Alexandra Arkhipova. Interactive Lecture-Game 4 September 2026

Alexandra Arkhipova is a Doctor of Science, a social anthropologist, and a visiting lecturer at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) from 2024 to 2026.

Social anthropology —the study of the development of societies and the individuals within them—is not taught in schools (and that’s a shame!). Yet it was social anthropologists and folklorists who made the discoveries that changed our world: research on remote islands led to our sexual revolution; the study of fairy tales and myths taught Hollywood screenwriters how to create blockbusters; an understanding of magic has influenced modern consumer culture; and the study of rituals has revolutionized our understanding of economics.

What is an interactive lecture-game? Audience members use a QR code to anonymously answer the lecturer’s questions from their phones. The audience’s responses are immediately displayed on the screen as voting charts, tag clouds, lists of phrases, and so on.

This allows the lecturer to comment on the responses and build upon them in the course of the presentation, while the audience acts as active participants in the dialogue.