@danilynrutherford.bsky.social
Anthropologist, author, supporter of other scholars’ work. Professor turned funder. Books on nationalism, sovereignty, and colonial state building in West Papua and disability and mystery in the US. Interested in everything.
So honored to read from Beautiful Mystery in the company of this great group of performers, writers, filmmakers, and ethnographers! If you're in Atlanta, join us. @dukepress.bsky.social
Register at forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon...
Register at forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon...
September 18, 2026 at 5:15 PM
So honored to read from Beautiful Mystery in the company of this great group of performers, writers, filmmakers, and ethnographers! If you're in Atlanta, join us. @dukepress.bsky.social
Register at forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon...
Register at forms.cloud.microsoft/pages/respon...
So excited to talk about Gather with my wonderful colleagues, Ashanté Reese (the author of this beautiful, important book), and Anand Pandian (the author of Something Between Us). This is our third conversation! Buy Gather if you haven't. And register to join us! sarweb.org/date/gather-...
Gather: Black Food, Nourishment, and the Art of Togetherness - School for Advanced Research
Book talk: Author Ashanté Reese will be joined in discussion by colleagues Danilyn Rutherford, president of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research and Anand Pandian, Krieger-Eisenhowe...
sarweb.org
September 11, 2026 at 10:56 PM
So excited to talk about Gather with my wonderful colleagues, Ashanté Reese (the author of this beautiful, important book), and Anand Pandian (the author of Something Between Us). This is our third conversation! Buy Gather if you haven't. And register to join us! sarweb.org/date/gather-...
Reposted
This Wednesday, September 2, you're invited to Coffewar in Jakarta to hear @danilynrutherford.bsky.social, author of “Beautiful Mystery,” in conversation with Andamar Pradipa, Tony Rudyansjah, and Dadi Darmadi. buff.ly/FlsJPKV
August 31, 2026 at 5:00 AM
This Wednesday, September 2, you're invited to Coffewar in Jakarta to hear @danilynrutherford.bsky.social, author of “Beautiful Mystery,” in conversation with Andamar Pradipa, Tony Rudyansjah, and Dadi Darmadi. buff.ly/FlsJPKV
At Wenner-Gren, we're accepting proposals for Symposia! If you'd like to be considered as the organizer of a Foundation-hosted meeting, we'd love to hear from you.
wennergren.org/article/call...
wennergren.org/article/call...
Call for Proposals: Wenner-Gren Symposium Spring 2028
The Wenner-Gren Foundation is now accepting proposals for our Spring 2028 symposium.
wennergren.org
August 25, 2026 at 5:29 PM
At Wenner-Gren, we're accepting proposals for Symposia! If you'd like to be considered as the organizer of a Foundation-hosted meeting, we'd love to hear from you.
wennergren.org/article/call...
wennergren.org/article/call...
II'll be in Canberra on August 31 to talk about disability, signatures, and what it means to be a political actor. And Beautiful Mystery. Thanks, Cate Frieman and Carly Schuster - I’m so honored and excited!
genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/events/2026-...
genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/events/2026-...
genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/events/2026-...
genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/events/2026-...
2026 Anthony Forge Memorial Lecture: "Just Sign for Her" - Proprioception and Consent | Gender Institute
This upcoming lecture is co-sponsored by the ANU Gender Institute and the School of Archaeology and Anthropology and is free to attend. Register your attendance through Humanitix to stay up to date wi...
genderinstitute.anu.edu.au
August 22, 2026 at 10:08 PM
II'll be in Canberra on August 31 to talk about disability, signatures, and what it means to be a political actor. And Beautiful Mystery. Thanks, Cate Frieman and Carly Schuster - I’m so honored and excited!
genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/events/2026-...
genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/events/2026-...
genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/events/2026-...
genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/events/2026-...
The U.S. Relies on Family Caregivers. Millions of Them Are Kids. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/m...
The U.S. Relies on Family Caregivers. Millions of Them Are Kids.
The modern health care system requires the work of caregiving to fall to whoever else lives in a household — even if they’re kids.
www.nytimes.com
August 5, 2026 at 12:45 PM
The U.S. Relies on Family Caregivers. Millions of Them Are Kids. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/m...
