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Anthropology Research Topics And Writing Ideas For Students

Writing an anthropology research paper is in a lot of ways similar to writing an argumentative essay in other disciplines. Usually, the significant difference between these essays is how you support your idea. While you may use only literature to prove your point in an argumentative essay, you may need to employ textual proofs from artifacts, ethnographies, etc., in an anthropology essay.

Research in anthropology could be thrilling, particularly if you have many anthropology project ideas. Anthropology studies the evolution of human culture and therefore provides a wide range of anthropology essay topics that spill into history, biology, sociology, etc. Many anthropological research projects borrow from other social sciences. It is easy to feel that overwhelming grip on your chest if you’re unable to choose an anthropology research topic.

How to Write an Anthropology Research Paper

Guide how to write an anthropology research paper, the excellent list of 110 anthropology research paper topics, physical anthropology research paper topics, medical anthropology research paper topics, cultural anthropology research paper ideas, best cultural anthropology essay topics, biological anthropology research paper topics.

Forensic Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Are you worried because you don’t know how to write an anthropology paper? Writing an anthropology paper could be so much fun if you can nail the basics. It is not as bad as people paint it to be, especially if you get writing help from our professional writers . With the right anthropology paper format, anthropology research topics, and anthropology research paper examples, you’re set to go!

If you’re a big fan of doing lots of things in a short time and with fewer efforts, then you’re in the right place. This guide is full of the tips and skills you need to arrange your ideas properly. It also contains anthropology paper examples, anthropology paper topics, and other life-saving tips you may need. Ready to know how to start an anthropology research paper? Let’s delve right in!

How do you get started on an anthropology research paper? Below is the most comprehensive list on the internet to get you home and dry in record time!

Review the Assignment Guidelines
Develop a Topic
Outline your Paper
Do some Library Research
Write a Rough Draft
Write the Paper
Edit the Paper

We shall shortly expound on this list to help you better understand them.

Review the Assignment Guidelines: your professor may give you some guidelines to follow. To avoid deviating from the instructor’s expectations, spend some time reviewing your assignment guidelines so that you know the exact things you need to accomplish. For example, confirm if there are any stated anthropology research methods and the likes. It is beneficial to have a writing schedule. If you have a lot of time in your hands before the submission time, spreading out the workload will help to ease some of the stress. If you’re naturally a binge writer, sit at your computer early and bleed!
Develop a Topic: search for some anthropology research paper ideas and choose from the vast array of anthropology research topics available. Select a topic that revolves around a guiding question. This topic should connect on a deeper level to the theme of the course. The length requirement for the paper will help you know if your topic is too big, too small, or just good enough. For a short paper, you may want to focus on a particular culture or event in the context of a broader topic. Ensure that your thesis focuses on anthropology and that it draws from anthropological theories or ideas. Now, do a quick search to confirm if there are scholarly materials available for this topic. It is easier to write a paper with some available references.
Introduction/Abstract
Library Research: now, start the research on your topic, preferably from course materials. A bibliography at the end of a relevant course reading is also a great way to get other related materials. Depending on the requirement of the assignment, feel free to search for other books or articles.
Write a Rough Draft: during your research, endeavor to make proper jottings and references, which will form the rough draft of your essay. A rough draft will help you create dots that you will be able to connect later on.
Title: Usually on a separate page and contains the abstract.
Introduction/Abstract : A short paragraph showing the road map of your thesis.
Body: Leverages your thesis and presenting your research in a detailed and logical structure.
Conclusion: The conclusion is a short paragraph that summarizes your fundamental theme and substantiates your thesis.
References: A citation of the resources you used in your paper. Follow the referencing style which your instructor chooses.
Edit the Paper: you may engage any of your friends to help you go through your essay. Make some final checks such as the length requirement, the format and citation style, spelling and grammatical errors, logical flow of ideas and clarity, substantial support of the claim, etc. Once you edit your paper, turn it in and accept an A+!

Without further ado, here are 110 anthropology research paper topics for free! With 18 topics each from the six main subcategories of anthropology, you can’t get it wrong!

Eugenics — its merits and demerits in the 21st-century world.
Human Origin: Comparing the creationist versus evolutionist views on the origin of man.
Ancient Egypt: The preservation of their dead and underlying beliefs.
Homo habilis: Investigating Contemporary facts supporting their past existence.
Drowning: Clarifying the cause of drowning by examining the physical and anatomical evidence.
Smoking and its effects on the physical appearance of humans over decades of indulgence.
Physical labor: Exploring its long-term impact on the physical appearance of humans.
The relationship of Kyphosis with human senescence.
Aging in Western Culture.
Skin color: Exploring the influence of the environment on human skin color across continents.
Species and language: Focus on ways species evolve across the world and ways language acquisition affects and influences culture.
Abiogenesis: Research about abiogenesis and how it affects human development
Animal stability: How captive animals are different from those that live in the wild.
Henry Walter: The ways Henry Walter contributed to the field of physical anthropology.
Cephalization: The process of cephalization and what it entails.
Genotype: The environment correlation study.
Genetics: What does genetic hijacking mean?
Altruism: Do people learn altruism or it is an acquired state.
Applying the Concepts of Ethnozoology in medicine.
Critically Assessing the fundamental posits of critical medical anthropology (CMA).
The 2014 Ebola virus outbreak in Africa: Evaluating the success of control interventions.
Exploring the applications of Ethnobotany in medicine.
Nuclear disaster: A research into the life of survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986.
HIV/AIDS: The reasons for prevalent societal infamy and the way forward.
HIV/AIDS epidemic in Europe: Exploring the roles of commercial sex workers in the spread of the disease.
Alternative medicine in China: A comparative review of its weaknesses and possible strengths in the light of Orthodox medicine.
HIV/AIDS in Africa: A critical assessment of extensively troubled nations and populations.
Depression in South-East Asia: Sheer social noise or severe threat?
Adult’s onset diabetes: Research on how diabetes is a major health issue in aboriginal populations in The U.S and Canada.
ARV rollout: The role of the ARV rollout and campaigns in Africa.
Sexual diversity in Africa: Research on whether sexual diversity in Africa is being taken into account to help fight against AIDS.
Chemicals and radiation waste: How the radiation waste and chemicals in the air are affecting people.
Mercury poisoning: The effects of Mercury poisoning in Minamata, Japan, and the measures to help put the situation under control.
Health: The health ramifications of adapting to ecology and maladaptation.
Health: Domestic healthcare and health culture practices
Clinic: Clinical interactions in social organizations.
Growth: Difference between growth and development.
Engineering: Genetic engineering and what it entails.
Marriage: Marriage rituals in different cultures.
Magic: Belief in magic and the supernatural.
Mythologies: The effects it has on modern culture.
Anthropology: How to use anthropology as forensic science.
Heroes: Studies of heroes in different societies.
Education: How education differs around the world.

Cultural anthropology discusses human societies and their cultural origin, vacation, history, and development. Here is a look at cultural Anthropology topics:

Women in Africa: The various challenging roles that women in Modern Africa play and how they handle it.
Homelessness: How homelessness affects and influences the culture and social landscapes.
India: Methods and measures that India is taking to deal with the issue of homelessness and measures they have put in place to deal with social landscapers.
Political science: Highlight and discuss the link between cultural anthropology and political science.
Superstition: Research ways that superstition affects the way of life.
Sexual discrimination: The evolution of sexual discrimination and its effects in modern times.
African cultures: Investigating how different religions and beliefs impact African culture.
Northern Nigeria: How the basic religious beliefs that influence forced nuptials among the children in North Nigeria.
Gay marriage: The background on gay marriage and how it influences the cultural and social backgrounds.
Racism: Explain racism and its existence in modern times.
Religious practices: Ways how religious practices and beliefs affect culture.
Culture shock: What it is and ways that people can work through it.
Ethnocentrism: Ways that you can use to minimize it.
Ancestors: A view of ancestors in African culture.
Religion: Religious practices in a particular society.
Culture: About the Rabari culture in India
Definition of culture
How culture anthropology links to political science
Alcoholism: Looking into the socio-economic and cultural history in Eastern Europe.
Assessing the effects of radioactivity on populations affected by the nuclear disaster of 2011 in Fukushima Daiichi.
Gay marriage: Exploring the biological aspects of same-sex weddings in North America.
Minamata disease: A critical look into the origin, populations affected, and transgenerational impact of this disease on Japan.
Asthma disease in Yokkaichi: A critical look into the cause, people affected, and transgenerational effect on Japan.
Itai-Itai disease: A critical look into the cause, populations affected, and transgenerational effect on Japan.
Nuclear bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: An investigation of the transgenerational effects on the health of affected victims to this present time.
Cocaine use in America: A critical look into the health impact on American cocaine users.
Making Marijuana use legal in America: Possible woes and beneficial outcomes.
Cystic fibrosis: Justifications for its preponderance in white populations in America.
Biological Anthropology: Research on the meaning and definition of biological Anthropology and how it influences different fields.
Paleoanthropology: Explore ways Paleoanthropology uses fossil records to draw biological anthropology compassion and conclusions regarding human evolution.
Human social structures: Explain the development of human social structures using biological anthropology.
Biological anthropologies: Research on some primary geographical locations where biological anthropologies used to research their work.
Human language: Research how biological anthropology helped in the development of human language and communication.
Body projects: The changes and the valued attributes.
Political ecology: The Vector-borne and infectious disease.
Clinical Interactions: What are clinical interaction and social organization?

Forensic Anthropology Research Paper Ideas

Radioactive Carbon dating: A critical assessment of the accuracy of this dating technique.
Human Origin: Pieces of evidential support for Creationist and Evolutionist views on the origin of man.
Assessing the accuracy of DNA evidence testing and matching on criminology.
Neanderthals: Exploring environmental influences and migratory paths on their survival and appearance.
Dating Techniques: A critical review of current archaeological dating techniques.
Ancient Egypt Mummification: A critical look at the effectiveness of the methods used.
Nuclear disaster: A research into the impact of radioactivity on life forms due to the atomic catastrophe Chernobyl in 1986.
A critical look into recent evidence supporting the existence of Homo habilis in the past.
Crime Scene Forensics: Recent advances in the detection of crime.
Postmortem Changes: Investigating the primary agents responsible for biological changes in humans.
Criminal procedure: Research a case with a confession scenario and highlight unique features of the case.
Criminal procedure: Do your research on the criminal proceedings in a given area and what makes them effective.
Computer forensic: Ways that the computer forensic help in preserving electronic evidence.
Digital forensic: Research about the history and features of digital forensic.
History: Ways that Israel presents itself as a leader in computer forensics.
Oncology: The latest archaeological dating methods.
DNA: How accurate is DNA evidence in the matching and testing criminology?
Crime detention: The recent improvements of crime detection.

So here we are! Fifty juicy topics that are all eager to wear some flesh! Ready to have an A+? Let’s do it!

Are you stuck with writing your thesis? Just enter promo “ mythesis ” – that’s all you need to get a 20% discount for any anthropology writing assignment you might have!

