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AAA's flagship journal, with more than one million article downloads each year. The journal advances research on humankind in all its aspects, encompassing archaeological, biological, sociocultural, and linguistic research.

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Open Anthropology is the digital-only, public journal of the AAA. Recent issues of Open Anthropology have explored Pandemic Perspectives, Hearing Women Talk, and Walls, Fences, and Barriers: Anthropology on the Border

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Being in-between “to return or to stay”: exploring the experiences of urban displaced people in Mozambique’s Pemba

The province of Cabo Delgado, located in the north of Mozambique, has been inflicted by the conflict and terrorist actions since 2017. The threats they pose, and the unfolding fragility of the security situati...

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Concepts of illness etiology in a traditional medical system: analysis of philosophy of Aruh and healing ritual as ethnomedicine

The process of recovering from a disease can vary among ethnic groups, culminating in distinct medical systems. Indonesia, an archipelagic country with over a thousand ethnicities, requires extensive research ...

The power of museums with ethnographic collections: two cases in Brazil

“The Power of Museums” was the General Conference on the central theme of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) in 2022 (Prague). This article aims to discuss the ability of ethnographic collections to c...

Recent developments in anthropological methods for the study of complex societies

The focus of traditional anthropology has been on the “simple and primitive” tribal societies that still exist. The question of how anthropology can carry on to study complex civilizations, especially those wi...

Embodied spirituality: Shaolin martial arts as a Chan Buddhist practice

This paper explores the intersection of spirituality and martial arts through an in-depth examination of Shaolin Kung Fu as practiced within the Shaolin Monastery in Henan Province, China. Conducting fieldwork...

A way out of the predicament of social sciences in the 20th century: a dialogue with Clifford Geertz’s essay “Thick description: toward an interpretive theory of culture”(Part II)

Clifford Geertz’s essay, “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture” comprehensively explored the basic problems encountered in the theoretical efforts of 20th century social sciences. As a r...

The predicament of social sciences in the 20th century: a dialogue with Clifford Geertz’s essay “Thick description: toward an interpretive theory of culture” (Part I)

The theorization of social sciences in the 20th century walked forward with difficulty. Clifford Geertz’s essay, “Thick description: Toward an interpretive theory of culture”, which comprehensively explored th...

American evangelical nationalism: history, status quo, and outlook

Evangelical nationalism is a new manifestation of American nationalism in the twenty-first century. Internally, it advocates the integration of national identity and Christian faith, claiming that “America is ...

Gulewamkulu institutional and organizational factors influencing community development projects in the area of T.A. Chauma in Dedza District, Malawi

The aim of the study is to analyze Gulewamkulu organizational and institutional factors and how they can influence community development projects in the area of TA (TA: Traditional Authority). Chauma, Dedza Di...

COVID-19, multiple emergencies, and moral entanglements: extraordinary and transcendental moral worlds as a new analytical framework

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a multitude of complex emergencies, extending beyond the realm of health and healthcare. The situation presented a significant challenge to human security . The content analysis a...

Chinese anthropology and ethnology: the fifth way of anthropology and ethnology in the world

Chinese anthropology and ethnology studies are shaped by diverse schools of thought, including Western anthropology, classical Marxist ethnic theory, the Soviet school of ethnology, and Chinese experience and ...

Supporting the development of ethnic groups with smaller populations: the policies and practices of the Chinese government

Development is a fundamental pursuit of human society. When it comes to national governance, there are issues of imbalanced and insufficient development that must be addressed. Since 1949, when the People’s Re...

Research on anti-poverty efforts in China’s ethnic minority areas since the 1970s

Poverty remains a significant global challenge, despite ongoing efforts throughout history to address it. China’s fight against poverty, as part of global poverty governance efforts, has yielded valuable insig...

A momentary lack of rituals: urban festivities cancelations in Geneva, Turin, and Zurich during the COVID-19 lockdowns

Rituals of territorial belonging as established practices of inclusion improve dynamics of belonging and coexistence. They are particularly significant in the city where people need rituals to trust each other...

Intrinsic conflicts within ethnic and religious issues in France

In contemporary France, there are intense conflicts that involve both ethnic and religious issues. These conflicts provide an opportunity to study the many challenges involved in the construction of national c...

Yang Kun’s academic shifts: from the French Annales School to Marxist ethnology

As one of the first generation of Chinese Ethnologists, Yang Kun witnessed the development of Chinese ethnology in the twentieth century. Since his return from France in 1931, he had devoted almost 70 years be...

Tim Ingold and Object-Oriented Anthropology

Tim Ingold, while extending the radical undertaking of vitalism, with its Nietzschean matrix, puts the decentering undertaken by this philosophical tradition on a more solid foundation, opening up a new space ...

The making of dispensable subjects in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia: the relocation of the Gich community as an example

The Simien Mountains National Park’s (SMNP) exoneration from the List of World Heritage Endangered is the recent story of the park. It is in September 2017 that the park has restored its place in UNESCO. Signi...

Language evolution and computational capabilities: conceptualization of the first language units

This work addresses from the perspective of evolutionary pressure, the delicate issue of the mechanisms and causes that are behind the emergence of the faculty of language among early Homo sapiens ancestors. I...

Parenting in context: parents’ experiences of caring for a child with autism in Bangladesh

Although research on children with autism, their parents, and family-provider relations has substantially increased around the world, there has been a paucity of qualitative studies conducted on autism in deve...

The logic between nature and culture: food in the wedding traditions across East Asia

Based on the author’s fieldwork in China and Japan, literature research and the study of specimen materials and video data on weddings of ROK, Japan and China, which are collected by the Japan National Museum ...

Tourists’ engagement in cultural attractions: an exploratory study of psychological and behavioural engagement in indigenous tourism

This research explores international tourists’ engagement with Māori indigenous tourist attractions in New Zealand. In-depth interviews with 18 international tourists were conducted after their visits to the W...

The western and non-western dichotomization of time in anthropology

Early anthropological analyses of time produced Western vs. non-Western dichotomies of time. Later on, anthropology gradually shifted from a modernist to relativist and postmodernist tones in the analyses of t...

Key considerations in the analysis of the development of social anthropology in Spain

The objective of this article is to present a brief overview of the long history of anthropology in Spain. Of primary importance is positioning this history both within Spain’s wider social and political conte...

Emerging subdisciplines in ethnology and anthropology of Serbia: research trends at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade

This article presents the in-depth analysis of the disciplinary landscape of ethnology and anthropology in Serbia within the institutional contexts of humanities and social sciences. Focusing on the Department...

Indigenous institutions as adaptive measures to environmental dynamics: an ethnographic study of Loba Community of Upper Mustang, Nepal

This paper investigates how different institutions of Loba communities of the Upper Mustang work together and facilitate the community to cope with the environmental dynamics in the region. The indigenous inst...

The role of social networks for combating COVID-19 pandemic: a study with reference to the Chinese new immigrants in Germany

Social network theories are used extensively to analyze the international migration of Chinese to overseas regions in the era of Market Economy Reform since 1978. Attention is paid especially on the role of so...

