Knowledge is power: anthropology of proverbs
Proverbs are a simple way of expressing a well-known truth or adage based on common sense or experience. They are usually considered to be imbued with ancestral wisdom, passed down from generation to generation until…
Unconditional Love: Is devotion to pets a cultural universal?
If the number of cute animal memes on the internet is a fair benchmark, then the human love of pets is a powerful and global phenomenon. For many pet owners, their furry (or scaly) domestic…
Romantic or disgusting? Passionate kissing is not a human universal
From pop culture to evolutionary psychology, we have come to take kissing for granted as universally desirable among humans and inseparable from other aspects of affection and intimacy. However, a recent article in American Anthropologist…
eHRAF Archaeology Jeoparody Game
In homage to the late Alex Trebek (1940-2020), host of the television game show Jeopardy! for 37 years, we are pleased to share a new interactive HRAF game: eHRAF Archaeology Jeoparody. A play on the…
HRAF 2020 in Review & 2021 Preview
It’s 2021, and time for our annual news & notes recap and preview. This post will summarize our activities from the previous year, as well as what you can expect to see from HRAF over…
eHRAF Highlights
2021 HRAF Internship in Honor of Melvin Ember
The Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) at Yale University is pleased to announce a one-year internship in honor of Melvin Ember. Melvin…
Summer Institutes for Cross-Cultural Anthropological Research 2021-2023
Summer 2021 The National Science Foundation, in a grant to…
Introducing iKLEWS team members
HRAF is pleased to welcome two new team members, Sridhar…
HRAF-UConn Virtual Anthropology Day Celebration 2021
The Human Relations Area Files at Yale University will host…