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195 Top Anthropology Topics For Great Thesis

Anthropology is one of the most interesting disciplines that you can pursue at the university level. The whole idea of exploring everything known about human beings, from their origins to evolution, is pretty exciting.

However, the study requires preparing multiple assignments, which can be pretty challenging because you need a deep understanding of biology, history, and culture. The first step, which is even more stressful when preparing an anthropology paper, is selecting the right topic. So, we are here to help.

In this post, we have a list of the best anthropology topics that you can use to get good grades. To help you increase the chances of scoring the best grade in your paper, we have also included a comprehensive guide on how to write your paper like a pro.

What Is Anthropology?

Anthropology is the study of humanity, and it is concerned about human biology, behavior, societies, cultures and linguistics in the past and present. The discipline stretches back to the study of past human species. Because of its broad nature, it is broken down into a number of units, with each focusing on a specific area:

Social anthropology: Focuses on patterns of human behavior. Cultural anthropology: This branch mainly focuses on culture, including values and norms in the society. Linguistic anthropology: Unlike the other two, this branch of anthropology targets determining how language impacts people’s lives. Biological anthropology: This branch focuses on studying the biological development of humans. Archaeological anthropology: This branch of anthropology is concerned with investigating humans in the past. In some jurisdictions, such as Europe, it is considered a full discipline like geography or history.

How To Write Best Quality Anthropology Research Paper

When your professors issue anthropology research paper prompts, one of the questions that you might have is, “how do I write a high level paper?” Here are the main steps that you can use to write a great college paper.

Step One: Understand the Assignment The biggest mistake that you can make is starting an assignment without understanding what it entails. So, read the prompt carefully and grasp what is needed. For example, does your teacher want a qualitative or quantitative research paper? For masters and graduate students, it might be a quantitative anthropology dissertation. Step Two: Select the Preferred Research Paper Topic The topic that you select is very important, and it is advisable to go for the title that is interesting to you. Furthermore, the topic should have ample resources to help you complete the paper smoothly. If there are no books, journals, and other important resources to prepare the paper, there is a risk of getting stuck midway. Once you select the topic, carry preliminary research to gather key points that you will use to prepare the paper. However, these points are not final and will need to get updated along the way. Step Three: Develop Your Research Paper Outline An outline defines the structure of the paper. It makes further research and preparing the paper pretty straightforward. Also, it eliminates the risk of forgetting important bits of the research paper. To make the paper more informative, make sure to add supportive information progressively. Step Four: Write the Thesis Statement of Your Paper The thesis statement of a paper is your stand about the topic that you are writing about. The statement comes in the introduction but will further be restated in conclusion. The information you present on the research paper will approve or disapprove your thesis statement. Step Five: Write the Draft Paper After gathering the information about the topic, it is time to get down and prepare the first draft. So, strictly follow the prepared outline to craft a good paper, starting with the introduction to the conclusion. If you are writing a dissertation, it might be good to tell your supervisor about the progress. Remember that a dissertation is more comprehensive than a research paper. To write a dissertation, you should start with the introduction, followed by the literature review, research methods, results, discussion, and finally, conclusion. Step Six: Write the Final Paper After finishing the draft, it is time to refine it further and make the work exceptional. Therefore, you might want to go through more resources to establish if there is anything more helpful to add. Finally, edit your paper and proofread the paper. You might also want to ask a friend to help with proofreading to identify mistakes that might have skipped your eye.

Next, we will highlight the leading anthropology topics that you should consider. So, pick the preferred one or tweak it a little to suit your needs.

Interesting Anthropology Topics

Investigating how religious beliefs impact the Hispanic cultures.
A review of the evolution of sexual discrimination.
The impact of culture on same sex marriages: A case study of LGBT community in France.
A closer look at racism in modern societies.
Causes of homelessness among the Hispanic communities.
Causes and effects of homelessness among the Indian people in Asia.
Comparing the strategies adopted to deal with homelessness in the US and India.
Cultural anthropology and political science: How are they related?
Identify and review two most important organizations when it comes to advancing anthropology.
Peru’s Quechua people.
Contemporary policy and environmental anthropology.
What influences human social patterns?
A review of the impact of western culture on indigenous people in North America.
Analyzing the caste systems and ranking in societies.
A review of ancient Roman culture.
The evolution of the human ear.
Comparing the evolution of man to the evolution of birds.
What is the origin of modern humans?
A closer look at the main issues in female circumcision.

Biological Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Exploring the meaning of biological anthropology and its application in different fields.
Analyzing how primatologists use primates to understand human evolution.
How paleontologists use fossil records for anthropological comparisons.
Biological anthropology: How does it explain human behavior development?
Identify and review top geographical locations where anthropologists do their work: Why are these locations so important?
Define the connection between social sciences and biological anthropology.
The evolution of the primate diet.
Analyzing the evolution of tapetum lucidum.
A closer look at the extinction of giant lemurs in Madagascar.
Human resistance to drugs: Human pathogen coevolution.
How to determine the age of an animal using its bones.
How does syphilis impact bones?
Poaching and habitat destruction.
The application of natural selection in the animal kingdom.

Good Cultural Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Religious beliefs in the Asian cultures.
Comparing religious beliefs in African and Aboriginal cultures.
A review of the key cultural concepts in a culture of choice in Europe.
Comparing the idea of worldview from the perspectives of two societies.
Marriage in a traditional society of your choice.
A review of early development of economic organizations.
The role of women in Indian society.
A closer look at the process of language acquisition in African culture.
Missionary and anthropology: What is the relationship?
What strategies would you propose to minimize ethnocentrism?
How can society minimize the notion of cultural baggage?
Culture shock: Insights on how to address it.
Belief in magic in different societies.
A review of the impacts of globalization on nutritional anthropology.

Anthropological Research Questions

Should anthropology be merged fully with biology?
Is DNA evidence accurate in criminology applications?
How does the practice of anthropology application in China compare to that of the US?
Use of radiological tools in anthropology: What is their level of effectiveness?
What are the main hazards and risks of forensic anthropology?
What effect do mythologies have in modern society?
How does language acquisition impact the culture of a society?
Body project change projects: What are the valued attributes?
Halloween celebrations: How have they evolved over the years?
What are the impacts of adaptive mutation?
How did WWI and WWII impact human societies?
What are the impacts of climate change on animal evolution?
Location of crime: What can you learn about it?
What are the impacts of long-term alcohol addiction on the human body?
Magic and science: Are they related?

Easy Anthropological Ideas

Development of anthropology in the 21st century.
Important lessons about humans that can be drawn from anthropological studies.
Anthropological issues in pre-capitalist societies.
A closer look at folk roles and primitive society.
Urban centers and modern man.
How is automation impacting human behavior?
How does biology impact human culture?
Reviewing racial identity and stereotypes in society.
Comparing ancient Aztec to Maya civilizations.
Analyzing religious diversity in the United States.
Comparing religious diversity in the UK and Italy.
Why is studying anthropology important?
Comparing different death rituals in different cultures on the globe.
What is the relationship between literature and human development?
Analyzing the influence of anthropology on modern art.
How has social media impacted different cultures on the globe?

Linguistic Anthropology Research Topics

What led to the emergence of linguistics anthropology?
A review of the main theories in linguistic anthropology.
Linguistics used by different communities in the same nation.
Comparing sign and verbal communication.
How did Dell Hymes contribute to linguistic anthropology?
Language is the most important component among Bengal immigrants.
Language endangerment: What is it?
Comparing different categories of arts from an anthropological context for an Asian and Western country.
The impact of colonization on the language of a specific society of your choice.
Explore three different indigenous languages in America.

Controversial Anthropology Topics

Social anthropology is not worth studying because it is very general.
Human societies are cultural constructs.
The past should be considered a foreign nation.
What are your views of petro behavior in chimps?
Man is natural killer
Infant killing is an important evolutionary strategy.
The war on infanticides: Which side do you support?
Evaluating the concept of human morality.
Should all the political leaders be required to undertake training in cultural anthropology?
Human cleansing: Evaluating the driving factors in different societies.
Analyzing the concept of political correctness in the 21st century.
What are the earliest life forms to exist on the planet?

Medical Anthropology Research Topics List

Comparing and contrasting physical and medical anthropology studies.
Do we have evidence of evolution over the last 2000 years?
Exploring the importance of anthropology in modern medicine.
The health implications of adapting to ecology.
Domestic health culture practices in two societies of choice.
A review of clinical anthropology applications.
Political ecology of infectious diseases.
What is the relationship between violence, diseases and malnutrition?
The economic aspect of political health in a country of choice.
Perception of risk, vulnerability and illnesses: A case study of the United States.
What are the main factors that drive good nutrition and health transition?
The adoption of preventive health practices in society.
Important cultural conditions that help shape medical practices.
Comparing the medical practices during the colonial and post-colonial eras in a county of choice.
Use of mitochondria in forensic and anthropology.
Commercialization of health and medicine: What are the implications in society?
Analyzing health disparity in a society of your choice.

Current Topics In Anthropology

Using anthropology studies to determine the impact of political systems on different societies.
Human rights of people who are convicted of crimes.
What are the most important organizations when studying anthropology?
A closer look at the dialect of a modern feminist.
A study of current queer life in Germany.
Implications of Barack Obama as the African American President.
Reviewing the Pagan rituals and their impacts.
Comparing aging in the west and growing old in the African setting.
Cultural implications of deviant behavior in society.
The new concept of childhood in the emerging economies.

Physical Anthropology Research Topics

What does genetic hitchhiking mean?
Analyzing the cephalization process.
What is adaptive mutation?
Altruism: Is it learnt or a natural trait?
What is abiogenesis in human development?
A study of Australian marsupial’s convergent evolution.
Comparing stability of animals in stability and those in the wild.
Evolution of different animals in different parts of the globe. What drives the differences?
A review of physical anthropology trends.
The future evolution of human beings.
Physical anthropology: The human and digital culture.
What really makes people human?

Special Anthropology Topics to Write About

Enlightenment and Victorian Anthropological Theory.
Race and ethnicity: The anthropologist’s viewpoint.
A closer look at reciprocity in the native aboriginal communities in Australia.
What is the relationship between Neanderthal and modern humans?
Cultural anthropology versus sociology.
Anthropology of Mormonism.
What is the biggest change since WWI?
What is reflexive anthropology?
What is the main purpose of rituals in society?
Comparing rituals around childbirth in Asia.
Evaluating the connection between religion and myths in different societies.
Comparing the 20th and 21st century’s method of collecting anthropological data.
Why is medical anthropology so important today?
The importance of Benin artifacts in the history of the world.
The sociology theory: A review of its structure and shortcomings.
Christian believes in anthropology.
Comparing Anthropology of Europe to Anthropology of Africa.
Evaluate the effectiveness of reflexivity use in ethnographic studies.

