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Word of the Day

Word + Quiz: anthropologist

: a social scientist who specializes in anthropology, or the study of human beings

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The word anthropologist has appeared in 158 articles on nytimes.com in the past year, including on April 25 in the Lens blog post “Abuelas Who Keep Mexico in Their Hearts” by David Gonzalez:

But, also like so many others, they learn life is never so simple. Years pass, plans change, they stay in New York and become abuelas, grandmothers. They awaken in their modest apartments — sometimes only a single rented room — surrounded by pictures of home, their children and their faith. Yet those cultural totems sustain them, easing a separation that spans decades. Cinthya Santos Briones knew these women when she worked as a community organizer in Brooklyn. As a photographer, she sought them out with this proposition: How would you like to be seen in a portrait? Their replies did not dwell on misfortune. Rather than the usual photojournalistic portrayals of beaten-down souls, these portraits let them present themselves as stoic, proud, happy or even sexy.

Her own perspective was formed not just by her experiences moving to this country from Mexico five years ago. Before that, she worked as an anthropologist and wrote about migration, doing her master’s thesis on members of an indigenous community from Veracruz who had settled in Flushing, Queens. She stayed after getting her degree and worked as a community organizer for an organization in Brooklyn. A request for a portrait from one of the women she knew there led to her project.

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A note from the Learning Network: This is our last edition of Word of the Day until mid-August, when we return with many of our regular features. Don’t forget to participate in our Summer Reading Contest, which runs from June 16-Aug. 25 and is open any week to any teenager anywhere in the world.

The Word of the Day and the quiz question have been provided by Vocabulary.com. Learn more and see usage examples across a range of subjects in the Vocabulary.com Dictionary.

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