Ritual is one of the oldest, and certainly most enigmatic, threads in the history of human culture. It presents a profound paradox: people ascribe the utmost importance to their rituals, but few can explain why they are so important. Apparently pointless ceremonies pervade every documented society, from handshakes to hexes, hazings to parades. Before we ever ... Show More
Apr 2025
Amy Zhang, "Circular Ecologies: Environmentalism and Waste Politics in Urban China" (Stanford UP, 2024)
After four decades of reform and development, China is confronting a domestic waste crisis. As the world's largest waste-generating nation, the World Economic Forum projects that by 2030, the volume of household waste in China will be double that of the United States. Starting in ... Show More
1h 7m
Yesterday
Katie Barclay, "The Kiss: A History of Passion and Power" (Reaktion Books, 2025)
The Kiss: A History of Passion and Power (Reaktion, 2026) by Professor Katie Barclay tells the surprising history of our most intimate gesture: the kiss. Richly illustrated, it explores a millennium of kisses, asking how and why the kiss has retained its power over the centuries, ... Show More
31m 30s
May 3
Arely M. Zimmerman, "Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders" (U Arizona Press, 2026)
Contentious Citizenship: Salvadoran Activism and Belonging Across Borders (U Arizona Press, 2026) reshapes how we understand belonging, identity, and political participation in the context of migration. Drawing on decades of Salvadoran activism from the 1980s solidarity movement ... Show More
23m 24s
Dec 2022
An Ancient Solution to Modern Problems
<p>People in every country and culture mark important milestones, such as births, marriages and deaths, with intricately choreographed scripts. We even appeal to supernatural forces to give our favorite sports teams an extra advantage. This week on the show, anthropologist <a hr ... Show More
51m 34s
Sep 2024
This Harvard Professor Studies Our Weird Rituals
Whether clinking a glass with a friend, blowing on a cake, touching wood for good luck or tapping the plane before boarding, most of us have at least one weird ritual. Today’s guest, Harvard Professor Mike Norton, studied them for years. In today’s Nudge episode, he shares his fi ... Show More
31m 15s
Mar 2023
How Rituals Attach us to our Communities with Dimitris Xygalatas, Ph.D.
"If you randomly assign people in two groups and you give them different insignia or you have them go through different practices, as we saw in this study, they come to like each other more. It's very easy to create this basic sense of belonging and identity. Ritual is particular ... Show More
56m 54s
Feb 2025
Rituals
This episode explores the importance of rituals in relationships, emphasizing how they create trust, connection, and predictability between partners. Whether it is daily acts, like greeting each other after work or having a bedtime routine, or larger, less frequent traditions, li ... Show More
45m 45s
Jul 2024
Episode 539: The Dullness and Comfort of Rituals
<p>We all have our beloved rituals, the things we do that center us, that comfort us, that make us feel that all is right with the world. It can be anything from the way we prepare and enjoy our favorite morning beverage, to walking our dog the same route every day, to watching a ... Show More
40m 2s