Forensic Anthropology Paper Topics

What are the primary agents that cause biological changes in the human body?
Are the biological change agents in a human being similar to those of other animals?
Assessing the accuracy of carbon dating technology.
Analyzing the latest improvements in crime detection technology.
Analyzing evidence that supports evolution views of human beings.
How does radioactivity impact different animals?
The main signs of asphyxiation.
A review of the latest archaeological dating methods: Are they effective?
Mummification: How effective was the process as applied in Egypt?
Importance of crime scenes in forensic anthropology.
Analyzing the effectiveness of Buccal Swabs when profiling insides of cheeks.
Criminal profiling: How effective is it in deterring a criminal’s traits?
Footprint in the crime scene: What can they tell you?
Soil comparison in forensic anthropology.
Insect as important agents of body decomposition.
How do you identify blunt force trauma?
Comparing and contrasting penetrating and perforating trauma.
Analyzing the Rigor Mortis method of establishing a person’s death.

Use Online Help To Prepare Exceptional Papers

This post has demonstrated how you should go about preparing a quality anthropology paper. However, many still find it challenging to prepare even after selecting interesting anthropology research topics. Well, there is no need to worry because you can use experts in research paper and dissertation writers. Using our resources when you buy dissertation with us, you will get exceptional results.

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What Is Anthropology ?

Table of Contents

Anthropology is the study of humans’ origins, societies, cultures, behaviors, and physical variations across time and space. It emphasizes understanding the diversity of human experiences and how societies function. Anthropologists explore various aspects of human life, from biological and evolutionary perspectives to cultural and social dimensions.

There are four primary subfields in anthropology:

Cultural Anthropology: Focuses on understanding contemporary societies, cultures, customs, and practices.
Archaeology: Studies past human societies and cultures by examining material remains, artifacts, and structures.
Biological/Physical Anthropology: Investigates human biology, evolution, genetics, and primatology.
Linguistic Anthropology: Explores the role of language in societies, communication, and cultural expression.

Anthropologists use diverse methods, including ethnography (participant observation), interviews, archaeological excavations, biological analyses, and linguistic studies, to uncover insights into human societies, their histories, and how they evolve over time.

Here we have compiled 300 research topics under different categories. From how languages evolve to what ancient artifacts tell us, these topics are like treasure maps guiding us to discover the wonders of human life. Ready to dive into stories of our past, present, and future? Let us start.

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Publications

With more than 20 titles, AAA is the largest single publisher of anthropological journals.

AnthroSource

A digital searchable database containing past, present and future AAA publications, more than 250,000 articles from AAA journals, newsletters, bulletins and monographs in a single place, and 24/7 access to scientific research information across the field of anthropology.

Anthropology News

The AAA's award-winning member magazine published digitally. We develop insightful anthropology stories for anthropologists and anyone with an interest in anthropology. Our aim is to champion engaging, incisive anthropology writing and multimodal content from across the discipline.

American Anthropologist

AAA's flagship journal, with more than one million article downloads each year. The journal advances research on humankind in all its aspects, encompassing archaeological, biological, sociocultural, and linguistic research.

AnthroGuide

A fully searchable reference of anthropologists within universities, colleges, museums, non-profits, government agencies, and businesses.

Anthropology Book Forum

Anthropology Book Forum publishes reviews of books and films for a general anthropological audience from every subfield and cognate disciplines. This award-winning, entirely open-access platform publishes new content each week.

Open Anthropology

Open Anthropology is the digital-only, public journal of the AAA. Recent issues of Open Anthropology have explored Pandemic Perspectives, Hearing Women Talk, and Walls, Fences, and Barriers: Anthropology on the Border

Open Anthropology Research Repository

OARR is a community server established to improve and accelerate the discovery and dissemination of anthropological work, including preprints, teaching materials, and papers and posters presented at disciplinary meetings.

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Collections is an anthology of articles published across the AAA portfolio of scholarly journals related to the most topical issues of the day.

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Submitting and publishing research articles in peer-reviewed journals can be perplexing for scholars of all levels, and junior scholars often have few resources to assist with navigating the process. AAA provides information on where you can get your article published.

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The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is happy to accept requests to copy and reprint articles from its publications.

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From the American Anthropologist to Anthropology and Humanism, find AAA publications from over the years.

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AAA members are encouraged to contribute to the growth of the discipline by donating to institutions overseas.

Publishing Style Guide

As of September 2015, AAA style (for all publications) follows the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition, particularly in regard to reference citations.

Anthropology Research Topics: 100+ Ideas

Do you want to frame an anthropology research paper that helps you stand out from the crowd? If this is the case, don’t worry because we have you covered. However, before jumping straight to the writing part, the first step is to select a great anthropology research topic.

A majority of students consider this step to be the most daunting. Choosing a topic and researching it can take time and effort. It requires a broad range of skills. However, since it is an academic compulsion, you must recognize it for a short time. Why not give this your most passionate shot once and for all and fully indulge in it once and all?

Don’t be afraid, as we’re here to navigate you through an enticing list of 100+ research topics in anthropology. These topics will help you frame the outstanding research paper you have always wanted. You can choose these topics as they are or tweak them a little according to your unique requirements.

Table of Contents

Working on Anthropology Research Paper Topics

To frame an outstanding research paper on anthropological topics, the first and foremost thing is to think anthropologically. Thinking anthropologically implies suspending their preconceived notions of how the world functions and what constitutes “normal” or “abnormal.” Anthropology urges anthropologists to be “culturally relative” and to comprehend cultural diversity on their terms. Anthropology rejects ethnocentrism and recognizes divergence without placing it in a hierarchy.

When you are writing your anthropology research paper, you need to ensure the following items are on your checklist:

Critically analyze and evaluate cultural norms (both in your own and other cultures).
Conduct comprehensive research on ethnographic data (including data and descriptions of everyday events, oral histories, and significant interviews) to understand significant patterns.
Organize all the ethnographic or other evidence to expound on a phenomenon or event or support a hypothesis or argument.
Evaluate a theoretical viewpoint critically to determine how well it explains cultural occurrences.

100+ Anthropology Research Paper Topics

There are a few subjects that intrigue the majority of students. These are anthropology, psychology, mythology, sociology, and other good ethnography topics.

Drafting a research paper on anthropology comes with a wide spectrum of special subtopics. These subtopics include linguistics, biology, current events, and cultural anthropology topics to choose from. These topics are mentioned below and can help inspire fascinating research and writing about humans and their evolution.

Read Also – Top 100 Position Paper Topics

Biology and Anthropology Topics for Research

Biological anthropologists investigate, document, and explain the evolution of morphological variations among humankind through time in the historical record. They also provide a comparative perspective on the uniqueness of the human race compared to other living primates. It is a very popular subject for students. Thus, if you’re keen to research more about such factors, then consider these biological anthropology topics that will help you get started with a specific mindset for writing:

The history of biological anthropology: understanding the natural history of humankind
A handbook on paleoanthropology: the history of our tribes
Minimizing the risk of maladaptation: a developmental perspective
Understanding the current stage of paleoanthropology in the USSR
Biological anthropology with other allied fields of science
How biological anthropology explains the genesis of human behaviour and social structures
Applying biological anthropology to interpret human evolution
How do the biotech and pharmaceutical industries influence modern medicine?
Biological anthropology and aging

Controversial Anthropology Topics for Research

Writing and researching controversial topics is always the cherry on the cake. You can easily expound on these topics by corroborating a huge spectrum of data and resources. Thus, instead of choosing drudgery research topics in anthropology, give another penny for your thoughts and choose controversial topics. Topic ideas relating to controversial topics are here.

Ancient Egyptian civilization: the culture of life and death
Validation of social anthropology
The ethnographic paradigms
The war on infanticide has a global scope and magnitude.
Cultural construction or anthropology: theory and empirical evidence
The criticism of the European monarchy over western democracy
The relationship between social anthropology and allied disciplines
Hidden voices: Unveiling women in Ancient Egypt
Understanding Italian culture: Greek culture’s influence on Italian languages and culture
The origins and natural history of human morality
Analyzing male aggression against women from an evolutionary perspective
Understanding personality, cognition, and behavioural changes in chimpanzees
Infanticide as an evolutionary strategy: reality or myth?
The myth of man as a natural hunter
Analyzing the dart and the Seville statement on war
The history of Samoan sexual conduct and the Mead-Freeman controversy
Menopause: adaptation or epiphenomenon?
Who owns the past?
The repatriation of anthropology

Read Also – 295 Sociology Research Topics

Cultural Anthropology Research Topics

Cultural anthropology is the branch of anthropology that studies human societies, patterns, cultures, and developments. Some of the contentious cultural anthropology topics are given below:

Cultural anthropology and linguistics
The evolution of sexism: a critical analysis of past problems and future possibilities
The flourishing of libertarian literary writings
The history of women’s struggles
Cultural anthropology and psychiatry
The development of sociology and social anthropology
Fundamental religious principles govern child forced marriages in northern Nigeria.
The battle of African women for equality
Patriarchy and the representation of women in Asian nations
Green and Roman mythology: a comparative analysis
African traditional beliefs and spirituality in Africa
Cultural violence and the Nigerian woman: a narrative review
The ultimate journey of widow-burning in India
Exploring cultural spaces and technologies in contemporary societies
The biological myth of human evolution: a phylogenetic approach
Erasing culture and race: practising “self-determination.”
The American Holocaust: Columbus and the Conquest of the New World
The 16th and 17th-century philosophy of India
Understanding Mexican culture from a religious point of view
Migration and cultural diversity
The native American ancestry of African-Americans
Muslim women and forced marriages
A theoretical analysis of culture clashes in American anthropology
Anthropology of religion
Christendom’s worlds and Christianity’s future

Physical Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Physical anthropology is the study of human origins, evolution, and diversity. If you’re interested in researching and writing about physical anthropology, then here are some interesting topic suggestions that you can consider:

Genotype-environment correlation study: an overview
The evolution of human beings
Genetic hitchhiking: the controversy and its implications
The altruistic personality: the heritability of individual differences
The cephalization process
Amazonian Anthropology: Henry Walter Bates
Homo sapiens and early human migration
The evolution of human history and the first man
The ancient Egyptian afterlife beliefs
The issues and challenges of aging in Asia
Influence of environmental factors on skin tone
Examine five literary works that discuss the stages of drowning and dying.
Evidence of somatic acceleration from recent investigations
The relationship between psychological and physiological constitutions
A review and comparison of dissolution profiles
The advantages and disadvantages of eugenics in the 21st century
Aging across cultures: a comparative analysis
Genetic engineering and medical anthropology: ethics and challenges

Read Also – 100+ Compelling Linguistics Research Topics

Linguistic Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Linguistic anthropology is the branch of anthropology that studies the connection or relationship between languages and cultures. It study how people negotiate, think, compete, and reproduce cultural forms and relations through the medium of languages. If you’re interested in learning more about linguistic anthropology, here are a few suggestions for you:

The anatomy and physiology of speech
Language, Race, and Popular Culture
The relationship between language and culture
Understanding intercultural communication: a current perspective
Linguistics and the politics of representation
Representational barriers and issues in linguistic anthropology
Language and gender: a comprehensive research work
American-African women’s language: talking that talk
Journeys into the past: understanding different language cultures
Language endangerment and language revitalization: an active approach

Forensic Research Topics in Anthropology

Generally speaking, forensic anthropology studies the examination of human remains for law enforcement agencies to solve atrocious crimes. Have a look at some of these great forensic anthropology research topics:

Analyzing the latest perspectives on forensic anthropology
Criminal profiling and computer forensic processes: assumptions, challenges, and probable solutions
Fundamentals of forensic anthropology: current methods and practices
Forensic anthropology and medicine
Forensic anthropology and forensic pathology
A handbook on crime scene investigation
Comparison of soils in forensic anthropology: a detailed study
Reactive oxidants and human diseases
An investigation of the fundamental factors that cause biological alterations in the human body
A study on the recent advancements in forensic science
Criminal profiling: a powerful tool against criminal offences
Current tools and future concepts of forensic anthropology
Common techniques in the study of forensic anthropology
Progress and prospects of DNA testing procedures
Narratives of forensic psychology and criminal personality profiling
Moral issues in forensic anthropology
The workings of forensic anthropology: ethics and professionalism
accuracy of carbon dating technology
Asphyxiation: an autopsy study
Analyzing the methods of determining the time of death

Medical Anthropology Topics for Research

Interested in medical anthropology? If so, look at the below-provided research topics on anthropology.

