Welcome to The Familiar Strange, an anthropology social engagement project. We are no longer producing new content; this website serves as a digital archive of blogs and podcasts produced between 2017 and 2025.

Please bear with us as we are in the process of rearranging the archive to ensure content remains available.

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TFS was co-founded by four anthropology PhD scholars at the Australian National University: Julia Brown; Jodie Trembath; Ian Pollock; and Simon Theobald.  Our core team members of Familiar Strangers expanded to include: Matthew Phung; Deanna Catto and Alexander D’Aloia. The project thrived thanks to many others associated with ANU Anthropology.

We were proudly brought to you with the support from the Australian Anthropological Society, the American Anthropological Association, and the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific, the College of Arts and Social Sciences, and the Centre for Public Awareness of Science. 

You might first be asking, “what is anthropology?” We define anthropology as the pursuit of uncommon knowledge about humans and culture. It can, and should, happen everywhere. Instead, it’s mostly been estranged, to ‘field sites’ and the Ivory Tower. There are plenty of misconceptions about what anthropologists do, what they know, and why anyone should care.

So, we’re here to make what anthropologists know and do familiar. We also want to pull anthropologists out of their sub-disciplinary pigeonholes. It’s a time of jarring social and political change. No one has the luxury of ignoring that. We ask anthropologists to bring their tools to bear, to help each other and the world make some sense.

Together, let’s make the strange familiar, and the Familiar Strange.

Thanks for your curiosity in stopping by,

– Your Familiar Strangers