Sherry Ortner

Power is not just about domination; it's about the production of meaning.

Ethnography is a form of storytelling that reveals the complexities of human life.

Feminism in anthropology has transformed our understanding of kinship and social organization.

The body is a site of cultural inscription.

Agency is always constrained by structure, but it can also transform it.

Nepal's Sherpas teach us about the interplay between religion and economy.

Ritual is not just symbolic; it is a practice that structures social relations.

Globalization has reshaped the local in profound ways.

Climbing Everest is a cultural phenomenon as much as a physical one.

Anthropologists must confront their own positionality in the field.

Resistance is never pure; it is always entangled with power.

The personal is political in the practice of anthropology.

Teaching anthropology is about igniting curiosity about the human condition.

Hierarchy is the grammar of social inequality.

Culture acts upon individuals, but individuals also act upon culture.

Women's voices have been marginalized in anthropological narratives.

The erotic is a dimension of power in cultural politics.

Fieldwork is a transformative experience that blurs the line between observer and observed.

Anthropology reveals the diversity of human possibilities.

Social change occurs through the dialectic of structure and agency.