Exploring medical anthropology
Ethno zoology: applications and principles
A reflection on medical anthropology
Medical anthropology and epidemiology
Medical ethno botany: applied principles and applications
An overview of the spread of the Ebola virus in 2014
Maladaptation: The effects of adaptation to ecological conditions and improper adaptation on health
Mapping the concepts of vulnerability, risk, and responsibility for healthcare and illness
Critical and clinical engagement in anthropology
Ethno medicine modalities in a healing process

The Bottom Line

Each option in the article can help you develop an outstanding research paper in anthropology. Anthropology is indeed a complex subject. Thus, you can also consider some good ethnography topics for your research. You need to conduct extensive research on the different sections of societies and how they have evolved over the past few years. These research paper topics are meant to inspire you and help you score high marks in your academic research programs. You can use these topics as they are or modify them accordingly.

Choose our paper help services for experts’ assistance!

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Social anthropology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Social anthropology is the subdiscipline of anthropology that investigates the cultural properties of human societies. Topics include cultural norms, morals, laws and customs, and there is a particular focus on the comparative study of non-industrialised societies.

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Key points for an ethnography of AI: an approach towards crucial data

Recent years have seen an increase in calls for ethnography as a method to study Artificial Intelligence (AI). Scholars from diverse backgrounds have been encouraged to move beyond quantitative methods and embrace qualitative methods, particularly ethnography. As anthropologists of data and AI, we appreciate the growing recognition of qualitative methods. However, we emphasize the importance of grounding ethnography in specific ways of engaging with one’s field site for this method to be valuable. Without this grounding, research outcomes on AI may become distorted. In this commentary, we highlight three key aspects of the ethnographic method that require special attention to conduct robust ethnographic studies of AI: committed fieldwork (even if the fieldwork period is short), trusting relationships between researchers and participants, and, importantly, attentiveness to subtle, ambiguous, or absent-present data. This last aspect is often overlooked but is crucial in ethnography. By sharing examples from our own and other researchers’ ethnographic fieldwork, we showcase the significance of conducting ethnography with careful attention to such data and shed light on the challenges one might encounter in AI research.

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > Anthropology > Theses and Dissertations

Anthropology Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Entanglements of Teenage Food Security Within High School Pantries in Pinellas County, Florida , Karen T. Díaz Serrano

The Applicability of the Postmortem Submersion Interval Estimation Formula for Human Remains Found in Subtropical Aquatic Environments , Kara L. DiComo

Early Agricultural Lives: Bioarchaeological Inferences from Neolithic and Early Copper Age Tombs in the Central Po Valley, Italy , Christopher J. Eck Jr.

The Process of Government in Clearwater, Florida , Picot deBoisfeuillet Floyd

“I Was Doing the Best with What I Had”: Exploring Student Veterans’ Experiences with Community Reintegration, Food Insecurity, and Health Challenges , Jacquelyn N. Heuer

Transformative Psychedelic Experiences at Music Events: Using Subjective Experience to Explore Chemosocial Assemblages of Culture , Gabrielle R. Lehigh

“We Need to Have a Place to Vent and Get Our Frustrations Out”: Addressing the Needs of Mothering Students in Higher Education using a Positive Deviance Framework , Melissa León

“They’re Still Trying to Wrap Their Head Around Forever”: An Anatomy of Hope for Spinal Cord Injury Patients , William A. Lucas

Foodways of the Florida Frontier: Zooarchaeological Analysis of Gamble Plantation Historic State Park (8MA100) , Mary S. Maisel

The Impacts of Disability Policy and its Implementation on Deaf University Students: An Applied Anthropological Approach , Tailyn Marie Osorio

“I’m Still Suffering”: Mental Health Care Among Central African Refugee Populations in the Tampa Bay Area , C. Danee Ruszczyk

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Immigration-Related Stressors, Pregnancy, Birth, and Post-Partum Experiences of Women Living Along the US-Mexico Border , Isabela Solis

Clinically Applied Anthropology: A Syndemic Intervention. , Jason W. Wilson

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

An Assessment of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Individuals Gender Affirming Health Care Practices in the Greater Tampa Bay , Sara J. Berumen

Mound-Summit Practices at Cockroach Key (8HI2) Through the Lens of Practice Theory , Chandler O. Burchfield

Crafting a Scene: The Nexus of Production and Consumption of Tampa Bay Craft Beer , Russell L. Edwards

Applied Anthropology of Addiction in Clinical Spaces: co-Developing and Assessing a Novel Opioid Treatment Pathway , Heather Diane Henderson

Japan’s COVID 19 Infection Rate: A Focus on Tokyo Neighborhoods , Lauren Koerner

Farmers’ Organizations and Development Actors in a Pandemic: Responses to Covid-19 and the Food-Energy-Water Nexus , Atte Penttilä

An Ideology of Racism: Community Representation, Segregation, and the Historical Cemeteries of Panama City, Florida , Ethan David Mauldin Putman

“Even If You Have Food in Your House, It Will Not Taste Sweet”: Central African Refugees’ Experiences of Cultural Food Insecurity and Other Overlapping Insecurities in Tampa, Florida , Shaye Soifoine

Afro-Latinx and Afro-Latin Americans in the United States: Examining Ethnic and Racial Experiences in Higher Education , Glenda Maria Vaillant Cruz

Black Cemeteries Matter: The Erasure of Historic Black Cemeteries in Polk County, Florida , Juliana C. Waters

An Anthropology with Human Waste Management: Non-Humans, The State, and Matters of Care on the Placencia Peninsula, Belize , William Alex Webb

An Edgefield Ceramic Assemblage from the Lost Town of St. Joseph, Northwest Florida , Crystal R. Wright

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Aspiring to “Make it Work”: Defining Resilience and Agency Amongst Hispanic Youth Living in Low-Income Neighborhoods , Sara Arias-Steele

“I Wish Somebody Called Me, Told Me Not to Worry”: Evaluating a Non-Profit’s Use of Social Support to Address Refugee Women’s Resettlement Challenges , Brandylyn L. Arredondo

Of Body and Mind: Bioarchaeological Analysis of Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Anatomization and Institutionalization in Siena, Italy , Jacqueline M. Berger

Cannabis Capitalism in Colorado: An Ethnography of Il/legal Production and Consumption , Lia Berman

Analyses Of Woodland Check-Stamped Ceramics In Northwest Florida , John D. Blackburn

“Here Come the Crackers!”: An Ethnohistorical Case Study of Local Heritage Discourses and Cultural Reproduction at a Florida Living History Museum , Blair Bordelon

Privies as Portals: A Ceramic and Glass Bottle Analysis of a Late 19th Century Household Privy in Ellenton, FL , Shana Boyer

Making Change in the Nickel City: Food Banking and Food Insecurity in Buffalo, NY During the COVID-19 Pandemic , Sarah E. Bradley

Ware and Tear in Ancient Tampa Bay: Ceramic Elemental Analyses from Pinellas County Sites , McKenna Loren Douglass

Rethinking Settlement Patterns at the Weeden Island Site (8PI1) on Florida’s Central Gulf Coast , Heather E. Draskovich

Listening to Women: Using a Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Women’s Desires and Experience During Childbirth , Nicole Loraine Falk Smith

Archaeology and Seasonality of Stock Island (8Mo2), a Glades-Tradition Village on Key West , Ryan M. Harke

How Culture and Storytelling Can Influence Urban Development: An Ethnographic Look at the Community-Driven Revitalization of Newtown in Sarasota, Florida , Michala Head

Educational Experiences of Congolese Refugees in West-Central Florida High Schools , Michaela J. Inks

Constructing 'Child Safety': Policy, Practice, and Marginalized Families in Florida's Child Welfare System , Melissa Hope Johnson

"We're the Lucky Ones": A Social Network Analysis of Recovery After the Iowa Derecho , Kayla C. Jones

How Race is Made in Everyday Life: Food, Eating, and Dietary Acculturation among Black and White Migrants in Florida, U.S. , Laura Kihlstrom

Tourism, Education, and Identity Making: Agency and Representation of Indigenous Communities in Public Sites within Florida. , Timothy R. Lomberk II

Pregnancy and Fertility Amongst Women with the MTHFR C677T Polymorphism: An Anthropological Review , Caroline A. MacLean

A Biocultural Analysis of the Impacts of Interactions Between West Africans and Europeans During the Trans-Atlantic Trade at Elmina, Ghana , Heidi Ellen Miller

The Distribution in Native Populations from Mexico and Central America of the C677T Variant in the MTHFR Gene , Lucio A. Reyes

Politics vs. The Environment: The Spatial Distributions of Mississippian Mound Centers in Tampa Bay , Adam J. Sax

Seasonality, Labor Organization, and Monumental Constructions: An Otolith Study from Florida’s Crystal River Site (8CI1) and Roberts Island Shell Mound Complex (8CI40 and 41) , Elizabeth Anne Southard

Eating and Body Image Disorders in the Time of COVID19: An Anthropological Inquiry into the Pandemic’s Effects on the Bodies , Theresa A. Stoddard

The Early Medieval Transition: Diet Reconstruction, Mobility, and Culture Contact in the Ravenna Countryside, Northern Italy , Anastasia Temkina

The Science of Guessing: Critiquing Ancestral Estimation Through Computer Generated Statistical Analysis Within Forensic Anthropology in a Real-World Setting , Christopher J. Turner

Listening to Queens: Ghana's Women Traditional Leaders as a Model for Gender Parity , Kristen M. Vogel

Site Suitability Modeling in the Sand Pine Scrub of the Ocala National Forest , Jelane M. Wallace

Our Story, Our Homeland, Our Legacy: Settlement Patterns of The Geechee at Sapelo Island Georgia, From 1860 To 1950 , Colette D. Witcher

