McLean

Engaged Anthropology, Development and the Meanings of Violence with Dr Lyndsay McLean

In this episode of Field Notes: The Sussex Anthropology Podcast, Sana Batool speaks with Dr Lyndsay McLean about engaged anthropology, international development, feminist research and social justice. Drawing on more than two decades of work across academic, practitioner and consultancy spaces, Lyndsay reflects on what anthropology can bring to development practice: a deeper attention to context, lived experience, language, power and the meanings people give to violence, harm and recovery. The conversation moves through her own non-linear route into anthropology, her work in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the importance of participatory research when working on sensitive subjects such as gender-based violence, discrimination and wellbeing. Together, Sana and Lyndsay ask what it means to do anthropology that is critical but also useful; careful but engaged; rooted in people’s everyday worlds rather than only in institutional categories or donor language.

Visual Storytelling, Memory and Afghanistan with Moska Najib

In this episode of Field Notes, the Sussex Anthropology Podcast, Dr Syeda Sana Batool, Assistant Professor of Visual Anthropology at University of Sussex speaks with Moska Najib, a writer, photographer, editor and communications professional whose work moves across journalism, multimedia production, visual storytelling and public communication. Born in Afghanistan and educated in India and Switzerland, Moska reflects on how movement, exile and diaspora have shaped her understanding of identity, belonging and narrative responsibility. The conversation explores what visual storytelling can hold that conventional reporting often misses: memory, texture, ambiguity, dignity and the quieter afterlives of conflict. Moska speaks about Afghanistan beyond the dominant frames of war, crisis and geopolitics, asking what it means for Afghans to tell their own stories and why narrative ownership matters. The episode also discusses the ethics of representation, the role of photography in producing knowledge differently, and Moska’s recent work as part of the Afterlives of Non-Muslim Asia project, including the visual strand Belonging Flexibly. You can explore Moska Najib’s visual work from the project here: Belonging Flexibly [https://www.belongingflexibly.com/about]

Labour, Inequality and the Human Lives Behind Global Fashion with Dr Rebecca Prentice

In this episode of Fieldnotes: The Sussex Anthropology Podcast, Dr Syeda Sana Batool speaks with Dr Rebecca Prentice, Associate Professor of Anthropology and International Development at the University of Sussex, about labour, inequality and the global garment industry. Drawing on her research in Bangladesh, Dr Prentice discusses what anthropology reveals about garment work that is often missed in economics, policy and media coverage: the everyday lives, voices and political agency of workers. The conversation explores the long aftermath of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, the limits of compensation and transnational labour regulation, and why justice for workers cannot be separated from worker power on the ground. The episode also turns to Dr Prentice’s recent work on climate change and “just transition” in the garment sector, asking who is included — and who is left out — when industries move towards greener futures. Through questions of embodiment, precarity and radical empathy, the conversation shows why anthropology remains vital for understanding global supply chains, labour injustice and the human experiences behind the clothes we wear every day.

Field Notes: Bedel, Belonging, and Queer Kurdish Life with Dr Emrah Karakuş

In this episode of Field Notes, host Sam speaks with Dr Emrah Karakuş about queer and trans Kurdish life, intimacy and affect as political terrains, and the ethical stakes of ethnographic research. From a working-class Kurdish background to an interdisciplinary anthropological journey, Dr Karakuş reflects on how care, struggle, obligation, and belonging shape both scholarship and lived experience. The conversation explores the Kurdish concept of bedel—the cost, sacrifice, and responsibility carried in collective struggle—and asks what it reveals about queer and trans lives, political community, and the meaning of freedom. The episode also touches on fugitive ethnography, visibility and danger, and what it means to treat Kurdish histories and concepts not just as subjects of study, but as theory. Read more about his work here: https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p666622-emrah-karakus [https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p666622-emrah-karakus]

Listening to the Body: Health, Inequality and Anthropology with Dr Elizabeth Mills

In this episode of Field Notes: The Sussex Anthropology Podcast, Sana Batool speaks with Elizabeth Mills, Associate Professor in Anthropology and International Development at the University of Sussex. Beth reflects on how she first found anthropology in South Africa during a time of HIV activism and political urgency, and how that experience shaped her lifelong commitment to understanding health, gender, precarity and policy. The conversation explores Beth’s research across South Africa, the UK, the US and Yemen, looking at how policies and institutions shape everyday embodied experiences of inequality. She discusses why anthropology and international development belong in conversation with one another, and how methods such as participatory photography, film and body mapping can reveal what words alone often cannot. From HIV activism and state neglect to reproductive justice, queer family-making and the politics of care, this episode offers a powerful reflection on what it means to hold systems accountable while staying close to lived experience. It is also a hopeful conversation about students, teaching, and why anthropology still matters in making sense of urgent social worlds. Contact Dr Elizabeth Mills here: https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p226593-elizabeth-mills [https://profiles.sussex.ac.uk/p226593-elizabeth-mills]