Building on the John Templeton Foundation’s new initiative, “Cultural Evolution for the Future of Humanity,” the award-winning, editorially independent digital magazine SAPIENS proposes the “Writing for the Future of Humanity Project.” This project has three key anticipated outcomes: (1) Deepening the public’s understanding of how cultures are transforming in the face of global challenges, (2) Cultivating a new and diverse generation of anthropologists and allied scholars in the craft of public scholarship, and (3) Elevating SAPIENS as a platform for anthropologists to share their research on the nature of humanity to a global public audience.
This three-year project will highlight different sub-themes: The Wisdom of World Cultures (2022); The Impacts of Technology (2023); and Global Challenges, Cultural Opportunities (2024). Each year, SAPIENS will partner with project partners (academic and university institutes) to hold a competitive fellowship program for a cohort of 10 anthropologists. The fellows will participate in an in-depth course and be mentored in the craft of public writing and science communication. Each fellow will publish at least one SAPIENS article (translated into Spanish, French, and Portuguese) and one popular article beyond SAPIENS, and participate in one SAPIENS podcast episode. To magnify the fellowship program, SAPIENS will build an open, free, and permanent online training module that will provide guidance on the process of successfully publishing in non-academic outlets. Additional outputs will be workshops and a Quarterly Keynote lecture presented by renowned editors, both open for all scholars and exclusive with partners. At the project’s conclusion, outputs will include 30 SAPIENS articles (+90 translated), 30 articles pitched to external venues, 30 podcast episodes, at least 20 workshops, 16 Quarterly Keynotes, and a permanent free online training module in public writing.
