Company Profile

Company Description:

SAPIENS is a digital magazine about everything human, seen through the lenses and stories of anthropologists.

In January 2016, we launched SAPIENS to bring together the voices of anthropologists who are eager to share the findings, ideas, and arguments of their field with a broad global readership. As people who study other people, anthropologists look to the past, present, and future and work closely with communities from all over the world to gain deep, challenging insights into what it means to be human. Yet all too often their work remains inaccessible to broader audiences outside of academia. SAPIENS is part of the movement to help change that.

Our purpose is to amplify anthropological insights to make a difference in how people see themselves and the people around them. We hope to make people more curious about their fellow humans and more empathetic about their experiences. We aim to provide critical insights into how human worlds work—and especially to address inequalities, injustices, and the harms we perpetrate against each other and our planet. We are committed to centering perspectives of scholars and voices from historically marginalized communities. We want to make anthropology matter more in the world.

Each year, about 5 million visitors come to the free magazine to dig deeper into the wonders and complexities of human biology, culture, history, and language. One day you might learn about the Neanderthals who created art, or about a tribe in Peru that invented its own sign language. Another day you might question whether humans are naturally generous, or read an interview with an anthropologist working to combat anti-Black racism in Brazil. We cover humankind’s labyrinthine relationships with politics, power, food, art, animals, race, nature, sex, sports, violence, technology, morality, and so much more.

What makes these stories unique is anthropology’s commitment to seeing people holistically and historically, explaining human behaviors and mindsets as contextual and contingent. The deeper context and nuance anthropology provides for understanding other people and places (and recognizing our connections to them) isn’t included enough in other media portrayals. Such an approach is vital in our present moment, with ongoing systemic inequalities, deepening political divides, and an intensifying global climate crisis.

We are a publication of the Wenner-Gren Foundation and published in partnership with the University of Chicago Press, while maintaining unconditional editorial independence.