Identifying Skeletal Puberty Stages in a Modern Sample from the United States , Jordan T. Wright

Pollen-Vegetation Relationships in Upper Tampa Bay , Jaime E. Zolik

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Maternal Social Status, Offspring 2D:4D Ratio and Postnatal Growth, in Macaca mulatta (Rhesus Macaques) , Juan Pablo Arroyo

Social Exclusion of Older Mossi Women Accused of Witchcraft in Burkina Faso, West Africa , Clarisse Barbier

Fields Brook Superfund Site: Race, Class, and Environmental Justice in a Blasted Landscape , Richard C. Bargielski

The Effects of Feudalism on Medieval English Mobility: A Biological Distance Study Using Nonmetric Cranial Traits. , Jonathan H. Barkmeier

Before the Storm: Water and Energy Utilities, Human Vulnerability and Disaster Risk , Cori D. Bender

Recipes for the Living and the Dead: Technological Investigation of Ceramics from prehistoric Sicily. The case studies of Sant’Angelo Muxaro and Polizzello , Gianpiero Caso

Save Water Drink Wine: Challenges of Implementing the Ethnography of the Temecula Valley Wine Industry into Food-Energy-Water Nexus Decision-Making , Zaida E. Darley

İYo luché! : Uncovering and Interrupting Silencing in an Indigenous and Afro-descendant Community , Eileen Cecelia Deluca

Unwritten Records: Crime and Punishment in Early Virginia , Jessica L. Gantzert

‘It’s Been a Huge Stress’: An In-Depth, Exploratory Study of Vaccine Hesitant Parents in Southern California , Mika Kadono

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy for Elemental Analysis in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology , Kelsi N. Kuehn

Middle Woodland Mounds of the Lower Chattahoochee, Lower Flint, and Apalachicola River Basin , Michael H. Lockman

Overturning the Turnbull Settlement: Artifact Analysis of the Old Stone Wharf in New Smyrna Beach, Florida , Tracy R. Lovingood

“They will think we are the Cancer Family”: Studying Patterns of Cancer Disclosure and Communication among Indian Immigrants in the United States , Kanan Mehta

Museum Kura Hulanda: Representations of Transatlantic Slavery and African and Dutch Heritage in Post-Colonial Curaçao , April Min

Nurses and Needlesticks: Perceptions of Stigma and HIV Risk , Bethany Sharon Moore

Circadian Rhythms and the Embodiment of Social Zeitgebers: Linking the Bio and Social , Tiffany R. Moore

Civic Engagement amid Civil Unrest: Haitian Social Scientists Working at Home , Nadège Nau

“Placing our breasts on a hot kerosene lantern”: A Critical Study of Microfinancialization in the Lives of Women Entrepreneurs in the Informal Economic Sector in Ibadan, Nigeria , Olubukola Olayiwola

Domestic Life during the Late Intermediate Period at El Campanario Site, Huarmey Valley, Peru , Jose Luis Peña

Archaeology and the Philosopher's Stance: An Advance in Ethics and Information Accessibility , Dina Rivera

A South Florida Ethnography of Mobile Home Park Residents Organizing Against Neoliberal Crony Capitalist Displacement , Juan Guillermo Ruiz

From Colonial Legacy to Difficult Heritage: Responding to and Remembering An Gorta Mór , Ireland’s Great Hunger , Katherine Elizabeth Shakour

The Role of Financial Insecurity and Expectations on Perspectives of Mental Health Services among Refugees , Jacqueline M. Siven

A Multidisciplinary Approach to Trauma Analysis in Cases of Child Fatality , Jaime D. Sykes

Governmentality, Biopower, and Sexual Citizenship: A Feminist Examination of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare Experiences of 18-24 Year-Olds in the U.S. Southeast , Melina K. Taylor

Characterizing Childhood and Diet in Migration Period Hungary , Kirsten A. Verostick

An Ethnography of WaSH Infrastructures and Governance in Sulphur Springs, Florida , Mathews Jackon Wakhungu

A Plan for Progress, Preservation, and Presentation at the Safety Harbor Museum and Cultural Center , Amanda L. Ward

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Pathways to Parenthood: Attitudes and Preferences of Eight Self-Identified Queer Women Living in Tampa Bay, FL , Emily Noelle Baker

"It's Not Addiction Until You Graduate": Natural Recovery in the College Context , Breanne I. Casper

Tales of Trafficking: Performing Women's Narratives in a Sex Trafficking Rehabilitation Program in Florida , Jaine E. Danlag

Perceptions of Infrastructure, Flood Management, and Environmental Redevelopment in the University Area, Hillsborough County, Florida , Kris-An K. Hinds

Eating in America: Easing the Transition for Resettled Refugees through an Applied Anthropological Intervention , Emily A. Holbrook

Genetic Testing and the Power of the Provider: Women’s Experiences with Cancer Genetic Testing , Dana Erin Ketcher

An Archaeological Investigation of Enslavement at Gamble Plantation , S. Matthew Litteral

“Right in the Trenches with Them”: Caregiving, Advocacy, and the Political Economy of Community Health Workers , Ryan I. Logan

Exploring Variations in Diet and Migration from Late Antiquity to the Early Medieval Period in the Veneto, Italy: A Biochemical Analysis , Ashley B. Maxwell

Least of My Worries: Food Security, Diet Quality, and Antiretroviral Adherence among People Living with HIV , Charlotte Ann Noble

The Tampa Gym Study: An Ethnographic Exploration of Gyms, Female Gym-Goers and The Quest for Fitness in Tampa, FL , Danielle Reneé Rosen

Environmental Legacies of Pre-Contact and Historic Land Use in Antigua, West Indies , Anthony Richard Tricarico

“What I Hadn’t Realized is How Difficult it is, You Know?”: Examining the Protective Factors and Barriers to Breastfeeding in the UK , Cheyenne R. Wagi

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

“I Want Ketchup on my Rice”: The Role of Child Agency on Arab Migrant Families Food and Foodways , Faisal Kh. Alkhuzaim

Exploring Explicit Fanfiction as a Vehicle for Sex Education among Adolescents and Young Adults , Donna Jeanne Barth

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Find the best tips and advice to improve your writing. Or, have a top expert write your paper.

259 Most Popular Anthropology Research Topics For Students

Anthropology is the concept that explores the culture of human societies and how these cultures have spurred development. It is the study of physiological and biological features which encompasses the evolution of humans.

The study extends to ethnography, participant observation, ethnocentrism, even cultural relativism. As a student, you may need anthropology topics for your research or forthcoming college essay. You may even need anthropology project ideas to create your idea for a paper.

These persuasive anthropology essay topics are across different fields of the course and you can choose any of these topics for your use.

Medical Anthropology Research Topics

As a part of anthropology that deals with human health, diseases, and the performance of public health institutions, you may need anthropological topics viewing humanity from the ecological lens. Consider the following:

Assess the intervention of government and NGOs following Ebola virus break in Europe
Evaluate the success of governmental and NGO intervention after the Ebola virus outbreak in Africa
Assess the role of ethnobotany in medical sciences
Nuclear disaster: evaluate how it affects people using an event of natural disaster as a case study
Assess the residue why societal infamy is linked to HIV/AIDS
Attempt an evaluation of how the spread of HIV/AIDS is improved by sex workers in Central Europe
HIV/AIDS: an Analysis of the safety measures for commercial sex workers if it exists
Assess the strength and weaknesses of orthodox and unorthodox medicine in Native Americans
Evaluate the medical threats of depression in South Asia communities
Engage in an assessment of women’s sexuality and how culture affects sexual health
Attempt a medical moral perspective of the ethics behind euthanasia and how it could be synonymous with suicide
Express in detail what transcultural nursing means
Assess the complications in the treatment of periodontal disease
Examine how nursing ethics become pragmatic in the career of professionals
Examine how South Africa gas managed to reduce the HIV infection rate
How do contraceptives address HIV/AIDS and its spread
What does positive living mean as a means of avoiding AIDS stigma?
Express what sexual diversity means in America as a way to combat AIDS
Give an account if his Environmental and political health can help the advancement of medical anthropology
Give a study on the status of cancer after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Russia
Examine the environmental health disaster of two countries of your choice
Assess the connection of income to health and analyze three pioneering literature on the study
An attempt to explain big pharma and the complications of watchdogs and whistleblowers
Give a comparative overview of the Ebola virus and HIV/AIDS in Africa
How has the outbreak of HIV/AIDS affected the gay community since its first discovery?

Ethnographic Research Topics

You already know ethnography as the study of the everyday life of a particular society. These are anthropological essay topics that you can consider for your research or forthcoming undergraduate essay. They are:

Undergo a qualitative ethnographic representation of contemporary feminism in America
Examine the role of clinical science in the pharmaceutical science of rural communities
Choose a minority group of your choice and conduct research on their mental wellbeing based on their challenges
Research why abortion is considered the first resort for sexually assaulted and domestically violated victims
Evaluate the role of Ethnography and Its studies in psychology
Elucidate how teachers can adopt the findings of Ethnography in classroom learning
Examine the function of Ethnography in software technology
Assess how Ethnography and its studies could help people with learning disabilities
Assess how music and interpersonal relationship improve cognitive behaviors
Attempt an ethnographic study of healthcare management and American nurses’ intensive care
Attempt an Ethnographic study of resource management and how it affects American doctors
Attempt an Ethnographic study on the inclusiveness of health care and the public access to it
Evaluate how journalists cope with stress and how it affects their profession
Examine the boundaries of citizens involvement in intensive healthcare
Examine the Ethnographic study of a group of domestically violated victims and how they respond to the violation
Evaluate the effects of smart homes and privacy in communal Ethnographic studies
Evaluate the status of spiritual healing through systems of pilgrimage therapy
Examine the culture existent in poor educational leadership and how it fails the society
Attempt an expository study on the role of psychologists in advancing special education
How ICT improved collaborative work routines: a study of its consequences on human relationships
Embark on a qualitative research study on diabetes studies in Southeast Asia
Use ethnographic information to assess intensive public healthcare
Attempt an ethnographic overview of patient handover in European health care
Account for the challenges in interprofessional teamwork practice amongst European nurses
Conduct an overview of how cultures affect professionalism in healthcare: a case study of an African and European country
Study traditional health beliefs and myths and how they affect contemporary society development
Express how the value of education has been improved through ethnographic discoveries
Examine the factors that facilitate cultural developments in the face of Western civilization: a case study of India or China
Conduct a study on the beliefs of Japanese students while they learn English
Examine the state of theories of racism and how the black community of America has tried to change the narrative

Anthropology Research Paper Topics

You may need topics in anthropology for your next research paper. As you already know that anthropology is generally about cultures and history, you may need ideas of topics in anthropology to direct what your research is centered on. You can consider the following topics for informative and compelling research:

Examine the greeting gestures in American and Chinese societies
Examine the greeting gestures in native African societies
Attempt a comparative analysis of greeting gestures amongst the Yoruba people in Nigeria and the Brazilians with Yoruba ancestry
Navigate the process of aging and how it exacerbates fear of old age
Examine the benefits and consequences of eugenics in today’s world
Examine how human color affects his social relationship with his environment: a case study of the UK
Examine how the physical outlook of a smoker is affected
Investigate the view that human civilization emerged from Africa
Investigate the view that homo habilis is not an evolutionary fiction
Assess how ancient Egyptians kept dead
Attempt an overview of kissing myths in the western world and how it affects the cultural meaning of a kiss
Attempt an overview of the evolving ideas to matrimony in Asia
Account for the effects of the internet and western civilization on the traditions of Japan
Account for the significance of the Greek culture on Italian languages and culture
Account for the similarity and contrast in the philosophy of ancient Greece and Italy
Assess Latin language and account for the development of other languages since their inception
Assess the Slavic groups and explore the development of the aborigines and the modern Slavophiles
Account for the significance of women in ancient Egypt
Attempt a bird’s eye documentation of women’s role in modern Egypt
Study the concepts of American culture of consumerism and the Scandinavian culture of minimalism
Account for animal and floral prints in the life and art of native American cultures
Account for the connection of animals and plants in the art of beautification amongst native American tribes
Attempt a detailed overview of how the Roman Catholic Church improved the science of sculpting and architecture
Account for the influence of the Roman Catholic Church as the center of government, religion, art, and social life
Attempt a reconstruction of migrants and immigration means in America’s 17th to 21st centuries
Defend the notion that the English political culture is a mix of the old and contemporary cultures
Attempt a criticism of the monarchy in European politics over western democracy
Attempt a critical overview of the Bollywood and Hollywood movie industry as well as the historical context explored in the products
Assess the cultural constructions of human society and how they aid evolutions
Consider the discourse that language doesn’t exist without culture and vice versa drawing opinions from at least five Literature
Account for the development of rock music and its connection to any native American tribes
Attempt an overview of how social media engages the electorate before and during elections
Explore the concept of piercing in western countries and Asia’s India
Study the contemporary psychology of traveling between teenagers and their parents
Drug: attempt a critic of it as an entertainment or a coping mechanism.

Cultural Anthropology Topics

Cultural anthropology research topics give answers to human behavior by studying patterns and distinguishing elements from other societies. If you need awesome anthropology paper topics, you may consider the following to impress your professor as your graduate thesis topic:

Explore the social and cultural revolution leading to homosexuality in Africa
Attempt the social and cultural revolution that led to contemporary sexual attitudes in any region
Assess the social and cultural revolution that has propelled feminism in the Middle East
Attempt an overview of the different nature of feminism in the west and the Middle East
Criticize the critics who believe western feminism attempts to dominate the cultural lives of women in Arab countries
Consider an in-depth analysis of the Philosophies of two societies of your choice
Attempt an in-depth analysis of the religious beliefs of two traditional groups in Europe
Assess the structure of family and marriage in two countries of your choice in Africa and Asia
Account for the concept of ancestors in native American countries and Africa
Document the significance of cultural diversity in the study of human evolution in anthropology
Account for the meaning of cultural baggage and how to address the concept of culture invasion
Explore the background, development, and public reaction to the concept of gay and lesbian narratives in Africa
Give a critical assessment of how burial practices are interwoven with religion and myth
Explore the influence of religious and cultural superstition in the development of African worldview
Account for the evolving roles of women in Asian countries
Account for the distinctions in the cultures of death rituals in any two Asian countries
Account for the fundamental influence of culture and religion in the forced marriage narratives of Northern Nigeria
Assess the function of storytelling in the promotion of native American cultures
Account for the significance of social media in the culture of the first and third world
Attempt a forensic overview of the concept of family, fraternity, and gangs
Assess the significance of gangs and fraternities in the development of modern England
Give a forensic overview of the significance of political organizations in many Middle Eastern countries
Attempt a criticism of western intervention and modernization agenda in developing countries as an attempt to encroach cultures
Explore the distinction between the level of education in an Islamic state in the Middle East and a liberal state in Asia
Study music, dance, and parties in the contemporary society
Study the cultures of rituals and festivals and how they have led to cultural identity, community development, and intercultural relationship
Assess the concept of social status in any African community
Explore the cultures of any native American tribe and how it has changed over time
Assess the role of literature in the evolution of humans ideas
Study the understanding of health and wellness in three societies across from Europe, Africa, and Asia
Study the process of migration, factors mitigating against it, and how migration promotes cultural diversity
Examine the role of literature in spreading libertarian ideas
Argue for feminism in patriarchal societies
Attempt a criticism and distinction of anthropology and art
Explore the emergence and influence of culture on tourism.

Biological Anthropology Research Topics

This discipline examines the origins and evolution of humans, notably hominins. It studies fossil behavior, genetics, and other significant concepts that makeup morphology. If you need persuasive anthropology essay topics for your college or university degree, you can wow your professor with any of these:

Explore the socio-economic and cultural history of Americans and alcohol drinkers
Account for the effects of the disaster of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings
Examine the transgenerational impact of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear explosions
Account for the results of radioactivity in the affected population of Fukushima Daiichi in 2011
Assess the biology in same-sex matrimony in North America
Account for the origin, spread, and transgenerational impact of any endemic in any society of your choice
A critical overview of COVID-19 and the battle for survival in two or more Indian cities
Cocaine use in America: health impact on addicts and the psychology for starters
Marijuana in North America: benefits, disadvantages, and woes
Maladaptation: how it affects migrants in any country of your choice
Examine how domestic health care challenges cultural health practices in any Middle Eastern country
Analyze the concept of vulnerability and risk in public health care
Analyze the possibilities of traditional institutions in preserving cultures
Explore the relationship and comparison between malnutrition, violence, and chronic disease in any society of your choice
Study the factors that drive health care transition, nutrition, and improvement of health in any European country of your choice
How do social relationships affect nutritional choices and human healthy living?
Account for the historical practices that have influenced medicinal practices and policies in the contemporary society
Examine clinical interactions in any social association of your choice
Attempt a pluralistic overview of health practices in any society of your choice
Assess the cultural revolution of medicine in any African country of your choice
Give an overview of how pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies shape contemporary medicine
Explore medical cultures in pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial India and how it functions as a part of modernity
Examine the commercialization and commodification of medicine and healthcare in the contemporary society
Account for the disparity in healthcare accessibility in any developing country
Account for the challenges of a developing nation in public access to healthcare services

Interesting Anthropology Topics

If you’d like to explore current anthropology research questions, there are compelling topics for your undergraduate research. You can attempt and rephrase any topics in anthropology below to use for your school essay or research:

Women in Afghanistan and the culture of silence
Women in Egypt and the culture of silence
The influence of western feminism and the culture of silence in the Arabic Muslim world
Examine the influence of environmental anthropology on medicine
Attempt a critical study of the global outlook of HIV/AIDS and how it concerns the LGBTQ community
Explore the impact of contemporary ideologies on native American societies
Account for the role of folklore in the defense and transgenerational retainment of cultures
Tribal, savage, barbaric: explore the culture of labeling in the contemporary world
Assess the growth of modern man and the evolution of civilization
Account for different race theories and the systems of cultural assimilations across the world
Give an account of the overview of colonialism as expressed by the Literature of Franz Fanon
Assess the connection of political science with cultural anthropology
Explain the psychology behind genocide and its effects on human relationship
Attempt an anthropological analysis of human behavior in Lord of the Flies
Account for the nature of matrimony in Islamic societies
Express the racial identities particular to native American tribes and any Asian country of your choice
Compare and contrast American and Asian music
Express the psychological implications of Barack Obama’s emergence as a colored president
Explore the origin, factor for development, and spread of biological aggression during warfare
Give a critical account of the hunter-gatherer society in South Africa
Give an overview of fishermen and their knowledge of the society in any country of your choice
Explore how the internet promoted westernization
Examine the influence of cross-cultural experiences in the modern world
Evaluate the history and significance of the festivities of Halloween
Evaluate the factors that promote the culture of bullying in America
Evaluate the concept of aging in African and Europe
Express the spiritual cultures of any African and European country
Assess the religious beliefs of Catholicism and Its Influence on contemporary faith
Assess how sexuality is affected by religiosity
Evaluate the defiant behavior of contemporary sexuality
Examine the factors that propel religious aggressions
Expatiate on the factors that promote cultural hatred in a diverse society
Explore the cultural distinctions between European and American societies
Account for the role of TV reality shows in the social life of any society of your choice
How does TV reality show the reality of any society?

Physical Anthropology Research Paper Topics

This is a field of anthropology interested in the history, evolution, and distinguishing features of humans. The field impacts, most importantly, human behavior and anatomical transformations. You can consider these Anthropology research paper topics for your class or personal research study:

What are the advantages and consequences of eugenics in today’s society?
Why has the origin of man been different societies of civilization
Have western ideas of superiority affected the acknowledgment of Egypt as the cradle of civilization?
What are the contemporary facts that support past research and experiences of homo habilis?
What are the consequences of smoking on human physical appearance
What is the underlying Egyptian belief in preserving the dead
Examine the Influence of the environment on skin color
Explore aging in Asian countries and what it means for them
Analyze the physical concept of re-adjusting newborn babies by nursing mothers
Analyze five pieces of Literature on the stages of drowning till death

List of Ethnography Topics

If you need topics regarding the scientific understanding of cultures, humans, their customs, and collective distinctive features, you need ethnographic research topics. You can consider the following:

Is homelessness a function of ethnic affiliation in the United States?
Examine the factors contributing to migration from Latin America to other parts of the world
Examine the concept of drug trafficking in Africa
Examine the violence and concept of human trafficking in Africa
Analyze the Psychology of victims of human trafficking and how it affects their human relationships
Attempt to examine how cultures of patriarchy adapt to American liberalism
Analyze the factors that propel violence through drug trade in South America
Examine the difference between the treatment of black and white Americans in the prison system
Attempt to respond to the division of fraternities along the lines of ethnic groups
Discuss the way of life of homeless persons in Europe
Examine the domestic policies of Europe and how it affects day to day living
Examine how the migration policies of Poland affect migrants
Examine how US veterans are integrated into the society
Criticize the policies of Poland and express its fear of terrorism
Give an overview of Sharia law in the UK and what it means for the culture
Examine the conceit of migration between Africa and Europe
Examine how unemployment has fueled the migration of Nigerian culture to Saudi Arabia and the potential effect of cultural diversity
Examine how Muslim parents dominate their children’s choices
Examine how parents in Asian societies dominate their children’s choices
Analyze how parents in European societies dominate their children’s choices
Discuss the advantages of western socialization with Islamic countries
Assess the politics of Arab countries
Account for the Arab spring and the link to human revolutions
Account for the means of socializing with kids in India
Examine the link between terrorism and human trafficking
Explore the success and failure levels of people with different backgrounds
Examine the trend of marriage and the changes in any society of your choice
Account for how globalization has affected any group of people
Account for the values of European countries
Assess the eating habits of European homeless persons
Account for how the street is sometimes space for talent shows
Discuss the concept of adulthood amongst Brazilians and Indians
Examine any social organization and share their striking features
What is the traditional and contemporary definition of beauty
Examine the culture of transgenderism in Arab countries.