Historical and current developments in ethnology and anthropology of Serbia

The article sets to present the historical and current developments in ethnology and anthropology of Serbia. The first part is devoted to the historical overview which portrays the development of the disciplin...

Khangchiu: the youth dormitory of Liangmai Naga

This paper is an attempt to highlight the significance of youth dormitory system of the Liangmai Naga of Manipur. This traditional institution played a vital role in imparting value education and maintaining t...

On equalization of fundamental education in Tibet: a case study on the trend of conditions of primary and middle schools running

Based on public data such as the Educational Statistics Yearbook and the National Statistics Yearbook, this paper analyzes the equalization trend of fundamental education in the Tibet Autonomous Region (herein...

The origins, characteristics and trends of neo-nationalism in the 21st century

The rise of neo-nationalism has been an important political phenomenon since the 21st century. Neo-nationalism is not a single form of nationalism. It is not only a generalization of a specific type of nationa...

Anthropology and ethnic studies, Iran

For writing this invited paper, I was given the title Ethnic Groups of Iran and I was also asked to inform the reader/audience about the general situation of anthropology in the country. Specific questions wer...

A historical sketch of cultural anthropology in Japan: associations, museums, research projects and textbooks

The aim of my presentation is to introduce a brief history of anthropological studies in Japan, particularly focusing on the associations, museums, research projects and textbooks. As for associations, I will ...

Theoretical exploration of Chinese anthropology and ethnology: the road to construct the Chinese School

This paper starts with the four factors that affect Chinese anthropology and ethnology: the Soviet school of ethnology, Marxist ethnology, Western anthropological and ethnological theories, and Chinese experie...

A case study of the construction of inter-embedded multi-ethnic community of urban migrants in Nanyang

As the domestic interprovincial migrants, Uygur traders have been engaged in the Hetian jade trade from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the city of Nanyang in Henan Province. Having lived in the private re...

Mobility and interlinkage: the transformation and new approaches for anthropological research

Mobility and interlinkage have become the most important characteristics of our time. The mobility and interlinkage of people, material and information constitute the way and rules of the operation of today’s ...

Perception of climate change in Bangladesh: local beliefs, practices and responses

There is a clear need for an understanding of the perceptions of climate change among those whose lives are most affected to inform national discourse and in particular, development and implementation of adapt...

Hunters and fowlers in the Tungabhadra Plains of Andhra Pradesh, South India: an ethnographical study of Nir Sikaris

Hunting and gathering, which date back to the Middle Pleistocene, are the oldest sources of sustenance. Practically, these hunting and gathering societies have gradually expanded their settlements and culture ...

Anthropology of tourism: practical and theoretical development in China

This paper examines the origins, developments and new trends of anthropology of tourism in China through a comparison between China and the West. Chinese anthropologists have, since the end of the last century...

The development, paradigm and academic values of enterprise anthropology—the “fourth revolution” of anthropology

As an emerging interdisciplinary field in anthropology, enterprise anthropology (EA) has experienced five historical stages of development since its inception in the 1930s. 2008 marked the first year of intern...

Livelihood first: guidelines and policies concerning ethnic trade in the early days of the People’s Republic of China

Since its founding, the People’s Republic of China has been committed to promoting the development of ethnic minorities in all aspects, including officials training, governance building, economy and trade, cul...

Miaodigounization and Erlitounization: the formation and evolution of the Hua-Xia ethnic group and Hua-Xia tradition from the perspective of archaeology

What is Hua-Xia? How and when did the Hua-Xia ethnic group and Hua-Xia tradition come into being? As the spatial and temporal framework, the connotative features and the genealogy of the archaeological culture...

Development of and reflections on ecological anthropology in China

Ecological anthropology in China has a history of more than 70 years, and can be divided into four stages. The first stage was in the 1950s, which began with China’s identification of minzu and socio-historical s...

Sweeteners are not always sweet: the social and economic consequences of the growing demand for sugar in Ethiopia

This article explores the recent increase in the demand for sugar in Ethiopia, and the ways in which the distribution and sale of sugar have been manipulated for political gain after the country’s demand outst...

Mutual cultural consciousness between “ Ge ” and “ Ju ”: Fei Hsiao-tung’s cultural perspective on the pattern of unity in diversity and the community of a shared future for mankind

Facing the new era, we should re-examine and understand the theory of “the pattern of unity in diversity of the Chinese nation” put forward by Fei Hsiao-tung from the historical and cultural perspectives, whic...

Ethnic Politics in China

The development of Ethnic Politics in China can date back to 80 years ago. As of today, its disciplinary system and norms have been established in a systematic approach, and many significant academic achieveme...

Age groups of De’ang people from a comparative perspective: a case study of De’ang people in Yunnan Province, China

Based on comparison between age sets in Africa and the social age structure of the Dai people in China, this paper examines the forms, functions and evolution of the age groups of the De’ang people in Yunnan P...

Beyond multiculturalism: revisioning a model of pandemic anti-racism education in post-Covid-19 Canada

Canada was the first country in the world to establish multiculturalism as its official policy for the governance of diversity. Canadian multiculturalism has gained much popularity in political and public disc...

Achievements, experiences and challenges of the battle against poverty in China’s ethnic minority areas: focusing on the “three areas and three prefectures”

The incidence of poverty in three of China’s provinces (Qinghai, Guizhou and Yunnan) and five of its autonomous regions (Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Tibet, Ningxia, and Xinjiang) is greater than the national aver...

The Chinese path of integration and development among all ethnic groups from a comparative perspective between China and the west

By comparing five aspects between China and the West—ideas, model of political participation, path of economic and social development, pattern of protection of language and culture rights, and construction of ...

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Flanagan, Mariah Camille (2017)  The religioscape of museums: understanding modern interactions with ancient ritual spaces .Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Merante, Monica M (2017)  A universal display? Investigating the role of Panathenaic amphorae in the British Museum . Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Deemer, Susanna (2016) Between Capitulation and Overt Action: An Ethnographic Case Study of the Chinese American Student Association at University of Pittsburgh. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Devlin, Hannah (2016)  Compositional analysis of Iroquoian pottery: determining functional relationships between contiguous sites.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Gallagher, Anna (2016)  The Biderbost site: exploring migration and trade on the social landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Hoadley, Elizabeth (2016)  Discrimination and modern Paganism: a study of religion and contemporary social climate.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Johnson, Rachel (2016) Households and Empire: A pXRF Study of Chimu Metal Artifacts from Cerro la Virgen. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Kerr, Jessica (2016) Mountain Dew and the Tooth Fairy: The Influence of Parent/child Relationships, Consumption Habits, and Social Image on Dental Caries in Rural Appalachia. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Kulig, Shannon (2015)  What were the elites doing? understanding Late Classic elite practices at Lower Dover, Belize. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Kulig, Shannon (2015) Pottery at the Cayuga Site of Genoa Fort. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Ojeda, Lauren (2015) The Syndemic Nature of Mental Health in Bolivia. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Paglisotti, Taylor (2015) Gender, Sexuality, and Stigma: A Case Study of HIV/AIDS policy and discourse in Rural Tanzania. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Wasik, Kayla (2015) Understanding Activities and Purposes: An Analysis of Ground Stone from the Parker Farm and Carman Iroquoian Sites. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Bugos, Eva (2014)  “That’s what I look to her for:” a qualitative analysis of interviews from the Young Moms: Together We Can Make a Difference study.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Deahl, Claire (2014) A Study of Veterans Communities in Pittsburgh. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh. 