Reposted
July is Disability Pride Month! Check out our most recent titles in disability studies, including books by @danilynrutherford.bsky.social, @perryzurn.bsky.social, & @jmcmaster29.bsky.social.
buff.ly/fQbSwei
buff.ly/fQbSwei
July 15, 2026 at 1:06 PM
July is Disability Pride Month! Check out our most recent titles in disability studies, including books by @danilynrutherford.bsky.social, @perryzurn.bsky.social, & @jmcmaster29.bsky.social.
buff.ly/fQbSwei
buff.ly/fQbSwei
My piece on diagnosis, disability, lifespan, and music came out today in the Huffington Post! Thanks to everyone who helped me write it -- including Millie. @dukepress.bsky.social
www.huffpost.com/entry/rare-g...
www.huffpost.com/entry/rare-g...
My Profoundly Disabled Daughter Isn’t Able To Speak, Walk Or Feed Herself. I’ve Had To Make Peace With Not Knowing Why.
“She’d had a normal birth and what looked like a normal early infancy.”
www.huffpost.com
May 9, 2026 at 12:52 AM
My piece on diagnosis, disability, lifespan, and music came out today in the Huffington Post! Thanks to everyone who helped me write it -- including Millie. @dukepress.bsky.social
www.huffpost.com/entry/rare-g...
www.huffpost.com/entry/rare-g...
Reposted
NEW EPISODE: How do you care for someone you struggle to communicate with & can never fully understand?
That's the question @danilynrutherford.bsky.social has been wrestling with for decades — ever since it became clear that her daughter would never speak, sign or use symbols to express herself.
That's the question @danilynrutherford.bsky.social has been wrestling with for decades — ever since it became clear that her daughter would never speak, sign or use symbols to express herself.
May 8, 2026 at 1:54 PM
NEW EPISODE: How do you care for someone you struggle to communicate with & can never fully understand?
That's the question @danilynrutherford.bsky.social has been wrestling with for decades — ever since it became clear that her daughter would never speak, sign or use symbols to express herself.
That's the question @danilynrutherford.bsky.social has been wrestling with for decades — ever since it became clear that her daughter would never speak, sign or use symbols to express herself.
Very excited to have had a chance to talk to Anita Rao on Embodied. And the episode is out (and airing) today! @dukepress.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
pod.link/1525727534/e...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
pod.link/1525727534/e...
How A Mother Learned To Connect Without Language
Podcast Episode · Embodied · May 7 · 50m
podcasts.apple.com
May 8, 2026 at 3:44 PM
Very excited to have had a chance to talk to Anita Rao on Embodied. And the episode is out (and airing) today! @dukepress.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
pod.link/1525727534/e...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...
pod.link/1525727534/e...
Less than a week away! Thanks again, Kim Locke, Vicki Brennan, and Jeanne Shea. So excited to be getting back to Vermont!
April 30, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Less than a week away! Thanks again, Kim Locke, Vicki Brennan, and Jeanne Shea. So excited to be getting back to Vermont!
Very smart piece by Thurka Sangaramoorthy in the Washington Post today. Amen.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | This degree changed my life. And it’s essential to a changing America.
Anthropology taught me how to translate human experience into knowledge institutions can act on.
www.washingtonpost.com
April 27, 2026 at 7:32 PM
Very smart piece by Thurka Sangaramoorthy in the Washington Post today. Amen.
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Beautiful Mystery is coming to Vermont Thanks to my beloved cousin, Kim Locke, and the wonderful scholars, Vicki Brennan and Jeanne Shea for making this happen. We'll be talking about my book on Wednesday, May 6, 5-7 pm at South Burlington Library. @dukepress.bsky.social
April 11, 2026 at 5:35 PM
Beautiful Mystery is coming to Vermont Thanks to my beloved cousin, Kim Locke, and the wonderful scholars, Vicki Brennan and Jeanne Shea for making this happen. We'll be talking about my book on Wednesday, May 6, 5-7 pm at South Burlington Library. @dukepress.bsky.social
Reposted
“Any time I had a concept, I had to buy it with a story”
writewhatyoulike.substack.com/p/interview-...
@danilynrutherford.bsky.social @kwissoker.bsky.social
writewhatyoulike.substack.com/p/interview-...
