Welcome to the Anthropology page

Anthropology. I began studying anthropology in 1971, and I've been in love with it ever since. The field has changed in many ways since my undergraduate days, even if I haven't. Here are a list of some of my favorite anthropology sites. These can be used for many different courses besides anthropology. Check out a few and see how you can use them in your teaching.

Africa

  African National Congress. Check out the ANC home page. Includes links to sites relevant to South Africa.

Asia

  Eggi's Village: Life Among the Minangkabau of Indonesia is a virtual exhibition of photos by Peggy Reeves Sanday, an anthropologist who has spent a significant amount of time in the area.

  Thailand - A Country Study, comes to us from the United States Library of Congress. This is an online version of the area handbook produced for the United States government. Lots of information, but no photos.

  Madura, Island of Charm, is a small, but tastefully done site, with basic information about Madurese culture. The island of Madura lies off the coast of East Java and is relatively close to the island of Bali.

  Southeast Asian Archaeology Newsblog , is a blog about archaelology in Southeast Asia written by a Singaporean writer-journalist-archaelogy student. Interesting for those studying this area. I'll keep track of this site.

  Bali Online, is a tourist-oriented page describing the culture and geography of one of the world's favorite vacation spots. This site now has information in German, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Why isn't my house listed?

Australia and the Pacific

  Background Notes: Western Samoa 6/96, is a document from the United States Department of State with basic information about Western Samoa. Useful in providing a beginning for research on the area.

  Vaturanga Home Page, is another one of those eclectic sites from the denizens over at Geocities. This site has been developed by a Ph.D. student over at U.B.C. It covers the Vaturanga people from the Solomon Islands. Much of the information here is based on the author's fieldwork. Read an ethnography of the Vaturanga, view some photos, try out some of the excellent links to other sites about the Solomons, the Pacific area, and anthropology. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

Europe

  Introduction to the Sami The Sami are an indigenous people living in Scandinavia. This page describes their culture. Cool. This is what the internet is all about - giving you access to information that will expand your knowledge of the world. Of course, I like looking at baseball scores, too.

North America

 

  Cherokee Images--Tribal Art and Culture, has information about Cherokee culture including art, language, plants and spirituality. The site has a photo gallery and art gallery. A bookshop is online with links to Amazon. The site has been created by Ken Masters, a Cherokee artist. Well worth taking a look and a good resource for students doing research on Native Americans.

  Museum of the Cherokee Indian, has information on the history, culture and language of the Cherokee. Not all that much information here, but ok as an introductory site for the study of the Cherokee.

  Native American Indian History, Art and Culture, is brought to you by LostWorlds.org. Lost Worlds is an online interactive museum that tells about the Mound Builders of the American Southeast and Midwest. This is a very cool site about the Native American tribes that built the pyramids in North America.

  Native American Language Net , is a site about promoting and perserving Native American Languages. If you work in this area and are concerned about the Native American languages, you should check this site out.

  Russell Means Home Page, is a site dedicated to Russell Means, the American Indian activist. Includes writings, philosophy, lectures, etc. Also has links to other American Indian pages.

  Monumental American Indian Architecture, is devoted to the American Indians of the Lower Mississippi Valley and the earthworks they created. Has some links to some very cool sites on ancient earthworks in the U.S. Some very interesting stuff on American Indians, architecture, history, etc. I love this place - quite possibly related to my early interest in the mound builders of the midwest. Check it out. Makes me think of Dr. Hall who I taught for at Illinois years ago and loved to throw chalk at sleeping students during his archaeology lectures. I've been tempted...

Physical Anthropology

  eSkeletons, is a cool site from the University of Texas Austin. I came across it in a physical anthro MOOC from edX. You can learn about the skeletal anatomy of human and non-human primates. Great stuff for physical anthro students as well as med students.

  scitable, is a site that I've just found in my physical anthro course, and it has so much to offer that it will take some time for me to discover everything that it has to offer. It says that it is a "free science library and personal learning tool...Scitable currently concentrates on genetics and cell biology, which include the topics of evolution, gene expression, and the rich complexity of cellular processes shared by living organisms. Scitable also offers resources for the budding scientist, with advice about effective science communication and career paths." The biological anthropology section is quite good.

South America

  Cultures of the Andes, is a page with music, poetry, the Quechua language and pictures. Very cool if you're looking for something direct and easy to access on the Andes region. Great photos and lots of them. Includes links to other Andes oriented web sites.

Departments of Anthropology

  University of California, Berkeley is my old department. Berkeley has a great history in the field of anthropology - most of my professors have retired now. Check out News and Resources. There are better web sites for other departments in terms of resources.

  University of California, Santa Cruz is one of the departments in the UC system.

  University of Chicago is one of the classic departments in the United States.

  University of Illinois, Chicago is the department where I received my BA and MA in anthropology. I have fond memories of the old department.

Other Anthropological Sites

  American Anthropological Association, This is the home of the major anthropological association in the United States. It includes information about the AAA as well as links to anthropology resources on the internet.

  AnthroBase.com is a searchable database of anthropological texts. I don't know much about this site right now (24/7/04), but it looks like it has possibilities, and I will be checking on it more in the near future.

