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…
Category Archives: Feature
Craving comfort: bonding with food across cultures
Food is a universal human experience. People everywhere must eat to survive, yet what foods are eaten and how they are enjoyed can vary widely across cultures and time. “Comfort foods” made a comeback in…
New and Forthcoming Cultures and Traditions in eHRAF World Cultures & Archaeology (2020-2021)
A popular annual request from our members is for information about how we are growing our culture collections in our eHRAF databases. Below is a brief summary of what cultures and traditions we have added…
Winter Solstice Celebrations Around the World
The Winter Solstice is upon us in the Northern Hemisphere. Marking the longest night and shortest day of the year, the hibernal solstice is an astronomical event that takes place when the Earth reaches its…
Thanks, but no thanks: Expressions of gratitude in eHRAF World Cultures
During the end-of-year “holiday season” throughout much of the Western world, we are often reminded to be grateful for the things that we have, and even to go out of our way to be gracious…
HRAF Research: Tightness and Looseness in Non-industrial Societies
by Carol R. Ember, HRAF President We all grow up in a culture that to some degree tells us how to behave or how not to behave in different social situations. Our daily lives are…
Support HRAF through a tax-deductible donation
For over 70 years, the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) has been fulfilling our mission to promote understanding of cultural diversity and commonality in the past and present. To accomplish this mission, HRAF produces scholarly…
Pumpkins around the world
Pumpkins are typically associated with Halloween in the form of carved “jack-o-lanterns” and, especially in the United States, with pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. But around the world, pumpkins have been an important food throughout the…
HRAF Global Scholars Program
HRAF is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications for the HRAF Global Scholars Program. This program provides scholars around the world with one year of complimentary access to eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology. The application…
Nascent Worlds: a journey of cultural discovery
Nascent Worlds, a teaching exercise by digital anthropologist Dr. Francine Barone, is a build-your-own-culture learning activity. Designed with introductory socio-cultural anthropology classes in mind, it incorporates all four fields of anthropology (physical anthropology, linguistic anthropology,…