Current Topics in Anthropology

You could also want to consider straightforward anthropology topics for your thesis. You can set your research study on:

Oral traditions and culture
Human evolution
Forensic anthropology
Physical Anthropology
Spiritual therapy
Cross-cultural diversity
Linguistics and culture
Art, beauty, and worldview
Labour and work systems
Political and economic systems
Family, kinship, and marriage systems
Social inequality
Contemporary technology
Contemporary industrialization
Immigration processes
Archaeology
Gender studies
Decomposition
Methods embalmment
Primatology
Reconstruction of skeletal systems
Homo species
Science of excavations
Human anatomy
Interpretation of archaeological researches
Early species
Westernization and tribalism
Comparative culture.

Need Help With Anthropology?

Since you have access to topics which could guide your research, you may also need thesis help for a compelling research study. There are many online research writing assistance websites who can help create the best and most informative study. You can get a high quality essay at a fast pace to pass your undergraduate degree at a cheap price. You can even get your class colleagues on board for the awesome opportunity to get an excellent essay.

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Prospective Students

Flanagan, Mariah Camille (2017) The religioscape of museums: understanding modern interactions with ancient ritual spaces .Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Merante, Monica M (2017) A universal display? Investigating the role of Panathenaic amphorae in the British Museum . Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Deemer, Susanna (2016) Between Capitulation and Overt Action: An Ethnographic Case Study of the Chinese American Student Association at University of Pittsburgh. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Devlin, Hannah (2016) Compositional analysis of Iroquoian pottery: determining functional relationships between contiguous sites. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Gallagher, Anna (2016) The Biderbost site: exploring migration and trade on the social landscape of the Pacific Northwest. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Hoadley, Elizabeth (2016) Discrimination and modern Paganism: a study of religion and contemporary social climate. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Johnson, Rachel (2016) Households and Empire: A pXRF Study of Chimu Metal Artifacts from Cerro la Virgen. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Kerr, Jessica (2016) Mountain Dew and the Tooth Fairy: The Influence of Parent/child Relationships, Consumption Habits, and Social Image on Dental Caries in Rural Appalachia. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Kulig, Shannon (2015) What were the elites doing? understanding Late Classic elite practices at Lower Dover, Belize. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Kulig, Shannon (2015) Pottery at the Cayuga Site of Genoa Fort. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Ojeda, Lauren (2015) The Syndemic Nature of Mental Health in Bolivia. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Paglisotti, Taylor (2015) Gender, Sexuality, and Stigma: A Case Study of HIV/AIDS policy and discourse in Rural Tanzania. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Wasik, Kayla (2015) Understanding Activities and Purposes: An Analysis of Ground Stone from the Parker Farm and Carman Iroquoian Sites. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Bugos, Eva (2014) “That’s what I look to her for:” a qualitative analysis of interviews from the Young Moms: Together We Can Make a Difference study. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Deahl, Claire (2014) A Study of Veterans Communities in Pittsburgh. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Fetterolf, Michael (2014) Healing Alzheimer’s. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Liggett, Sarah (2014) Creating an Armenian Identity: The Role of History, Imagination, and Story in the Making of ‘Armenian’. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Marler, Adrienne (2014) Illness Perceptions in Patients with Hepatobiliary Cancers. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Radomski, Julia (2014) “Hay que cuidarse”: family planning, development, and the informal sector in Quito, Ecuador. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Siegel, Nicole (2014) The Bathhouse and the Mikvah: The Creation of Identity. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Zhang, Zannan (2014) Functional Significance of the Human Mandibular Symphysis. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Chastain, Stephen (2013) The origin of the Mongolian steppe and its role in the adoption of domestic animals: paleoclimatology and niche construction theory. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Ferguson, Kayla (2013) The Use of English in Tamil Cinema. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Johnston, Graham (2013) Play, Boundaries, and Creative Thinking: A Ludic Perspective. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Willison, Megan (2013) Understanding gendered activities from surface collections: an analysis of the Parker Farm and Carman Iroquoian sites. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Zajdel, Evan (2013) Narrative threads: ethnographic tourism, Romani tourist tales, and fiber art. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Conger, Megan (2012) Considering Gendered Domains in Iroquois Archaeology: A Comparative Approach to Gendered Space in Central New York State. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Fisher, Isaac (2012) Return of the Gift: Food Not Bombs and the Radical Nature of Sharing in the Society of Engineered Scarcity. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Neely, Sean (2012) Spaces of becoming and being: the nature of shared experience in Czech society from 1918 to 1989. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Rodriguez, Eric A. (2012) Profitability and production in 19th century composite ships: the case study of the Austrian vessel, the Slobodna. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Bednar, Sarah E. (2011) Use and Perception of Teotihuacan Motifs in the Art of Piedras Negras, Tikal, and Copan. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Pallatino, Chelsea Leigh (2011) The Evolution of La Donna: Marriage, Motherhood, and the Modern Italian Woman. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Barca, Kathryn G. (2010) An Analysis of Iroquois Pottery Function at the Parker Farm Site (UB 643): Comparisons between Two Structures. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Cannon, Joshua Warren (2010) Textile Production and Its Implications For Complex Social Organization. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Rodriguez, Erin Christine (2010) Obsidian in Northern Ecuador: A Study of Obsidian Production and Site Function in Pambamarca. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Rodriguez, Erin Christine (2010) Households and Power among the Pre-Contact Iroquois. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Wicks, Emily (2010) From Use to Disuse: A Study of Pottery Found in Households and Middens at Two Cayuga Sites, Parker Farm (UB 643 and Carman (UB642). Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

MacCord, Katherine (2009) Human Skeletal Growth: Observations from Analyses of Three Skeletal Populations. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Nichols, Teresa A (2009) Declaring Indigenous: International Aspirations and National Land Claims Through the Lens of Anthropology. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Sporar, Rachael E. (2009) Bones Say It Best: Bioarchaeological Evidence for the Change European Colonialism Brought to the Indigenous Peoples of North America. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Stacy, Erin Michele (2009) Stable Isotopic Analysis of Equid (Horse) Teeth from Mongolia. Undergraduate Thesis, University of Pittsburgh.

Sudina, Tony (2008) The Utilitarian Characteristics of Iroquois Pottery Vessels. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Browne, Nathan C. (2007) An Architectural Analysis of Longhouse Form, Spatial Organization, and an Argument for Privatized Space in Northern Iroquoia. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Melly, Caroline M. (2007) Strategies of Non-African Development Agencies and Their Implications for Cultural Change in Nigeria. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Sadvari, Joshua W. (2007) Dental Pathology and Diet at the Site of Khirbat al-Mudayna (Jordan). Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Haines, Allison (2006) Assessing Osteophytosis in the Nubian Neolithic. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

O’Donnell, Kathryn (2006) Gendered Identity in Transitioning States: Women’s Reproductive Health Activism in Berlin. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Prakash, Preetam (2006) Relationships between Diet and Status at Copan, Honduras. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Birmingham, Katherine (2005) Retracing the Steps of Iroquois Potters: Highlighting Technical Choice in Iroquois Ceramic Studies. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Colatrella, Brittany (2005) From Hopelessness to Hopefulness: A personal dialogue on ending generational poverty. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Long, Autumn (2005) The Ethos of Land Ownership in a Rural West Virginia County: An Ethnographic Account. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Richter, Stephen (2004) Anasazi Cannibalism in the American Southwest: A Site-By-Site and Taphonomic Approach. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Sulosky, Carrie (2004) The Effects of Agriculture in Preceramic Peru. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Wiseman, Natalie (2004) Religious Syncretism in Mexico. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Hamm, Megan (2003) Egyptian Identity Vs. "The Harem Hootchi- kootch": Belly Dance in the Context of Colonialism and Nationalism in Egypt. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Michalski, Mark (2003) Anthropological Fact or Fiction: A Critical Review of the Evidence For and Against the Existence of Cannibalism in the British Navy. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Mueller-Heubach, Oliver Maximillian (2003) The Moravian Response to a Changing America as Seen Through Ceramics. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Shock, Myrtle (2003) Comparison of Lithic Debitage and Lithic Tools at Two Early Contact Period Cayuga Iroquois villages, the Parker Farm and Carman Sites. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Steinman, Joanna (2003) Feng Shui. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Strauss, Amy (2003) Greek Neolithic figurines from Thessaly. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Thompson, Ross (2003) Study of Arsenic in Hopi Artifacts. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Whitehead, Jeffrey (2003) We Owe It All to the Iroquois? Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Boswell, Jacob (2002) A Study of Changing Context: Adapting Eastern Medicine to a Western Setting. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Persson, Ann S. (2001) A Beacon of Restoration: Archaeological Excavations at the John O'Neill Lighthouse Keeper's Residence, Havre de Grace, Maryland. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Unice, Lori Ann (2001) Dental Health Among the Monongahela: Foley Farm Phase II. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Asmussen, Heidi (1998) Toward an Understanding of Iroquois Plant Use: archaeobotanical material from the Carman Site, a Cayuga village in central New York. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Rockette, Bonny (1998) Huari Administrative Architecture: A Space Syntax Approach. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

West, Kate (1997) Faunal Analysis of the Carman Site: a Cayuga village site in central New York. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Norejko, Jay (1996) The Most Diverse Fauna of Plesiadapiformes (Mammalia: Primatomorpha) Ever Sampled from the Clarkforkian Land Mammal Age. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Kasperowski, Kris (1995) Stone Tool Manufacture at the Carman Site. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

Montag, Michelle (1995) Lithic Debitage Analysis of the Carman Site. Anthropology Honors Paper, University of Pittsburgh.

140 Best Anthropology Research Topics to Focus On

Table of Contents

Would you have to submit a research paper on the anthropology concept? Currently, are you searching for the best anthropology research topics for your final assignment? If yes, then you are at the right spot. We know how challenging it would be to search and find anthropology research paper topics. Therefore, for your convenience, here, in this blog we have shared a list of 100+ impressive anthropology research ideas worthy of fetching top grades. Explore the entire list and select any topic that is interesting to you.

What is Anthropology?

Anthropology is the scientific study of humans, their evolutionary history, behavior, and the ways humans communicate and socialize with each other. The study is mainly concerned with both the physiological and biological features along with the social aspects of humans which include language, family, culture, politics, and religion.

List of Anthropology Research Paper Topics

In this section, we have presented a list of 100+ outstanding anthropology research topic ideas in various areas such as cultural, ethnographic, medical, physical, and biological anthropology. Go through the list carefully and choose any persuasive idea that matches your university’s research paper writing guidelines.