@danilynrutherford.bsky.social @kwissoker.bsky.social
Interview with Danilyn Rutherford
You don't get abstractions for free
writewhatyoulike.substack.com
March 19, 2026 at 3:59 PM
“Any time I had a concept, I had to buy it with a story”
writewhatyoulike.substack.com/p/interview-...
@danilynrutherford.bsky.social @kwissoker.bsky.social
writewhatyoulike.substack.com/p/interview-...
@danilynrutherford.bsky.social @kwissoker.bsky.social
Check out my friend Shannon Dawdy's new Substack! Chronoscope shannonleedawdy.substack.com?r=6mx7x&utm_...
Chronoscope | Shannon Lee Dawdy | Substack
Weird times. I write about contemporary life through the lens of archaeology. Histories behind the headlines, artifacts of our time, pre-industrial skills we need, futurist anthropology. MacArthur Fel...
shannonleedawdy.substack.com
March 14, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Check out my friend Shannon Dawdy's new Substack! Chronoscope shannonleedawdy.substack.com?r=6mx7x&utm_...
I'm coming to Madison, Wisconsin, the town where I grew up! I'll be talking to Krisjon Olson, a fabulous medical anthropologist and disability scholar, about my book on March 2 from 6-7 pm at Room of One's Own, 2717 Atwood Avenue. Here's the link: roomofonesown.com/event/2026-0...
Beautiful Mystery by Danilyn Rutherford in Conversation with Krisjon Olson
This is an in-person event at A Room of One's Own Bookstore.
roomofonesown.com
February 24, 2026 at 9:55 PM
I'm coming to Madison, Wisconsin, the town where I grew up! I'll be talking to Krisjon Olson, a fabulous medical anthropologist and disability scholar, about my book on March 2 from 6-7 pm at Room of One's Own, 2717 Atwood Avenue. Here's the link: roomofonesown.com/event/2026-0...
So grateful to Don Kulick for this lovely, generous review of Beautiful Mystery -- ahead of print in Language in Society.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Danilyn Rutherford, Beautiful mystery: Living in a wordless world Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2025. Pp. 240. Hb. $30. | Language in Society | Cambridge Core
Danilyn Rutherford, Beautiful mystery: Living in a wordless world Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2025. Pp. 240. Hb. $30.
www.cambridge.org
February 10, 2026 at 10:54 PM
So grateful to Don Kulick for this lovely, generous review of Beautiful Mystery -- ahead of print in Language in Society.
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
It was so much fun to talk about Beautiful Mystery, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin's wonderful Animal Crossing: New Horizons with Megan Moodie and Donna Haraway -- and now there's a recording available! Thanks, UCSC Humanities Institute!
thi.ucsc.edu/nurturing-di...
thi.ucsc.edu/nurturing-di...
Nurturing Difference - Parenting and Disability in a Careless Age
In an increasingly careless world where cruelty is celebrated and disability mocked, these two highly-readable scholars remind us that beautiful relationships of compassion, connection, communication,...
thi.ucsc.edu
February 9, 2026 at 7:35 PM
It was so much fun to talk about Beautiful Mystery, and Noah Wardrip-Fruin's wonderful Animal Crossing: New Horizons with Megan Moodie and Donna Haraway -- and now there's a recording available! Thanks, UCSC Humanities Institute!
thi.ucsc.edu/nurturing-di...
thi.ucsc.edu/nurturing-di...
Reposted
Thank the Big Beautiful Bill. New federal work requirements for SNAP begin this week, stripping long-standing exemptions for veterans, foster youth, and some parents. An even greater hunger crisis looms.
Trump’s SNAP rules are about to imperil food access for millions
New work rules take effect this week, cutting access to one of the nation’s most vital anti-hunger programs.
www.motherjones.com
January 31, 2026 at 10:03 PM
Thank the Big Beautiful Bill. New federal work requirements for SNAP begin this week, stripping long-standing exemptions for veterans, foster youth, and some parents. An even greater hunger crisis looms.
So honored to be part of Field Studio's launch! I'll be appearing with some fantastic thinkers and writers: Bridget Guarasci, Aisha Beliso-De Jesús, Sophia Stamatopolou-Robbins, and Laurence Ralph. @dukepress.bsky.social
field-studio.org/shop/classes...
field-studio.org/shop/classes...
