Bibliography of anthropology


This bibliography of anthropology lists some notable publications in the field of anthropology, including its various subfields. It is not comprehensive and continues to be developed. It also includes a number of works that are not by anthropologists but are relevant to the field, such as literary theory, sociology, psychology, and philosophical anthropology.
Anthropology is the study of humanity. Described as "the most humanistic of sciences and the most scientific of the humanities", it is considered to bridge the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, and draws upon a wide range of related fields. In North America, anthropology is traditionally divided into four major subdisciplines: biological anthropology, sociocultural anthropology, linguistic anthropology and archaeology. Other academic traditions use less broad definitions, where one or more of these fields are considered separate, but related, disciplines.

Sociocultural anthropology

Chronological bibliography

From the beginnings to 1899

1900s and 1910s

1920s and 1930s

1940s and 1950s

1960s and 1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

Thematic bibliography

General introductions and histories

  • Eric Wolf, Anthropology, 1964
  • Adam Kuper, Anthropology and Anthropologists: The Modern British School, 1973
  • Peter Just and John Monaghan, Social and Cultural Anthropology: A Very Short Introduction, 2000
  • Alan Barnard, History and Theory in Anthropology, 2000
  • Thomas Hylland Eriksen, What is Anthropology?, 2004
  • Aleksandar Bošković, Other People's Anthropologies: Ethnographic Practice on the Margins, 2008
  • John S. Gilkeson, Anthropologists and the Rediscovery of America, 1886–1965, 2010
  • Fredrik Barth, Andre Gingrich, Robert Parkin, and Sydel Silverman, One Discipline, Four Ways: British, German, French, and American Anthropology, 2005

Ritual theory

Cyber anthropology

  • Sherry Turkle, The Second Self: Computers and the Human Spirit, 1984
  • Arturo Escobar, "Welcome to Cyberia: Notes on the Anthropology of Cyberculture", 1994
  • Sherry Turkle, Life on the Screen: Identity in the Age of the Internet, 1995
  • Stefan Helmreich, Silicon Second Nature: Culturing Artificial Life in a Digital World, 1998
  • Tom Boellstorff, Coming of Age in Second Life: An Anthropologist Explores the Virtually Human, 2008
  • Bonnie Nardi, My Life as a Night Elf Priest. An Anthropological Account of World of Warcraft, 2010. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
  • Daniel Miller, Tales from Facebook, 2011
  • Alexander Knorr, Cyberanthropology, 2011
  • Neil L. Whitehead and Michael Wesch Human No More: Digital Subjectivities, Unhuman Subjects, and the End of Anthropology, 2012
  • Christine Hine, Ethnography for the Internet: Embedded, Embodied and Everyday, 2015. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Design anthropology

  • Wendy Gunn and Jared Donovan, Design and Anthropology, 2012
  • Wendy Gunn, Ton Otto and Rachel Charlotte Smith, Design Anthropology: Theory and Practice, 2013

Ecological anthropology

  • Julian Steward, Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution, 1955
  • William Balée, Cultural Forests of the Amazon: A Historical Ecology of People and Their Landscapes, 2014

Economic anthropology

Political anthropology

Psychological anthropology

  • Lindholm, Charles, Culture and Identity. The history, theory, and practice of psychological anthropology, 2007
  • Robert, LeVine, Psychological Anthropology: A Reader on Self in Culture, 2010

Urban anthropology

  • Ulf Hannerz, Exploring the City: Inquiries Toward an Urban Anthropology, 1980
  • Italo Pardo and Giuliana B. Prato, Anthropology in the City: Methodology and Theory, 2016
  • Italo Pardo and Giulaina B. Prato, The Palgrave Handbook of Urban Ethnography, 2017
  • Italo Pardo and Giuliana B. Prato, Urban Inequalities, 2021
  • Petra Kuppinger, Emergent Spaces, 2022
  • Italo Pardo and Giuliana B. Prato, The Legitimacy of Healthcare and Public Health, 2023
  • Italo Pardo and Giuliana B. Prato, Forms of Inequality and the Legitimacy of Governance, Vols 1 & 2, 2025

Linguistic anthropology

Biological anthropology

Biological anthropology is traditionally conceived of as part of the North American four-field approach. In some universities, however, the subject has repositioned itself as human evolutionary biology. In Europe, it is sometimes taught as an individual subject at college level or as part of the discipline of biology. Its methods are informed by evolutionary biology, hence the adjunct biological. Since 1993, the Biological Anthropology Section of the American Anthropological Association has awarded the W.W. Howells Book Award in Biological Anthropology.

Archaeology

Archaeological anthropology is traditionally conceived of as part of the North American four-field approach. With the four-field approach being questioned for its orthodoxy, the subject has gained considerable independence in recent years and some archaeologists have rejected the label anthropology. In Europe, the subject maintains closer connections to history and is simply conceived of as archaeology with a distinct research focus and methodology.

Archaeological theory

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Some points of reference in related disciplines

Anthropological research has exerted considerable influence on other disciplines such as sociology, literary theory, and philosophy. Conversely, contemporary anthropological discourse has become receptive to a wide variety of theoretical currents which in turn help to shape the cognitive identity of the subjects. Among the key publications from related disciplines that have advanced anthropological scholarship are:
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