The 2025 Clifford Geertz Commemorative Lecture was given by Professor Mahmoud Mamdani, the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University. Burr 219 was packed, literally standing room only, for his lecture, simply titled "Homelands. In this talk, part of a work in progress, Mamdani encourages us to think about what lies behind the idea of homeland; does it mean a place of origin or a place of destination? Can homelands be multiple? Settlers, natives, these, Mamdani suggests, are modern categories that emerge and make sense only in the context of the modern idea of the nation-state (which must be understood historically). Carolyn Rouse, Ritter Professor of Anthropology and President-Elect of the American Anthropological Association was the discussant. Homelands and natives, Mamdani tells us, are modern, colonial constructs. The real state of humanity is one of migration.