Fetterolf, Michael (2014) Healing Alzheimer’s. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Liggett, Sarah (2014) Creating an Armenian Identity: The Role of History, Imagination, and Story in the Making of ‘Armenian’. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Marler, Adrienne (2014) Illness Perceptions in Patients with Hepatobiliary Cancers. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Radomski, Julia (2014)  “Hay que cuidarse”: family planning, development, and the informal sector in Quito, Ecuador. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Siegel, Nicole (2014) The Bathhouse and the Mikvah: The Creation of Identity. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Zhang, Zannan (2014) Functional Significance of the Human Mandibular Symphysis. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Chastain, Stephen (2013) The origin of the Mongolian steppe and its role in the adoption of domestic animals: paleoclimatology and niche construction theory. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Ferguson, Kayla (2013) The Use of English in Tamil Cinema. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Johnston, Graham (2013) Play, Boundaries, and Creative Thinking: A Ludic Perspective. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Willison, Megan (2013)  Understanding gendered activities from surface collections: an analysis of the Parker Farm and Carman Iroquoian sites.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Zajdel, Evan (2013)  Narrative threads: ethnographic tourism, Romani tourist tales, and fiber art.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Conger, Megan (2012) Considering Gendered Domains in Iroquois Archaeology: A Comparative Approach to Gendered Space in Central New York State. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.   

Fisher, Isaac (2012) Return of the Gift: Food Not Bombs and the Radical Nature of Sharing in the Society of Engineered Scarcity. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Neely, Sean (2012)  Spaces of becoming and being: the nature of shared experience in Czech society from 1918 to 1989. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Rodriguez, Eric A. (2012)  Profitability and production in 19th century composite ships: the case study of the Austrian vessel, the Slobodna.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Bednar, Sarah E. (2011) Use and Perception of Teotihuacan Motifs in the Art of Piedras Negras, Tikal, and Copan. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Pallatino, Chelsea Leigh (2011)  The Evolution of La Donna: Marriage, Motherhood, and the Modern Italian Woman. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Barca, Kathryn G. (2010) An Analysis of Iroquois Pottery Function at the Parker Farm Site (UB 643): Comparisons between Two Structures. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Cannon, Joshua Warren (2010)  Textile Production and Its Implications For Complex Social Organization.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Rodriguez, Erin Christine (2010)  Obsidian in Northern Ecuador: A Study of Obsidian Production and Site Function in Pambamarca.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Rodriguez, Erin Christine (2010) Households and Power among the Pre-Contact Iroquois. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Wicks, Emily (2010) From Use to Disuse: A Study of Pottery Found in Households and Middens at Two Cayuga Sites, Parker Farm (UB 643 and Carman (UB642). Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

MacCord, Katherine (2009)  Human Skeletal Growth: Observations from Analyses of Three Skeletal Populations.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Nichols, Teresa A (2009)  Declaring Indigenous: International Aspirations and National Land Claims Through the Lens of Anthropology.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Sporar, Rachael E. (2009) Bones Say It Best: Bioarchaeological Evidence for the Change European Colonialism Brought to the Indigenous Peoples of North America. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Stacy, Erin Michele (2009)  Stable Isotopic Analysis of Equid (Horse) Teeth from Mongolia.  Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Sudina, Tony (2008) The Utilitarian Characteristics of Iroquois Pottery Vessels. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Browne, Nathan C. (2007) An Architectural Analysis of Longhouse Form, Spatial Organization, and an Argument for Privatized Space in Northern Iroquoia. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Melly, Caroline M. (2007) Strategies of Non-African Development Agencies and Their Implications for Cultural Change in Nigeria.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Sadvari, Joshua W. (2007) Dental Pathology and Diet at the Site of Khirbat al-Mudayna (Jordan). Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Haines, Allison (2006) Assessing Osteophytosis in the Nubian Neolithic. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

O’Donnell, Kathryn (2006) Gendered Identity in Transitioning States: Women’s Reproductive Health Activism in Berlin. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Prakash, Preetam (2006) Relationships between Diet and Status at Copan, Honduras.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Birmingham, Katherine (2005) Retracing the Steps of Iroquois Potters: Highlighting Technical Choice in Iroquois Ceramic Studies.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Colatrella, Brittany (2005) From Hopelessness to Hopefulness: A personal dialogue on ending generational poverty. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Long, Autumn (2005) The Ethos of Land Ownership in a Rural West Virginia County: An Ethnographic Account.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Richter, Stephen (2004) Anasazi Cannibalism in the American Southwest: A Site-By-Site and Taphonomic Approach.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Sulosky, Carrie (2004) The Effects of Agriculture in Preceramic Peru.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Wiseman, Natalie (2004) Religious Syncretism in Mexico.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Hamm, Megan (2003) Egyptian Identity Vs. "The Harem Hootchi- kootch": Belly Dance in the Context of Colonialism and Nationalism in Egypt.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Michalski, Mark (2003) Anthropological Fact or Fiction: A Critical Review of the Evidence For and Against the Existence of Cannibalism in the British Navy.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Mueller-Heubach, Oliver Maximillian (2003) The Moravian Response to a Changing America as Seen Through Ceramics.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Shock, Myrtle (2003) Comparison of Lithic Debitage and Lithic Tools at Two Early Contact Period Cayuga Iroquois villages, the Parker Farm and Carman Sites.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Steinman, Joanna (2003) Feng Shui.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Strauss, Amy (2003) Greek Neolithic figurines from Thessaly.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Thompson, Ross (2003) Study of Arsenic in Hopi Artifacts.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Whitehead, Jeffrey (2003) We Owe It All to the Iroquois? Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Boswell, Jacob (2002) A Study of Changing Context: Adapting Eastern Medicine to a Western Setting. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Persson, Ann S. (2001) A Beacon of Restoration: Archaeological Excavations at the John O'Neill Lighthouse Keeper's Residence, Havre de Grace, Maryland.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Unice, Lori Ann (2001) Dental Health Among the Monongahela: Foley Farm Phase II.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Asmussen, Heidi (1998) Toward an Understanding of Iroquois Plant Use: archaeobotanical material from the Carman Site, a Cayuga village in central New York.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Rockette, Bonny (1998) Huari Administrative Architecture: A Space Syntax Approach.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

West, Kate (1997) Faunal Analysis of the Carman Site: a Cayuga village site in central New York.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Norejko, Jay (1996) The Most Diverse Fauna of Plesiadapiformes (Mammalia: Primatomorpha) Ever Sampled from the Clarkforkian Land Mammal Age.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Kasperowski, Kris (1995) Stone Tool Manufacture at the Carman Site.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Montag, Michelle (1995) Lithic Debitage Analysis of the Carman Site.  Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

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Cultural anthropology.

Cultural Anthropology publishes ethnographic writing informed by a wide array of theoretical perspectives, innovative in form and content, and focused on both traditional and emerging topics. It also welcomes essays concerned with ethnographic methods and research design in historical perspective, and with ways cultural analysis can address broader public audiences and interests.

