Sociocultural Anthropology
Encyclopedias and Reference
The following links will take you to encyclopedias and reference manuals to help you get started on your research. Here you can find general background information, definitions, and history on many anthropological terms and concepts. Searching in an encyclopedia can also help you find a topic for a paper or project.
Online
- Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural AnthropologyProvides a unique guide to the ideas, arguments and history of the discipline, combining anthropological theory and ethnography.
- Biographical Dictionary of Social and Cultural AnthropologySpanning the period from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries, contains individually-signed entries from a global team of contributors and offers an important, and fascinating overview of the historical and contemporary reach of anthropological research.
Cultural Anthropology: A Guide to Reference and Information Sources by Call Number: Z5111.J33 2007The latest edition of a major literature guide provides citations and informative annotations on a wide range of reference sources, including manuals, bibliographies, indexes, databases, literature surveys and reviews, dissertations, book reviews, conference proceedings, awards, and employment and grant sources. The organization closely follows that of the 1st edition, with some much-needed additions relating to online resources and new areas of interest within the field (such as forensic anthropology, environmental anthropology, and Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgendered Anthropology). Separate sections focus on individual subfields, as well as emerging concerns such as ethical issues in cultural heritage preservation. For academic and research library collections, as well as faculty members in anthropology, area studies, and intercultural studies.
Theory in Social and Cultural AnthropologyCall Number: Ref. N307.T54 2013Social and cultural anthropology and archaeology are rich subjects with deep connections in the social and physical sciences. Over the past 150 years, the subject matter and different theoretical perspectives have expanded so greatly that no single individual can command all of it. Consequently, both advanced students and professionals may be confronted with theoretical positions and names of theorists with whom they are only partially familiar, if they have heard of them at all. Students, in particular, are likely to turn to the web to find quick background information on theorists and theories. However, most web-based information is inaccurate and/or lacks depth. Students and professionals need a source to provide a quick overview of a particular theory and theorist with just the basics—the "who, what, where, how, and why," if you will.
Finding Articles
Use databases to find academic articles to continue your research. Below are the most helpful databases for finding relevant articles for anthropological topics.
- Anthropology Plus This link opens in a new windowIncludes the Anthropological Literature from Harvard University and Anthropological Index, Royal Anthropological Institute from the UK together into one database. Anthropology Plus provides extensive worldwide indexing of journal articles, reports, commentaries, edited works, and obituaries in the fields of social, cultural, physical, biological, and linguistic anthropology, ethnology, archaeology, folklore, material culture, and interdisciplinary studies.
- Ethnic NewsWatch This link opens in a new windowEthnic, minority and native press. Full-text newspapers, magazines and journals.
- America: History and Life This link opens in a new windowHistorical coverage of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present.
- Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new window
Academic Search Ultimate offers an enormous collection of full-text journals, providing users access to critical information from many sources unique to this database. In addition, it includes peer-reviewed full text for STEM research, as well as for the social sciences and humanities. Scholarly content covers a broad range of important areas of academic study, including anthropology, engineering, law, sciences and more.
Good Starting Journals for Sociocultural Anthropology
The following are links to specific academic journals which are published and peer-reviewed by experts in the field. If you want to narrow your search to a specific time period or methodology, finding a journal that publishes in that area can help.
- Cultural AnthropologyCultural 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 theoretical issues, with ethnographic methods and research design in historical perspective, and with ways cultural analysis can address broader public audiences and interests.
- EthnologyEthnology contributes to the cumulative development of cross-cultural ethnographic data with detailed recordings and analyses of culture and society. It is devoted to communicating what is new and worthy in scholarly approaches to this field with well chosen, carefully edited, instructive articles to readers in diverse fields of the human sciences.
- Social AnthropologySocial Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale is the acclaimed Journal of the European Association of Social Anthropologists, the major professional organization for anthropologists in Europe. While European in profile, this leading Journal has a global scope. It publishes key contributions by both established and up-and-coming anthropologists
Search the entire library catalog here.
Materials on Anthropology are found under the "C" subclass on the fourth floor of the library.
| GN301-674 | Ethnology. Social and cultural anthropology |
|---|---|
| GN357-367 | Culture and cultural processes |
| GN406-517 | Cultural traits, customs, and institutions |
| GN478-491.7 | Social organization |
Internet Resources
Online texts, sites, and sources about sociocultural anthropology.
- American MemoryAmerican Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.
- Experience-Rich AnthropologyThis project is designed to enhance the teaching and learning of anthropology by encouraging teachers to help students explore the relationships between field data and analysis as reported in monographs and journal articles.
- Smithsonian Dept. of AnthropologyThe research conducted by the Department of Anthropology staff covers a wide range of topics and areas of the world. Topics include human-environmental interactions, population migration, origins of domestication, linguistics, and forensic anthropology, among many others.
- UNESCO World HeritageOfficial website for the UNESCO World Heritage Convention.