Daniel Miller

Watched Euros in a field with thousands and then Elbow . One day a year like that might well see me right.

Latitude - going back to Kaiser Chiefs, Scouting for Girls and Sting. Discovered Chloe Qisha and Ralph Taylor.

Why on earth are governments still delaying the full recognition of a Palestinian state, specifically including Gaza? Now is surely the exact time when this must be proclaimed and defended. If Jews can have a state, then so must Palestinians and vice versa.

Sad to report the death of my colleague Michael Rowlands. Above all else, Mike was an intellectual. The embodiment of centuries during which universities were the places where humanity might achieve a deeper and broader understanding of itself and the world in which we live.

Delighted to announce The Anthropology of Retirement. Ed with Pauline Garvey With growing life expectancy, retirement is becoming equal to our entire working lives. It is not just an event but decades of change. In this book we consider the consequences. berghahnbooks.com/title/MillerAn…

Just finished The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk. It is a masterpiece and worthy of her Nobel Prize. But given my fondness for A Suitable Boy and The Dream of the Red Chamber, maybe I just like really really long books?

We have updated the webpages for the ASSA (Anthropology of Smartphones and Smart Ageing) project so you can see our films, cartoons, publications and general findings. We need this emphasis on the ubiquitous smartphone, instead of just social media. ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/r…

Currently, I am proofreading the book I have edited with Pauline Garvey on The Anthropology of Retirement. This will be coming out with Berghahn, hopefully in the not-too-distant future.

Very sad to hear of the death of Amadou Bagayoko. I saw Amadou and Mariam live on several occasions as they were one of my favourite bands.

Just to let you know that we have done an update to our website for the Centre for Digital Anthropology at UCL ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/r…

I am a supporter of the Labour Party and will vote for them in the forthcoming local election (for fear of worse), but I also must support Annaliese Dodds in resigning over this disgraceful proposed cut to overseas aid.

Just sent in the manuscript for our book Understanding China through Digital Anthropology, Edited by Daniel Miller and Xinyuan Wang. To be published by UCL Press. Very happy with the amazing contributions that I think really challenge the meaning of the word digital.

Recommend a new publication by one of my colleagues Yathu Yogarajah - Staging’ divinatory economic performances: Comparing startup and MLM cryptocurrency projects. In Journal of the Royal Anthropological Society rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/14…

Went to an excellent talk last night by Paula Bialski about her book Middle Tech which I strongly recommend—an Ethnographic study of software engineers.

Many congratulations to Haichao Wang for her excellent PhD on the impact of digital technologies on the Muslim Hui population of Xi'An China. Delighted also that Haichao is currently a lecturer in our department.

Cooking for our monthly drop in for refugees and asylum seekers reminded me of Marianne Faithfull's powerful song Broken English. If you don't know it, give it a listen, in memory of her.

My student showed me yesterday that DeepSeek is rather more complimentary about me and my work than ChatGPT. You are welcome to draw whatever conclusion you like from that.

At last, there are some scientists prepared to speak out against all the rubbish that is constantly being published about the impact of social media. theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2…

The film A Real Pain shows just why it is so important to ponder and seek direction, especially for those questions that are ultimately unanswerable. And it's fun.