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Vol. 39 No. 1 (2024)

We present six original papers in this issue as well as the inaugural guest commentary.

When the Society for Cultural Anthropology selected our distributed, international editorial collective to lead Cultural Anthropology , they did so in part to support our commitment to opening channels of this crucial platform of our discipline beyond the scope of privileged, endowed higher educational institutions in the United States. As one step of this process, in this issue we provide space to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to describe their work since the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990. As Deanna L. Byrd, the NAGPRA Liaison-Coordinator and Research and Outreach Program Manager of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and Ian Thompson, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, writes, since that time, “Native American communities gained a measure of say in how ancestral burials are treated on federal lands. The law also established a mechanism to help Native American, Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian communities have open dialogue with institutions across the country about the return of their ancestors, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.” 

In dialogue with critical disability studies, Eliza Williamson zooms in the everyday practices of Bahian mothers with children diagnosed with Congenital Zika Syndrome. Mothers, she shows, assert their children’s personhood by refusing their medically diagnosed lack of futurity through what she defines as habilitative care: “a bodymind potentializing set of practices” involving a myriad of “substances, technologies and techniques understood to encourage maximum potential development of embodied abilities in young disabled children.”

Leniqueca Welcome delves into unaccounted forms of violence on and in those “who occupy the category of poor black woman in Trinidad” to develop a “capacious, relational and historically layered” approach to entangled forms of gender-based violence and life searching. In so doing, a sharp critique of the masculinist state and legacies of colonial extraction emerges.

By spending time with loggers, timber industrialists, and state technocrats across Peru’s Amazonian region of Loreto, Eduardo Romero Dianderas tracks technical maneuvers and political controversies around timber volumetric calculation. Far from a mathematical abstraction, his ethnography invites us to think that the practice of volume-making—scaling, standardizing, and accounting for timber—is a contact zone in which “power, history and bodily experience” saturate a crucial operation for global environmental governance.

Focusing on demonstrations held outside Yangon, Myanmar, in favor of a plan to build a New Yangon City, Courtney Wittekind’s article intervenes in the binaries of “truth” versus “falsity” and “genuine” versus “fake” to advance an anthropological theorization of demonstration, speculation, and spectacle.

For centuries, the Curse of Ham, the originary anti-Black myth of the Abrahamic faiths, functioned as the foundational and legitimating narrative of white supremacist ideology across the African continent. To Justin Haruyama’s disconcertment, this was also the narrative invoked by some of his Zambian informants to explain the predicament of Black people today. In his paper for this issue, Haruyama stages a conversation with Black liberation theology to suggest that these narratives articulated, however, a profound refutation of liberal egalitarianism and, from the situated premises of a transnational Zambian perspective, put forward an alternative vision for a decolonial abolitionist anthropology.

In his article, Ramy Aly interrogates the anthropology of ethics and revolution in dialogue with a phenomenological and situated account of the 2011 January Egyptian Revolution. He does it through the experiences and narratives of those that were too young to take part in street protests and political movements but for whom the revolution still takes precedent in everyday practices of self-making.

Cover and table-of-contents image by Eduardo Romero Dianderas.

Guest Commentary

No stone unturned.

Habilitating Bodyminds, Caring for Potential: Disability Therapeutics after Zika in Bahia, Brazil

On and in their bodies: masculinist violence, criminalization, and black womanhood in trinidad, volumes: the politics of calculation in contemporary peruvian amazonia, “take our land” : fronts, fraud, and fake farmers in a city-to-come, anti-blackness and moral repair: the curse of ham, biblical kinship, and the limits of liberalism, the ordinariness of ethics and the extraordinariness of revolution: ethical selves and the egyptian january revolution at home and school, curated collections.

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Biological anthropology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Biological anthropology is the subdiscipline of anthropology that investigates the origins and evolution of hominins. Techniques include both the analysis of fossils and the behaviour, morphology and genetics of living humans.

Language evolution in China

The impetus behind the development of various Chinese dialects is as yet unknown. In a comprehensive quantitative coanalysis of linguistic and genetic data across China, Yang et al. find evidence to suggest that demographic diffusion, cultural diffusion and linguistic assimilation all contributed to the expansive diversity of Chinese dialects.

• Chuan-Chao Wang

Ethnohistorical analysis suggests that endurance running evolved with persistence hunting

Humans are unusually adept at endurance running, due in part to specialized muscle fibres and heat elimination by sweating. Cost–benefit analyses and an ethnohistorical survey of hunting methods suggest that these features could have evolved through the pursuit of evasive species until they are overcome with exhaustion and easily dispatched.

Latest Research and Reviews

Ethnography and ethnohistory support the efficiency of hunting through endurance running in humans

Using foraging theory and ethnohistoric data, the authors’ analysis supports the hypothesis that the human ability to sweat while running long distances evolved in the context of persistent, endurance-based pursuits of game.

• Eugène Morin
• Bruce Winterhalder

Large-scale lexical and genetic alignment supports a hybrid model of Han Chinese demic and cultural diffusions

By digitizing a large lexical dataset of Chinese dialects and comparing it to genetic profiles, Yang et al. reveal a hybrid model of language diffusion, consisting of both population migrations and social learning across different regions of China.

• Chengkun Yang
• Xiaoxi Zhang
• Menghan Zhang

Understanding the genomic heterogeneity of North African Imazighen: from broad to microgeographical perspectives

• Laura Vilà-Valls
• Amine Abdeli
• David Comas

New Late Pleistocene age for the Homo sapiens skeleton from Liujiang southern China

Here the authors provide new radiocarbon, U-series, and OSL dates for Homo sapiens fossils from Tongtianyan cave, southern China, placing them at 33-23 thousand years ago and indicating widespread presence of Homo sapiens across eastern Asia in the Late Pleistocene.

• Qingfeng Shao

Deep-time phylogenetic inference by paleoproteomic analysis of dental enamel

Ancient proteins carry genetic information from fossils that are too old or degraded for ancient DNA recovery. This protocol describes the extraction and tandem mass spectrometry sequencing of million-year-old dental enamel proteins for phylogenetic inference.

• Alberto J. Taurozzi
• Patrick L. Rüther
• Enrico Cappellini

Diversity-dependent speciation and extinction in hominins

In an analysis of how biotic interactions regulate hominin evolutionary dynamics, the authors show that speciation is negatively related to species diversity in Australopithecus and Paranthropus , in the same way that it is in many other vertebrates, whereas the genus Homo is characterized by positive diversity-dependent speciation and negative diversity-dependent extinction.

• Laura A. van Holstein
• Robert A. Foley

News and Comment

The bioethics of skeletal anatomy collections from india.

Millions of skeletal remains from South Asia were exported in red markets (the underground economy of human tissues/organs) to educational institutions globally for over a century. It is time to recognize the personhood of the people who were systematically made into anatomical objects and acknowledge the scientific racism in creating and continuing to use them.

• Sabrina C. Agarwal

Signalling Palaeolithic identity

The sense of belonging to a larger group is a central feature of humanity but its identification in Palaeolithic societies is challenging. Baker et al. use a pan-European dataset of personal ornaments to show that these markers of group identity form distinct clusters that cannot be explained simply by geographical proximity or shared biological descent.

