Matthew Wolf-Meyer

The cover of Mapping Medical Anthropology for the 21st Century. It features black, bold text that runs the course of the cover from top to bottom. Behind the text is a red, veiny image. Maybe it's a bent knee? Maybe it's some other joint? It's purposefully obscure and fleshy.

I'm so pleased to share the cover of Mapping Medical Anthropology for the Twenty-First Century. I've been working on this for the past few years with @eraikhel.bsky.social and Junko Kitanaka for @rutgersupress.bsky.social, and it will finally be available in April 2026! Read more: bit.ly/46zEzOF

“No Future”: A Lexicon If the future hasn’t changed in the past, how could it possibly change now?

In a new series at PB, Systems & Futures section editor Matthew Wolf-Meyer (@mw-m.bsky.social) introduces “No Future”: A Lexicon.

Throughout the week, contributors will explore the question: Can we reject the future?

“No Future”: A Lexicon If the future hasn’t changed in the past, how could it possibly change now?

Anxiety about the future is nothing new. As @mw-m.bsky.social writes, “Rejecting future’s seeming inevitability has defined thought and practice around the world, likely for the whole of human history.”

Our new series “No Future”: A Lexicon, begins today:

“No Future” Lexicon: The Post-Post-Apocalyptic - Public Books But what lies beyond the end of the world? Casting off the trappings accreted by the post-apocalyptic genre emerge stories of the post-post-apocalyptic.

"Offering distance and difference in vantage, the post-post-apocalyptic allows the imaginary lens to recenter its focus on a freed moment in time, along with its sovereign, mutable future.”

A new essay up at @publicbooks.bsky.social for a new series edited by @mw-m.bsky.social: shorturl.at/WdMDg

Visions of a Caring Economy A new book explores what it would look like to build an economy that places care and caregiving work at the forefront.

This piece in New City is an abbreviated version of the introduction of Proposals for a Caring Economy--it'll give you a sense of the tone and content of the book, which I hope is welcoming and provoking for readers from all sorts of backgrounds: nextcity.org/urbanist-new...

It's true! After a few years of work and waiting, this little book is here--suitable for use in intro anth and sociology classes, and a remedy for evidence-free policy proposals (I've been telling people it's like reading the @nytimes.com editorial page, but with actual evidence!).

Yesterday, I received a rejection on an article revision, which relied entirely on a peer review provided by a very cranky and mean Reviewer #2. Today, I wrote the editors of that journal an email encouraging them to exercise their editorial power and not send along useless and mean peer reviews.

I agree with all of what @rcolesworthy.bsky.social says here--and am also bad at it. I--probably like a lot of academic authors--am at war with myself about being more of a self-promoter, but I tend to blame it on my introversion rather than self-promotion squeamishness. Maybe they're the same?

I have a new piece in Lateral--on subjunctive grief. It started years ago when I was working on Unraveling and then languished during the early pandemic. But now it is here, thanks to generous peer reviewers and the editors at Lateral: doi.org/10.25158/L14...

Contributions from @audretaughtme.bsky.social, David Hughes, Stephanie Delise Jones & Damien Sojoyner, @ratnagiri77.bsky.social, Katy Overstreet, Michelle Parsons, Adair Rounthwaite, & @eyatesd.bsky.social. On: epidemiology, carbon-reduction, carcerality, sustainable ag, art access, open borders!

The image includes two copies of the book Proposals for a Caring Economy, one resting atop the other, askance in its orientation. The cover is crimson, with the text in white.

It's (nearly) officially here: Proposals for a Caring Economy. It's full of thoughtful and thought-provoking pieces that take centering care as the basis of social organization, from everyday institutions to geopolitical relations. Thanks @uminnpress.bsky.social!

Registration is Open for May Events | Society for Disability Studies Get more from Society for Disability Studies on Patreon

On May 30-31, the Society for Disability Studies is hosting two author-focused events with @drrobertchapman.bsky.social, Faye Ginsburg, and Rayna Rapp (and diverse panels of commentators). Registration is open and free. www.patreon.com/posts/regist...

