Cultural Anthropology: Find Other Resources

This guide provides resources for your cultural anthropological research

Reference Materials

Reference materials provide good, working knowledge of key issues and sub-topics and provide ideas for other sources to explore. Beyond this list, you should know that all of the following types of materials can be helpful reference material for your research: almanacs, atlases, bibliographies, dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, handbooks, and indexes.

A very useful source for primary source materials for Anthropology students is eHRAF World Cultures, a collection of full-text primary source materials on ca. 400 different cultural, ethnic, religious, and national groups in the following regions of the world: Asia, Europe, Africa, Middle East, North America, Oceania, Eurasia, and South America.

For guidance on research methodology please consider using Sage Research Methods

Other Amazing reference material:  

Books on Research

Encyclopedias

Other Reference Materials

  • A Companion to the Anthropology of Education : Presents a comprehensive and state-of-the-art overview of the field, exploring the social and cultural dimension of educational processes in both formal and nonformal settings. Explores theoretical and applied approaches to cultural practice in a diverse range of educational settings around the world, in both formal and non-formal contexts. 

  • A Companion to Urban Anthropology: Presents original essays on central concepts in urban anthropology and ethnography
  • A Companion to Moral Anthropology The first collective consideration of the anthropological dimensions of morals, morality, and ethics. Original essays by international experts explore the various currents, approaches, and issues in this important new discipline, examining topics such as the ethnography of moralities, the study of moral subjectivities, and the exploration of moral economies. 
  • American National Biography: Biographical essays on notable Americans including artists and writers. Entries are for deceased individuals.
  • Biography in Context:  Comprehensive database of biographical information on over 320,000 people from throughout history, around the world, and across all disciplines and subject areas.
  • Biographical Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology: Spanning the period from the late 19th to the early 21 centuries, contains individually-signed entries and offers an overview of the historical and contemporary reach of anthropological research.
  • Concise Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology: Guide to the hundreds of terms the student of anthropology and the general reader will encounter in dealing with anthropological and ethnographic literature.
  • Gale virtual reference library: Database of encyclopedias and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. 

  • Handbook of research on indigenous knowledge and bi-culturalism in a global context: Provides a broad knowledge and understanding of bi-culturalism in practice within the applied social sciences domains. Covering both key theory and practices, it examines different types of bi-culturalism in practice frameworks being developed and followed, 
  • Oxford Bibliographies: Offers peer-reviewed annotated bibliographies on specific topics in a growing range of subject areas.
  • Oxford Reference online: Contains the texts of more than 100 reference titles published by Oxford University Press.
  • Routledge Companion to Contemporary Anthropology: Print book, available at Barnard Library. Call Number:  GN25 .R68 2016
  • Social Theory: Offers an extensive selection of documents that explore the complexities and interpret the nature of social behavior and organization.

By Region

Don't forget, the library provides region specialists in the Global Studies Division for  for AfricaLatin America and IberiaRussia, Eurasia and Eastern EuropeSouth and Southeast AsiaJewish Studies, and Middle East and Islamic Studies. (For East Asia, please visit the C.V. Starr East Asian Library)

  • Companion to the Anthropology of the Middle East: A comprehensive overview of current trends and future directions in anthropological research and activism in the modern Middle East.

  • A Companion to the Anthropology of Europe:  A survey of contemporary Europeanist anthropology and European ethnology, and a guide to emerging trends in this geographical field of research. Providing a synthesis of the different traditions and contemporary approaches, the book is both thematic and fully cross-European in its approach.
  • A Companion to the Anthropology of India: Offers a broad overview of the rapidly evolving scholarship on Indian society from the earliest area studies to views of India's globalization in the twenty-first century. 
  • A Companion to Latin American Anthropology:  This defining reference volume on Latin America introduces English-language readers to the debates, traditions, and sensibilities that have shaped the study of this diverse region.