• Reuven Yeshurun

A broader cultural view is necessary to study the evolution of sexual orientation

The causation of sexual orientation is likely to be complex and influenced by multiple factors. We advocate incorporating a broader cultural view into evolutionary and genetic studies to account for differences in how sexual orientation is experienced, expressed and understood in both humans and nonhuman animals.

• Vincent Savolainen
• Nathan W. Bailey
• Karin J. H. Verweij

Differences between male and female height in Early Neolithic Europe are likely to have been driven by culture

Using a large dataset of individuals from Early Neolithic Europe, we analysed DNA, diet and pathology to determine which factors most affected skeletal height. We found that the male–female height differences in north-central Europe were exceptionally large, and that the short stature of female individuals in this region possibly reflects a cultural preference to support male individuals. By contrast, in the Mediterranean, it is male individuals who were short, probably as a consequence of environmental stress.

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Anthropology Research Paper Topics

This collection of anthropology research paper topics is aimed to provide students and researchers with a comprehensive list of topics within this vast field of study. Anthropology is a multidisciplinary field, covering a wide range of topics that include cultural practices, human evolution, language, and more. Choosing a research paper topic can be challenging, especially given the breadth of the field. The page begins by providing guidance on how to choose a suitable topic and offers tips on writing a successful anthropology research paper. This list classifies main topics in anthropology into 12 categories:

• Applied Anthropology
• Archaeology
• Biological Anthropology
• Cultural Anthropology
• Linguistic Anthropology
• Paleontology
• Philosophical Anthropology

Psychology and Anthropology

• Anthropology of Religion

Sociology and Anthropology

• Theory in Anthropology

Some topics may appear in more than one category.

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Anthropology is the scientific study of humankind’s origin, biology, and culture. It encompasses a vast—and some might say, untidy—body of knowledge that has rarely been organized. In real-life terms, an informal but yawning gap has existed between those who study culture, especially of present and past historically known societies, and those who wrestle with the issues of human origin.

Applied Anthropology Research Paper Topics

• Action anthropology
• Aesthetic appreciation
• Affirmative action
• ALFRED: The ALlele FREquency Database
• Alternative health care
• Anthropology and business
• Anthropology and the Third World
• Artificial intelligence
• Bioethics and anthropology
• Bioinformatics
• Biomedicine
• Carbon-14 dating
• Careeers in anthropology
• Clinical anthropology
• Dating techniques
• Dendrochronology
• Dispute resolution
• DNA testing
• Ecology and anthropology
• Economic anthropology
• Economics and anthropology
• Environmental ethics
• Ethics and anthropology
• Ethnoecology
• Ethnomedicine
• Ethnopharmacology
• Ethnopsychiatry
• Ethnoscience
• Ethnosemantics
• Field methods
• Forensic anthropology
• Forensic artists
• Geomagnetism
• History of anthropology
• Human behavioral ecology
• Human rights and anthropology
• Human rights in the global society
• Intercultural education
• Justice and anthropology
• Law and anthropology
• Law and society
• Medical genetics
• Multiculturalism
• Native studies
• New dating techniques
• Paleomagnetism
• Political anthropology
• Political economy
• Potassium-Argon dating
• Practicing anthropology
• Radiometric dating techniques
• Relative dating techniques
• Rights of indigenous peoples today
• Social Anthropology
• Tutankhamun and Zahi Hawass
• Twin studies
• United Nations and anthropology
• Uranium-Lead dating
• Urban anthropology
• Urban ecology
• Visual Anthropology
• Women’s studies

Applied anthropology, in its broader sense, is distinguished primarily from academic anthropology as anthropological methods and data put to use outside of the classroom. This is not to say that all anthropological methods and data put to use outside of the classroom is applied anthropology; field research also is anthropological methods and data put to use outside of the classroom, but it can be used for academic purposes, as well as for practical application. Applied anthropology is used to solve practical problems outside of the academic world, and it has appeared under such names as action anthropology, development anthropology, practicing anthropology, and advocacy anthropology among others. Rear more about applied anthropology .

Archaeology Research Paper Topics

• Acheulean culture
• Altamira cave
• Ancient Crete
• Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Rome
• Archaeology and gender studies
• Archaeology of war
• Architectural anthropology
• Aurignacian culture
• Aztec agriculture
• Biblical archaeology
• Blombos cave
• Burial mounds
• Celtic Europe
• Chichen Itza
• Clovis culture
• Environmental archaeology
• Fa Hien cave
• Fayoum culture
• Folsom culture
• Ghost towns
• Great Wall of China
• Historicism
• History of Anthropology
• History of city
• Indus civilization
• Lascaux cave
• Lazaret cave
• Levalloisian tradition
• Llano culture
• Machu Picchu
• Maritime archaeology
• Medieval archaeology
• Mesolithic cultures
• Mesopotamian civilization
• Mohenjo Daro
• Monte Verde
• Mummies and mummification
• National Museum of Anthropology
• Natufian culture
• Nazca culture
• Neandertal burials
• Neandertal evidence
• Neandertal sites
• Neolithic cultures
• Ohio Hopewell
• Oldowan culture
• Olduvai Gorge
• Petroglyphs
• Pictographs
• Pottery and ceramics
• Pu’uhonua o Honaunau
• Sahara anthropology
• Salvage archaeology
• Shanidar cave
• Sumerian civilization
• Tenoctitlan
• Terra Amata
• Tiwanaku [Tiahuanaco]
• Tools and evolution
• Urbanism in ancient Egypt
• Venus of Willendorf
• Zafarraya cave
• Zooarchaeology

Archaeology is the study of human cultures through the study of material and environmental remains. The word, derived from ancient Greek, means “the study of antiquity.” Archaeology is one of the four subfields of anthropology, together with biological anthropology, linguistic anthropology, and social/cultural anthropology. Archaeological remains can take many forms, two of the basic ones being artifacts (any object altered by human hands) and faunal remains, or midden (food remnants such as bone and shell). Artifacts can be anything from simple flaked stone tools and pottery sherds to the most elaborate and priceless objects found in such treasure troves as the tomb of Tutankhamun. These finds constitute the archaeological record, which archaeologists then piece together to interpret as much as they can about the cultures they are studying. Read more about archaeology .

