BielefeldANTHRO Book Podcast

The BielefeldANTHRO Book Podcast features discussions of new and classic books in anthropology with the authors who are either anthropologists based at Bielefeld University's Faculty of Sociology or our guest scholars.

Our inaugural episode with Professor Arjun Appadurai on his book Banking on Words: The Failure of Language in the Age of Derivative Finance is expected in May 2026, and we strive to release a new episode every two to three months.

Each episode offers listeners an overview of the featured book and the thought process behind it. Our goal is to highlight outstanding scholarship on real-world issues and make anthropology more accessible to a wider audience.

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Latest episodes

#3 Sandhya A.S., "Agents of migration: Institutional embeddedness of labour brokerage in Nepal" (2026)

‧ 51m 35s

Sandhya A.S. new book unpacks how migration brokerage in Nepal is not just about individual actors but a complex market shaped by states, policies, and social legitimacy. In this episode you will hear about stories of migrants, the blurred lines between legality and legitimacy, and the forces that structure trust, stigma, and vulnerability. Our guests also reflect on how crises like COVID-19 reveal the fragility and adaptability of these markets, and what that means for policies and migrant welfare.

#2 Zhenwei Wang, "Kinship across distances: Gender, generat…d class dynamics in Chinese translocal families" (upcoming)

‧ 34m 23s

Zhenwei Wang´s book originated from her doctoral dissertation at Bielefeld University's Faculty of Sociology, which was awarded the annual Dissertation Prize by Universitätsgesellschaft Bielefeld (UGBi) in 2026.

#1 Arjun Appadurai, "Banking on Words: The Failure of Language in the Age of Derivative Finance" (2015)

‧ 46m 30s

Renowned anthropologist Arjun Appadurai and our host Hairuo Jin are discussing Appadurai´s classic book "Banking On Words: The Failure of Language in the Age of Derivative Finance".