Why I used sheep entrails to predict the Trump era
Predicting Donald Trump’s presidency via sheep entrails must rank among the most unusual exercises in academic outreach ever undertaken. But it is just one way Dr Selena Wisnom has brought her Assyrian research to the wider world.
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"Wisnom argues that reading the literature is not enough: "There are all kinds of things you can understand better if you try it than if you just read about it,' she says – an assertion that any teacher of ovine anatomy would second. She chose political prediction because in Assyria divination was a vital political tool. 'They would ask things like, "Is there going to be a rebellion in the south? Is the chief eunuch going to take the throne?"
Understanding the role that etiquette plays in regulating individual interactions and group cohesion can provide new insights into how and why cultures evolve.
Matti Matti grew up in Ankawa, an Assyrian area outside of Erbil. He’s witnessed the town change dramatically as Iraq’s Assyrian population has collapsed.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office has declined to file hate crime charges in the widely publicized Santana Row assault case involving Assyrian-American defendant Bruneil Henry Chamaki and two co-defendants, despite months of media speculation and public pressure.
Dr Selena Wisnom