Cultural and Social Anthropology Research Paper Topics

• Agricultural revolution
• Algonguians
• Anthropology of war
• Aotearoa (New Zealand)
• Ape culture
• Australian aborigines
• Baluchistan
• Bride price
• Cannibalism
• Caste system
• Chachapoya Indians
• Characteristics of culture
• Childhood studies
• Class societies
• Complex Societies
• Configurationalism
• Cross-cultural research
• Cultural adaptation
• Cultural conservation
• Cultural constraints
• Cultural convergence
• Cultural ecology
• Cultural relativism
• Cultural traits
• Cultural tree of life
• Culture and personality
• Culture area concept
• Culture change
• Culture of poverty
• Culture shock
• Cyberculture
• Darkness in El Dorado controversy
• Diffusionism
• Division of labor
• Egalitarian societies
• Eskimo acculturation
• Ethnocentrism
• Ethnographer
• Ethnographic fieldwork
• Ethnographic writing
• Ethnography
• Ethnohistory
• Eudyspluria
• Extended family
• Feasts and Festivals
• Folk culture
• Folk speech
• Forms of family
• French structuralism
• Functionalism
• Gerontology
• Globalization
• Guarani Nandeva Indians
• Homosexuality
• Hopi Indians
• Horticulture
• Huari [Wari]
• Human competition and stress
• Human life cycle
• Inoku Village
• Intelligence
• Intensive agriculture
• Kinship and descent
• Kinship terminology
• Kulturkreise
• Kung Bushmen
• Language and culture
• Manioc beer
• Mbuti Pygmies
• Miami Indians
• Modal personality
• Native Peoples of Central and South America
• Native Peoples of the Great Plains
• Native Peoples of the United States
• Northern Iroquoian Nations
• Nuclear family
• Objectivity in ethnography
• Omaha Indians
• Oral literature
• Orality and anthropology
• Ornamentation
• Pacific rim
• Pacific seafaring
• People’s Republic of China and Taiwan
• Peyote rituals
• Plant cultivatiion
• Political organizations
• Political science
• Polynesians
• Population explosion
• Qing, the Last Dynasty of China
• Rank and status
• Rank Societies
• Rites of passage
• Role and status
• Sambungmachan
• San Bushmen
• Secret societies
• Segmentary lineage systems
• Sex identity
• Sexual harassment
• Slash-and-burn agriculture
• Social structures
• Sociobiology
• Stereotypes
• Structuralism
• Subcultures
• Sudanese society
• Textiles and clothing
• Tierra del Fuego
• Tlingit culture
• Transcultural psychiatry
• Untouchables
• Urban legends
• Vanishing cultures
• Verification in ethnography
• Work and skills
• Yabarana Indians
• Zuni Indians

Cultural anthropology is the study of human patterns of thought and behavior, and how and why these patterns differ, in contemporary societies. Cultural anthropology is sometimes called social anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, or ethnology. Cultural anthropology also includes pursuits such as ethnography, ethnohistory, and cross-cultural research. Read more about cultural anthropology .

Evolution Research Paper Topics

• Ape biogeography
• Aquatic ape hypothesis
• Arboreal hypothesis
• Arc of evolution
• Australopithecines
• Biological adaptation
• Biological anthropology
• Biological anthropology and neo-Darwinism
• Catastrophism
• Charles Darwin
• Creationism versus geology
• Darwin and Germany
• Darwin and India
• Darwin and Italy
• Darwinism versus Lamarckism
• Dinosaurian hominid
• Disbelief in evolution
• Dropithecus
• Dynamic integrity
• Evolution education controversy
• Evolution of primate brain
• Evolutionary anthropology
• Evolutionary epistemology
• Evolutionary ethics
• Evolutionary ontology
• Evolutionary psychology
• Fossil record
• Galapagos Islands
• Gigantopithecus
• Hominid taxonomy
• Homo antecessor
• Homo erectus
• Homo ergaster
• Homo habilis
• Homo sapiens
• Human canopy evolution
• Human evolution
• Human genetics
• Humans and dinosaurs
• India and evolution
• Issues in hominization
• Kenyanthropus platyops
• Kenyapithecus wickeri
• Lucy reconstruction models
• Mass extinctions
• Meganthropus
• Models of evolution
• Modern Darwinism
• Molecular evolution
• Monkey Trial [1925]
• Monogenesis versus polygenesis
• Morphology versus molecules in evolution
• Narmada man
• Natural selection
• Neandertals
• Neo-Darwinism
• Non-Darwinian evolutionary mechanisms
• Orangutan-human evolution
• Oreopithecus
• Organic evolution
• Origin of life
• Origin of Neo-Darwinism
• Primate extinction
• Primate genetics
• Primate morphology and evolution
• Russia and evolution
• Sahelanthropus tchadensis
• Sexual selection
• Social Darwinism
• State Darwin Museum, Moscow, Russia
• Uniformitarianism
• Zinjanthropus boisei

The term ‘evolution’ is widely used to denote the development through time of societies, cultures, and more especially of living species. It is often contrasted with the view that these entities were divinely created as we see them today, and is routinely (but incorrectly according to modern biological theory) associated with the idea of progress. This article outlines the various models of evolution that have been suggested to account for the development of life and social organization, and then shows how the theories were formulated and popularized. Particular attention is paid to the work of Charles Darwin, whose theory of biological evolution by natural selection is now seen as the most influential expression of the basic idea of natural development. However, non- Darwinian evolutionary ideas also played a role in biology and were perceived to have implications for social evolution. Read more about evolution .

Linguistics Research Paper Topics

• Anatomy and physiology of speech
• Animal language
• Ape communication
• Ape intelligence
• Ape language
• Classification of language
• Cognitive science
• Computer languages
• Computers and humankind
• Ethnographic semantics
• Generative grammar
• Global language
• Glottochronology
• Historical linguistics
• Koko (lowland gorilla)
• Language and biology
• Linguistic reconstruction
• Myths and mythology
• Origin of language
• Paralanguage
• Paralinguistic communication
• Protolanguage
• Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
• Sociolinguistics
• Sociology of language use
• Transformational lingusitics
• Types of language
• Universals in culture
• Universals in language
• Vanishing languages

Linguistic anthropology examines the links between language and culture, including how language relates to thought, social action, identity, and power relations. It is one of the  four traditional subfields of American anthropology, sharing with cultural anthropology its aims of explaining social and cultural phenomena, with biological anthropology its concern over language origins and evolution, and with archaeology the goal of understanding cultural histories. Linguistic anthropology has developed through international work across social science disciplines, as researchers attend to language as a key to understanding social phenomena. The discipline overlaps most closely with the sociolinguistic subfield of linguistics. But while sociolinguistics generally considers social factors in order to explain linguistic phenomena, linguistic anthropology aims to explain social and cultural phenomena by considering linguistic information. Read more about linguistic anthropology .

Paleontology Research Paper Topics

• Dryopithecus
• Fossil apes
• Human paleontology
• Kennewick man
• Mungo lady/man
• Paleoanthropology
• Paleoecology
• Siwalik Hills

To anyone with a rudimentary understanding of paleontology and anthropology, it may not be readily apparent that these disciplines can be in any way related to one another or useful in informing the other’s primary interests. Anthropology, broadly speaking, is concerned with the study of human culture and behavior, with data provided directly by investigations of modern human populations, as well as historical and ethnographic texts and objects. Paleontology, however, is the investigation of the history of fossil flora and fauna and is, as such, allied closely with geological sciences. Read more about paleontology .