If you have a book proposal that might be right for them and I might be the right person to help you with it, get in contact: as an editor-at-large, I work with authors on developing their proposals, identifying the right editor to send it to, and provide support during the revision process.

If you need a dose of sincerity from me, this video has it! It's such an honor and pleasure to work with @uminnpress.bsky.social -- a press I idolized as a grad student (the THL series! posthumanities! theory out of bounds!) and have found so much support through as an author. Excelsior!

A new issue of Catalyst is out, including a piece from me on #bioethics and #disability. It draws on memoirs from #autistic authors and fleshes out a cybernetic theory of disability to argue against for more attention to atypical forms of communication. It's argumentative! doi.org/10.28968/cft...

You can request an exam copy here: www.upress.umn.edu/request-exam... (But it won't be out until late May/early June--still plenty of time to prepare to use it in the fall)

It's from @uminnpress.bsky.social and features @audretaughtme.bsky.social, David McDermott Hughes, Stephanie Delise Jones, @ratnagiri77.bsky.social, Katy Overstreet, Michelle Parsons, Adair Rounthwaite, Damien M. Sojoyner and @eyatesd.bsky.social. Recommend it to your friends and family!

"Proposals for a Caring Economy" would make a great inclusion in an #anthropology or #sociology class where you're trying to get students to think about social priorities and their consequences. It covers farmers, artists, women's and homeless shelters, immigration, energy transitions, and more!

Proposals for a Caring Economy Offers much-needed care models beyond capitalist constraints For too long, questions of care provision and inclusion have been shaped by economic justificati...

"Proposals for a Caring Economy" comes out this spring. I often hope that a book will become irrelevant by the time it's published. Sadly, this little book is more relevant than ever. It offers a set of ethnographically-driven policy recommendations, suitable for any reader. bit.ly/4iS1tUS

Hey! I had a conversation with two fellow #microbial travelers-- Amber Benezra and Gloria Chan-Sook Kim--about our recent (and very different) forays into microbial worlds. Maybe you'll enjoy listening to it? It includes a lot of shit talk (for better and worse!) and feeling disgusted!

Forget Care - Anthropology News Peter sits on a chaise lounge with a clear vessel full of a shake he’s about to drink. He holds it up to show its brownish-red color and thick

I wrote a piece for #anthropology news about middle theories of care as a way to advocate for diverse needs—maybe you’ll enjoy it? www.anthropology-news.org/articles/for...

Oh no! I have to do a ton of work on it… but, yes!, I’m glad you’re digging into it!

I have a chapter about the origins of the “fussy eater” in the book I’m working on right now—they’ve been with us for a very long time!

Everything I Needed to Unlearn I Learned from Sid Meier’s Civilization I’ve been playing Sid Meier’s Civilization my whole video-game-playing life. If you don’t know it, it’s a slow strategy game that models the origins of “civilization&#…

Thanks for the plug! I'd be happy to do it. You're probably thinking of this: matthewwolfmeyer.com/2019/05/22/e...

The deadline for these jobs is quickly approaching (Jan 10)! #design #equity #technology

Algren's "Man with the Golden Arm"?

Is the aim to give them a first-person account of using? Or some lit that's important for its role in drug history? Or both? I drift toward Philip K. Dick and Can-D (in "3 Stigmata") for doing both; but maybe Ken Kesey? Or Carlos Castaneda? (I wonder what contemporary students would make of them)

If you think my recent “American Disgust” might fit (broadly conceived), I’d be happy to do it. It has a long section on planetary health as an outgrowth of settler colonial human-environment thinking and tries to put environmental stewardship and self-care discourses into dialogue

My pleasure! If you/we can get more applicants to read it, that would be amazing

So You’re Applying to Graduate School (in Anthropology) Applying to graduate school can seem daunting, but if you take it step by step it doesn’t need to be so. But this means starting the process early — like a year before you plan on apply…

I wrote this years ago, which has a section on preparing personal statements (that I still think is true): matthewwolfmeyer.com/2012/08/12/s...