  Anthropoetics: The Journal of Generative Anthropology, generative anthropology (GA) attempts to understand cultural phenomena in the simplest terms possible: all things human are traced back to their source in the hypothetical scene of origin in which human beings as sign-using creatures first emerged.
The originary hypothesis of GA is that human language begins as an aborted gesture of appropriation representing--and thereby renouncing as sacred--an object of potential mimetic rivalry. The strength of our mimetic intelligence makes us the only creatures for whom intraspecific violence is a greater threat to survival than the external forces of nature. Human language defers potential conflict by permitting each to possess the sign of the unpossessable object of desire--the deferral of violence through representation.

GA seeks to transcend the impasse between the humanities, imprisoned in the "always already" of our cultural systems, and the empirical social sciences, which cannot model the paradoxical generativity of these systems. The originary hypothesis provides the basis for rethinking every aspect of the human, from language to art, from religion to political organization.

Anthropoetics is dedicated to this rethinking both for its intrinsic importance and as a framework for literary and cultural analysis. The editors of Anthropoetics hope to stimulate the continuing interest in GA and to encourage productive dialogue between the humanities and the human sciences.

  Anthropology.net, says this about their website:

Anthropology.net’s mission is to create a cohesive online community of individuals interested in anthropology. This website intends to promote and facilitate discussion, review research, extend stewardship of resources, and disseminate knowledge. To serve the public interest, we seek the widest possible engagement with all segments of society, including professionals, students, and anyone who is interested in advancing knowledge and enhancing awareness of anthropology.

  Anthropology Tutorials, comes from Palomar College in San Marcos, California. There are tutorials on cultural anthropology and biological anthropology. The biological anthropology tutorials include topics like Early Theories of Evolution, Primate Behavior and Evolution of Modern Humans. The cultural anthropology tutorials include such topics as What is Anthropolgy, Social Organization and the Anthropology of Religion. The tutorials are text along with a photo images. Flashcards are included.

  The Archaeology Channel is the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI), an independent, nonprofit, tax-exempt (501[c][3]), research and education corporation registered in Oregon in 1999. Recognizing that the archaeological record is the legacy of all human beings and dedicated to bringing the benefits of archaeology to a wider constituency, ALI was founded to address a number of critical issues now facing archaeology and its potential beneficiaries. Interesting. Check it out.

  Archaeology Magazine, is a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America. You can read about the latest news from the world of archaeology, as well as read indepth articles on digs around the world.

  Becoming Human, is a must site for science and anthropology teachers, as well as for anyone that wants to debate the scientific facts surrounding human evolution. A 2012 Gallup showed that 46% of Americans believe in creationism. So, the word about evolution needs to be taught. This site was created by the Institute of Human Origins. There is a fascinating interactive timeline, an interactive documentary on human origins that is downloadable for Mac or PC, a Learning Center with games and activities and much more. Check this out. This is the Site of the Month.

  Chapati Mystery, has this to say about itself:

CM started out wondering what T. E. Lawrence and Bhagat Singh would talk about, over dinner. And it kinda went downhill from there. Over the last three years, you would have read examples of ‘Cool History’ from South Asia [’cool’ being a subjective term, here], wrong analysis of US domestic politics [I thought Kerry would win], many, many rants against journalists and historians who write about Islam, Middle East or South Asia, some sober assessments on Pakistan’s political and religious scene, a few ruminations about public intellectuals and digital history and finally enough snark to overcome a room full of Wicker Park hipsters. Do be aware that CM’s only qualified expertise is in medieval and modern South Asian history. You should take our guided tour.

Now, I'm just getting to examine this blog, but it's about Pakistan which I love, and Wicker Park is mentioned in the quote above which tells me that this fellow is in Chicago which I also love - what could be better?

  Cultural Analysis , is an interdisciplinary forum on folklore and popular culture : it is an " interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to investigating expressive and everyday culture. The journal features analytical research articles, but also includes notes, reviews, and responses." I found a few interesting articles the first time I found the site the other day. Give it a try.

 Cultural Anthropology, is an academic anthropology journal that has just gone to open access status (as of February 2014). The journal publishes research, analysis and academic writing. This is a journal for scholars interested in the field of anthropology. Advanced high school anthropology students may find the articles of interest.

  Culture Matters, is an anthropology blog coming out of the Department of Anthropology at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. They write about "the emergent trends in anthropology. In particular we are interested in discussing the ways in which the methods and insights of anthropology are being 'applied' in various settings, both within and beyond the academy."

  Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts, is a very basic site in terms of design with a great deal of information about folklore around the world. If folklore is your interest, this site is a valuable resource.

  Jon Frum Home Page, tells you about cargo cults and the well-known Jon Frum (well-known if you've taken some intro anthro courses that discuss cargo cults). This is an interestingly designed sight and is worth a look.

  National Museum of the American Indian: Codetalkers, is the museum's recognition of the role that American Indians played in World War II by using native languages to send coded messages vital to the war effort. This is a little known area for the general public and well worth a visit to this site.

  Native Web Home Page, is a "cyber-place for Earth's Indigenous peoples." This site provides a variety of links relating to indigenous people.

  Open Access Anthropology , is a blog that examines the state of open access resources in and around anthropology. For those of us who are far from libraries and not attached to a university or research institute, open access materials are heaven sent. I keep an eye on this just to see what is available.

  Savage Minds , is a blog that covers all sorts of cool anthropology stuff.

  Tipiti, is the Journal for the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America. They have downloadable free articles.

  World Council of Anthropological Associations, is a network of anthropological associations around the world. The goals of the council is to promote anthropology as a discipline, to promote cooperation and sharing among world anthropologists, and to promote jointly organized international debates. Take a look and see what you think.