Philosophy and Anthropology

• Bruno, Giordano
• Buber,Martin
• Categorical imperative
• Comte, Auguste
• Condorcet,Marguis de
• Critical realism
• Deleuze, Gilles
• Dennett, Daniel C.
• Derrida, Jacques
• Dewey, John
• Engels, Friedrich
• Enlightenment versus postmodernism
• Enlightenment, age of
• Environmental philosophy
• Essentialism
• Feuerbach, Ludwig
• Fromm, Erich
• Hegel, G.W. F.
• Heidegger, Martin
• Henri Bergson
• Hermeneutics
• Hobbes, Thomas
• Human dignity
• Human excellence
• Humanism, secular
• India, philosophies of
• Integrity, dynamic
• Kant, Immanuel
• Kropotkin, Prince Peter A.
• Neo-Marxism
• Nietzsche, Friedrich
• Philosophy, dynamic
• Popper, Karl
• Postmodernism
• Science, philosophy of
• Spencer, Herbert
• Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre
• Unamuno,Miguel de
• Vernadsky, Vladimir Ivanovich
• Whitehead, Alfred North

Modern philosophical anthropology originated in the 1920s. During the 1940s it became the representative branch of German philosophy. It arose with, and has absorbed, Lebensphilosophie, existentialism, and phenomenology, although it is not identical with them. It has affinities with pragmatism and the sociology of knowledge. Although it is historically based on certain German traditions, it is also indebted to, and largely anticipated by, the eighteenth-century “science of human nature.” It combines the critical traditions of the Enlightenment with an emphasis on dogmatic certitude. Read more about philosophical anthropology .

• Ape agression
• Ape cognition
• Civil disobedience
• Cognitive ethology
• Collective behavior
• Confirgurationalism
• Consciousness
• Criminology and genetics
• Enculturation
• Eudysphoria
• Forensic psychologists
• Friendships
• Incest taboo
• Intelligence and genetics
• Nationalism
• Neo-Freudianism
• Neurotheology
• Psychic unity of humankind
• Psychology and genetics
• Reciprocity
• Territoriality

Constructs like “identity,” “self-representation, ” and “personhood” abound within sociocultural anthropology generally, but such terms are typically applied to culture groups rather than to individuals. More familiar to psychologists would be the concepts and analyses used in the specialty labeled psychological anthropology, which in broadest form explores the relationships between psychological phenomena and their social and cultural contexts. Some of the primary theoretical orientations in psychological anthropology follow more or less closely on traditional perspectives in psychology, but others diverge radically and claim a central and essential place for cultural content and process in trying to account for psychological functioning. Among the former are general behavioral theory (including many standard conceptualizations from developmental and social psychology and personality theory) , cognitive anthropology, evolutionary thought, and psychoanalytic approaches; and among the latter are cultural psychology, the closely related activity theory, and ethnopsychology. Read more about psychology and anthropology .

Physical and Biological Anthropology Research Paper Topics

• Anthropometry
• Artificial life
• Bipedal locomotion
• Blood groups
• Bonobos in captivity
• Brachiation
• Cercopithecines
• Chimpanzees
• Chimpanzees and bonobos
• Chimpanzees in captivity
• Craniometry
• DNA molecule
• DNA recombinant
• Gorillas in captivity
• Greater apes
• Hominization
• Howling monkeys
• Human brain
• Human diversity
• Human Genome Project
• Human mutants
• Human osteology
• Human variation
• Lesser apes
• Mitochrondrial Eve
• New World monkeys
• Old World monkeys
• Orangutans in captivity
• Origin of bipedality
• Primate behavioral ecology
• Primate brain
• Primate conservation
• Primate locomotion
• Primate taxonomy
• Primatology
• Quadrupedalism in primates
• RNA molecule
• Saving chimpanzees
• Saving gorillas
• Sickle-cell anemia
• Spider monkeys
• Territoriality in primates
• Threats to orangutan survival

Biological anthropology is concerned with the origin, evolution and diversity of humankind. The field was called physical anthropology until the late twentieth century, reflecting the field’s primary concern with cataloging anatomical differences among human and primate groups. Biological anthropology is one of the four subfields of anthropology, together with archaeology, linguistic anthropology, and social/cultural anthropology. Under the name of biological anthropology, it is an ever-broadening field that encompasses the study of: human biological variation; evolutionary theory; human origins and evolution; early human migration; human ecology; the evolution of human behavior; paleoanthropology; anatomy; locomotion; osteology (the study of skeletal material); dental anthropology; forensics; medical anthropology, including the patterns and history of disease; primatology (the study of non-human primates); growth, development and nutrition; and other related fields. Read more about biological anthropology .

Religion, Theology, and Anthropology

• Ancestor worship
• Anthropology of religion
• Bayang medicine man
• Comparative religion
• Confucianism
• Coptic monasticism
• Creationism, beliefs in
• Death rituals
• Ghost dance
• India, rituals of
• Magic versus religion
• Masks, ceremonial
• Medicine man
• Monasticism
• Native North American religions
• Pentecostalism
• Religion and anthropology
• Religion and environment
• Religion, liberal
• Religious rituals
• Scientism versus fundamentalism
• Totem poles
• Witch doctor

The comparative study of religion formed a central building block of anthropology as the discipline emerged in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. In the light of social evolutionary models of human development, religious practice was perceived as providing a powerful index of the mental and moral levels of so-called primitive peoples. James Frazer’s The Golden Bough, first published in 1890, traced magical and religious threads throughout history and weaved them into a pattern depicting the past and future progress of humanity, claiming to discern shifts from magical manipulation toward religious devotion and then ultimately in the direction of purely scientific modes of engaging the world. Inherent in Frazer’s work was also a juxtaposition that has reemerged, albeit in very different form, in contemporary writings (e.g., Cannell, 2006): Christianity as an object of study but also a mode of thought that has itself framed anthropological understandings of religion, temporality, and culture. Read more about anthropology of religion .

• African American thought
• African Americans
• African thinkers
• Child abuse
• Communities
• Complex societies
• International organizations
• Rank societies
• Secret ocieties
• Social anthropology
• Social sturctures
• Socialist schools in Africa
• Socialization

Studies of sociology and anthropology have blended together as cultural anthropologists have attempted to draw comparisons among various societies and cultures. Identifying cultural characteristics became more difficult during the 20th century in response to two world wars. By the beginning of the 21st century, globalization had further blurred the once distinct lines between particular cultures, as the affairs of nations became more intertwined with those of others. Read more about sociology and anthropology .

Research and Theoretical Frameworks in Anthropology

• Age of Enlightenment
• Anthropic principle
• Anthropocentrism
• Anthropological models
• Anthropology and epistemology
• Anthropology and sociology
• Anthropology of men
• Anthropology of women
• Anthropomorphism
• Aubdivisions of anthropology
• Beliefs in creationism
• Big bang theory
• Cardiff giant hoax
• Chaos theory
• Chaos theory and anthropology
• Characteristics of anthropology
• Cosmology and sacred landscapes
• Critical realism in ethnology
• Cultural materialism
• Cultural survivals
• Culture and pesonality
• Cybernetic modeling
• Cybernetics
• Degenerationism
• Determinism
• Dictatorships
• Education and anthropology
• Environments
• Ethnogenesis
• Ethology and ethnology
• Evolutionary humanism
• Exobiology and exoevolution
• Future of anthropology
• Gaia hypothesis
• Gemeinschaft
• Geomythology
• Gesellschaft
• Global society
• Global warming
• Hardy-Weinberg principle
• Hoaxes in anthropology
• Humanistic anthropology
• Interpreting evidence
• Jews and pseudo-anthropology
• Migrations to the Western Hemisphere
• Missing link
• Nature and nurture
• Paluxy footprints
• Participant-observation
• Philosophical anthropology
• Philosophy of science
• Physiognomy
• Postcolonialism
• Religious humanism
• Research in anthropology
• Research methods
• Revitalization movements
• Role of human mind in nature
• Scientific method
• Secular humanism
• Secularization
• Social change
• Superorganic
• Time in anthropology
• Transformationalism
• Unifromatarianism
• Unity of humankind
• Universals in art
• Values and anthropology
• Wolfian perspective in cultural anthropology
• Women in anthropology