Field Studio Launch - Field Studio
To celebrate the official launch of Field Studio, we are holding a very special online book reading and conversation featuring five writers and
field-studio.org
January 27, 2026 at 8:44 PM
So honored to be part of Field Studio's launch! I'll be appearing with some fantastic thinkers and writers: Bridget Guarasci, Aisha Beliso-De Jesús, Sophia Stamatopolou-Robbins, and Laurence Ralph. @dukepress.bsky.social
field-studio.org/shop/classes...
field-studio.org/shop/classes...
Reposted
Grateful to have contributed to this story, whose headline—"She's 14 and she's moved 26 times"—says everything about the human toll of America's brutal, disastrously broken housing system.
She’s 14 and she’s moved 26 times. The US housing crisis has families like hers ‘running in place’
Outside Atlanta, the Godfreys are caught in a cycle of job loss and eviction. That stress has implications for the kids
www.theguardian.com
January 26, 2026 at 2:57 PM
Grateful to have contributed to this story, whose headline—"She's 14 and she's moved 26 times"—says everything about the human toll of America's brutal, disastrously broken housing system.
So excited to share a stage with @n-w-f.bsky.social
-- whose book is beautiful and so illuminating -- not to mention @djeanneh.bsky.social and @megancmoodie.bsky.social. Thanks so much to Megan, for her hard work making this happen, and to the Humanities Institute for hosting us.
-- whose book is beautiful and so illuminating -- not to mention @djeanneh.bsky.social and @megancmoodie.bsky.social. Thanks so much to Megan, for her hard work making this happen, and to the Humanities Institute for hosting us.
January 15, 2026 at 4:10 AM
So excited to share a stage with @n-w-f.bsky.social
-- whose book is beautiful and so illuminating -- not to mention @djeanneh.bsky.social and @megancmoodie.bsky.social. Thanks so much to Megan, for her hard work making this happen, and to the Humanities Institute for hosting us.
-- whose book is beautiful and so illuminating -- not to mention @djeanneh.bsky.social and @megancmoodie.bsky.social. Thanks so much to Megan, for her hard work making this happen, and to the Humanities Institute for hosting us.
Reposted
Next week I'll be joining @danilynrutherford.bsky.social at UC Santa Cruz to talk about our new books with @djeanneh.bsky.social and Megan Moodie. It'll be a mix of the scholarly and personal, with two experiences of parenting and disability at the core
thi.ucsc.edu/event/nurtur...
thi.ucsc.edu/event/nurtur...
Events for January 2026 – The Humanities Institute
thi.ucsc.edu
January 12, 2026 at 5:58 PM
Next week I'll be joining @danilynrutherford.bsky.social at UC Santa Cruz to talk about our new books with @djeanneh.bsky.social and Megan Moodie. It'll be a mix of the scholarly and personal, with two experiences of parenting and disability at the core
thi.ucsc.edu/event/nurtur...
thi.ucsc.edu/event/nurtur...
Reposted
"These days, so much turns on our collective ability to open ourselves to new ways of being with one another. This is the first lesson from Millie's world: You don't have to be the same to be close." This extraordinary new book by Danilyn Rutherford is such a moving and compelling read.
January 13, 2026 at 7:58 PM
"These days, so much turns on our collective ability to open ourselves to new ways of being with one another. This is the first lesson from Millie's world: You don't have to be the same to be close." This extraordinary new book by Danilyn Rutherford is such a moving and compelling read.
In a few hours, I get to talk to Anand Pandian and Ashanté Reese about Beautiful Mystery! So excited. If you have a minute at 1 Eastern, 10 Pacific, here's the link:
sarweb.org/date/beautif...
sarweb.org/date/beautif...
Beautiful Mystery: Living in a Wordless World - School for Advanced Research
Book Talk | Author Danilyn Rutherford will be joined in discussion by colleagues Anand Pandian, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, and Ashanté Reese, Associate P...
sarweb.org
January 13, 2026 at 3:51 PM
In a few hours, I get to talk to Anand Pandian and Ashanté Reese about Beautiful Mystery! So excited. If you have a minute at 1 Eastern, 10 Pacific, here's the link:
sarweb.org/date/beautif...
sarweb.org/date/beautif...