Anthropologists usually mean by “theory” a particular theory—a functionalist, structuralist, or socio-ecological theory of social systems, for example. However, while “social facts” have been defined by Durkheim, along with method, and similar ideas used in other sociological theory traditions, the notion of a theory has been treated as something obvious or self-evident. How to test or formulate theories in general has been assumed or passed by, in general, and the ways in which theories explained their subject have been left unspecified. Read more about theory in anthropology .

How to Choose a Research Paper Topic in Anthropology

Anthropology is a multidisciplinary field that covers a wide range of topics, from cultural practices to human evolution and language. As a result, choosing a research paper topic in anthropology can be a challenging task, especially given the breadth of the discipline. However, selecting a good topic is essential to the success of your research paper. In this section, we will provide some guidelines to help you choose a suitable topic.

Consider Your Interests and Passions

The first step in choosing a research paper topic in anthropology is to consider your interests and passions. Anthropology covers a broad range of subfields and topics, so it is essential to choose a topic that you are passionate about and interested in. This will make the research process more enjoyable and meaningful for you.

You can start by identifying the general area of anthropology that interests you the most. Do you find cultural practices and beliefs fascinating? Or are you more interested in the biological and physical aspects of human beings? Once you have identified your general area of interest, it’s time to narrow down your topic.

Narrow Down Your Topic

To narrow down your topic, consider the specific aspects of the topic that you would like to explore and the research questions that you want to answer. For example, if you are interested in cultural practices and beliefs, you might narrow your topic down to a specific cultural group, a particular practice or belief, or a specific aspect of that practice or belief.

To help you narrow down your topic, ask yourself the following questions:

• What specific aspect of the topic interests me the most?
• What specific research question do I want to answer?
• How can I make my research question more specific and focused?
• What specific population or group do I want to study?

By answering these questions, you can identify a specific topic that is both interesting and feasible.

Consult with Your Instructor

Your instructor can offer valuable guidance in selecting a research paper topic in anthropology. They may be able to suggest potential topics or point you in the direction of useful resources. Moreover, your instructor can also help you identify the appropriate subfield of anthropology that aligns with your research interests.

When consulting with your instructor, be sure to ask about any specific guidelines or requirements for the research paper. Some instructors may have specific expectations for the research question or methodology, so it is essential to clarify these requirements before finalizing your topic.

Consider Available Resources

Before finalizing your research paper topic, it is important to consider the resources that are available to you. For instance, if you are interested in cultural anthropology, you may need to access primary sources or conduct fieldwork. Conversely, if you are interested in biological anthropology, you may need to access laboratory facilities or collect biological samples.

In addition, consider the availability of relevant scholarly literature and secondary sources. Make sure that you have access to the appropriate journals, books, and articles that you will need to support your research. If you find that the resources you need are limited, consider narrowing down your topic or revising your research question.

Look for Research Gaps

Finally, it is essential to choose a topic that has not been extensively studied or that presents a new perspective on a familiar subject. This will make your research paper more original and contribute to the field of anthropology. To identify potential research gaps, review the existing literature and note areas that have not been explored or that present conflicting findings.

Once you have identified the research gap, develop a research question that addresses the gap and proposes a new angle on the topic. Your research question should be specific and focused, and it should guide the entire research process.

Choosing a research paper topic in anthropology can be a daunting task, but it is an essential step in the research process. By considering your interests, consulting with your instructor, evaluating available resources, and identifying research gaps, you can select a suitable topic that is both interesting and feasible. Remember, a good topic is the foundation of a successful research paper.

Once you have selected a suitable research paper topic in anthropology, you can begin to plan your research strategy. The next section of this page will provide guidance on how to write an anthropology research paper, including tips on conducting research, analyzing data, and presenting your findings.

How to Write an Anthropology Research Paper

Writing an anthropology research paper requires careful planning and organization. In this section, we will provide guidance on the general structure and components of an anthropology research paper, as well as offer tips on conducting research, analyzing data, and presenting your findings.

General Structure of an Anthropology Research Paper

An anthropology research paper typically follows a standard structure that includes the following components:

• Introduction: Provides an overview of the research question, research methods, and significance of the study
• Literature Review: Summarizes and synthesizes relevant literature on the topic
• Research Methods: Describes the research design, methods, and procedures used to collect and analyze data
• Results: Presents the findings of the study, including statistical analyses and visual representations of the data
• Discussion: Analyzes and interprets the results, evaluates the research question, and discusses the implications of the findings
• Conclusion: Summarizes the main findings and discusses the implications of the study for future research

Conducting Research

Before beginning your research paper, it is essential to conduct a thorough review of the relevant literature. This will help you identify gaps in the research and develop a research question that contributes to the field of anthropology.

Once you have developed your research question, you can begin collecting and analyzing data. Depending on your research question and methods, this may involve conducting fieldwork, analyzing existing data sets, or collecting data through surveys or interviews.

When collecting data, it is important to keep detailed notes and maintain careful records of all research activities. This will help you organize your data and ensure the accuracy of your findings.

Analyzing Data

Once you have collected your data, it is time to analyze it. This may involve using statistical software, qualitative analysis software, or other tools to examine patterns and relationships in the data.

When analyzing your data, be sure to consider the limitations and potential biases of your methods. For example, if you collected data through surveys, consider the potential biases introduced by self-reporting.

Presenting Findings

When presenting your findings, it is essential to be clear and concise. Use visual aids such as tables, graphs, and charts to illustrate your findings and make them more accessible to readers.

Be sure to consider the appropriate format for presenting your data. For example, if you have collected qualitative data, consider using narrative descriptions or quotes to convey your findings.

Citation and Referencing

Finally, it is essential to properly cite and reference all sources used in your research paper. This includes citing relevant literature and acknowledging the contributions of collaborators or participants in your study.

Make sure to follow the appropriate citation style for anthropology research papers, such as the American Anthropological Association (AAA) style. This will ensure that your research paper meets the standards of academic integrity and professionalism.

Writing an anthropology research paper requires careful planning, organization, and attention to detail. By following the general structure and components of an anthropology research paper, conducting thorough research, analyzing data carefully, and properly citing and referencing all sources, you can produce a successful research paper that contributes to the field of anthropology.

Anthropology Research Paper Writing Services

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If you need help with your anthropology research paper, iResearchNet offers professional writing services and resources to help you succeed. Our team of experts can provide high-quality and customized assistance at affordable prices, ensuring that you can submit a successful research paper that meets the highest academic standards in anthropology.

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