Cultural Anthropology Research Topics

Conduct an in-depth analysis of the philosophy of two societies of your choice.
The significance of cultural diversity in the study of human evolution in anthropology
How are burial practices interwoven with religion and myth?
The meaning of cultural baggage and the ways to address the concept of cultural invasion
A forensic overview of the concept of family, fraternity, and gangs
The concept of ancestors in Native American countries and Africa
Music, dance, and parties in the contemporary society
The concept of social status in any African community
The emergence and influence of culture on tourism
Feminism in patriarchal societies
How does migration promote cultural diversity?
The evolving roles of women in Asian countries
Assess the structure of family and marriage in two countries of your choice
A criticism and distinction of anthropology and art
The role of literature in spreading libertarian ideas.
Role of women in Islamic societies
Analyze how the spread of K-pop had influenced Western culture
The impact of terrorism on Islamophobia
Describe the influence of language on culture
Hindu culture versus Islamic culture
How to minimize Ethnocentrism?
What is Culture shock?
Analyze the culture of Australian Aboriginals
Monoculturalism and Ethnocentrism
Describe the culture of Ancient Egypt

Ethnographic Anthropology Research Topics

The role of clinical science in the pharmaceutical science of rural communities
The role of Ethnography and its studies in psychology
The function of Ethnography in software technology
Why abortion is considered the first resort for sexually assaulted and domestically violated victims?
How does music and interpersonal relationship improve cognitive behavior?
How teachers can adopt the findings of Ethnography in classroom learning?
An ethnographic study on the inclusiveness of health care and public access to it
How ethnography and its studies could help people with learning disabilities?
The ethnographic study of a group of domestically violated victims and how they respond to the violation
How has the value of education improved through ethnographic discoveries?
The effects of smart homes and privacy in communal Ethnographic studies
Use ethnographic information to assess intensive public healthcare.
An expository study on the role of psychologists in advancing special education
Examine the state of theories of racism
How do traditional health beliefs and myths affect contemporary society’s development?
Conduct a study on the beliefs of Japanese students while they learn English
An ethnographic overview of patient handover in European health care
Examine the boundaries of citizens’ involvement in intensive healthcare.
Evaluate how journalists cope with stress.
The status of spiritual healing through systems of pilgrimage therapy.
The ethnographic study of why has it been easier to use religion for influencing people to join terrorist groups?
How do stereotypical concepts relate to sexual orientation impact the mental health of children?
How are stereotypical concepts related to mental health affecting doctors?
Conduct a study to understand why women have been called their worst enemy.
Conduct a study to highlight whether “Shariah” is beneficial for Islamic societies or not.

Medical Anthropology Research Ideas

The role of ethnobotany in medical sciences
Assess the residue of why societal infamy is linked to HIV/AIDS.
An assessment of women’s sexuality and how culture affects sexual health
What is transcultural nursing?
How do nursing ethics become pragmatic in the career of professionals?
The complications in the treatment of periodontal disease
Assess the connection of income to health.
A study on the status of cancer after the Chornobyl nuclear disaster in Russia
Explain big pharma and the complications of watchdogs and whistle-blowers.
Examine the environmental health disaster of two countries of your choice.
Analyze how the Bhopal gas incident in India is still impacting societies in the specific state.
Describe how nurses have played a role in helping elder patients cope with stress and other address factors as a result of growing age.
Discuss the impact of AIDS on Central African societies
Consequences of the traumas of war on families in Sri Lanka and Guatemala
Risks associated with In Vitro Fertilisation

Read more: Best Medical Research Topics To Analyze and Write About

Physical Anthropology Research Topics

The advantages and consequences of eugenics in today’s society
Analyze five pieces of literature on the stages of drowning till death.
Aging in Asian countries and what it means for them
Analyze the physical concept of re-adjusting newborn babies by nursing mothers.
What is the underlying Egyptian belief in preserving the dead?
Have Western ideas of superiority affected the acknowledgment of Egypt as the cradle of civilization?
The origin of man in different societies of civilization
What are the contemporary facts that support past research and experiences of Homo habilis?
Examine the influence of the environment on skin color.
What are the consequences of smoking on human physical appearance?

Biology Anthropology Research Paper Topics

The origin spread, and transgenerational impact of any endemic in any society of your choice
Analyze the possibilities of traditional institutions in preserving cultures.
How maladaptation affects migrants in any country of your choice.
Analyze the concept of vulnerability and risk in public health care.
The relationship and comparison between malnutrition, violence, and chronic disease in any society of your choice
How do social relationships affect nutritional choices and human healthy living?
The clinical interactions in any social association of your choice
The challenges of a developing nation in public access to healthcare services
How do pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies shape contemporary medicine?
The commercialization and commodification of medicine and healthcare in contemporary society .
Comparing bones of bipeds and quadrupeds
Harry Harlow and his experiments on monkey bonding
Why do the Stanford Prison Experiment and the Brown-Eyed vs. Blue-Eyed Student Experiments are considered the two most controversial experiments?
Why does Zimbardo’s simulated prison experiment is considered one of the most controversial experiments?
Analyze the results derived from The Robbers Cave Experiment
Discuss the controversy around The Monkey Drug Trial in 1969

Read more: Top 175 Biology Research Topics for Academic Writing

Captivating Anthropology Research Topics

The influence of environmental anthropology on medicine
The role of Folklore in the defense and transgenerational retainment of Cultures
A review of the latest archaeological dating methods
How accurate is DNA evidence in matching and testing criminology?
A critical assessment of radioactive carbon dating accuracy
Recent improvements in crime detection
A detailed analysis of language classification
The factors that promote cultural hatred in a diverse society
The important changes in theories behind linguistic anthropology
Explore the use of fossil records in paleoanthropology.
Protective and risk dimensions of cultural norms, human behavior, and social institutions
The Role of TV reality shows in the Social Life
The influence of cross-cultural experiences in the modern world
How does the internet promote Westernization?
The connection of political science with cultural anthropology
The political ecology of vector-borne and infectious diseases
Physical anthropology essentials
What is language endangerment?
The link between cultural anthropology and political science
Explain the existence of racism in modern times.
Critical analysis of the Evolutionary theory in anthropology
Use case studies related to altered states of consciousness to explain the study of transpersonal anthropology
The Art of Disturbance: Transactions in the Mexico-United States Border Scenario
Discuss the connections between feminism, technology, and postmodernism

Interesting Anthropology Research Topics

The contemporary psychology of traveling between teenagers and their parents
The cultural constructions of human society and how they aid evolution
A criticism of the monarchy in European politics over Western democracy
The influence of the Roman Catholic Church as the center of government, religion, art, and social life
The concepts of the American culture of consumerism and the Scandinavian culture of minimalism
A detailed overview of how the Roman Catholic Church improved the science of sculpting and architecture
The significance of women in ancient Egypt
The evolving ideas about matrimony in Asia
The benefits and consequences of eugenics in today’s world
The process of aging and how it exacerbates fear of old age
The disparity in healthcare accessibility in any developing country
Examine the greeting gestures in American and Chinese societies.
The significance of the Greek culture on Italian languages and culture
The development of rock music and its connection to Native American tribes.

Informative Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Write about the risks of using artificial intelligence in forensics.
How can ethnobotany and its principles be applied in medicine?
Describe the role of language in the development of
Explain the role of DNA databases in searching for criminals.
Analyze the Marriage traditions of different cultures.
Tracking the behavior of twins over time.
Explain the impact of TikTok on European culture
Discuss the effectiveness of alternative medicine in the United States;
Explain the origins and generational impacts of Minamata disease.
How the dead were preserved in ancient Egypt?

Out of the various ideas mentioned in this blog post, pick any ideal anthropology topic suitable for conducting research. Here we have shared only a few impressive research topics. If you want more unique anthropology research project ideas, then immediately reach out to us.

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100 best anthropology topics to write about.

April 1, 2021

However, anthropology is a complex subject. And writing about any topic in this subject requires knowledge of different societies, traditions, and cultures. What’s more, social anthropology topics combine studies like sociology and history.

As such, researching and writing about some topics related to anthropology can be a challenging task. Nevertheless, this subject largely covers almost all human life’s aspect. Here is a list of some of the best anthropology topics from our customer writing service .

The Top 10 Anthropology Topics

Controversial Topics in Anthropology

Medical anthropology research topics, physical anthropology topics, biology anthropology topics, cultural anthropology topics, linguistic anthropology research topics, forensic anthropology research topics, the top 10 anthropology topics.

Maybe you are looking for anthropology research topics that most people will be interested to read about. In that case, consider these anthropology paper topics.

The merits and demerits of eugenics during the 21st century
Exploring how the environment influences the human skin color
Explain the aging process in the Western culture
How Kyphosis relate to human senescence
The long-term effects of physical labor on the physical appearance of a person
How smoking affects the human physical appearance
Clarifying what causes drowning through the examination of anatomical and physical evidence
Investigating modern facts that support the existence of homo habilis
Theories about the origin of humans
The underlying beliefs behind the preservation of the dead in ancient Egypt

Most people will be interested in reading about such anthropology research paper topics. However, you should be ready to research any of these ideas extensively to come up with a brilliant paper.

Do you enjoy the idea of researching and writing about controversial issues? If yes, you will find these anthropology essay topics quite fascinating to research and write about.

Social anthropology is nothing because it generalizes science
Society is a theoretically obsolete concept
Human worlds are cultural constructions
Language is the culture’s essence
Humans should see the past as a foreign country
Patrol behavior in Chimpanzee
The myth of man as a killer
Human morality evaluation
Biology as the human behavior’s bases
Anthropology and ethnic cleansing

This category comprises controversial issues that make interesting anthropology topics. Nevertheless, take your time to explore any of these topics to come up with a great essay or paper.

Maybe you love reading and writing about different medical anthropology topics. This anthropology subfield draws upon cultural, social, linguistic, and biological anthropology. It aims to understand factors that influence the wellbeing and health, distribution and experience of illness, as well as, treatment, prevention, and the healing processes. Here is a medical anthropology research topics list worthy of your exploration.

The health ramifications of adapting to ecology and maladaptation
Local interpretations of different bodily processes
Domestic health care and health culture practices
Body projects’ changes and the valued attributes
Critical and clinical engagement in anthropology applications
The political ecology of vector-borne and infectious diseases
Chronic diseases, violence, and malnutrition- how they relate
The political healthcare provision- the economic aspect
The perceptions of vulnerability, risk, and responsibility for healthcare and illness
Protective and risk dimensions of cultural norms, human behavior, and social institutions
Harm reduction and preventative health practices
Illness experience and social relations of a disease
Factors that drive nutrition, health, and healthcare transitions
Clinical interactions in a social organization
Pluralistic and ethnomedicine modalities in a healing process
The historical and cultural conditions that shape medical policies and practices
The interpretation of biotechnology and pharmaceuticals
Medical practices within the colonial, post-colonial, and modernity social formations
The commodification and commercialization of medicine and health
Health disparity and disease distribution

This category also has some of the most current topics in anthropology. These are ideas that touch on issues that affect the current healthcare and medical systems in most countries. However, you should be ready to research any of these topics extensively.

Physical anthropology research topics entail studying and writing about the human body. If this is something you find interesting, here are good topics for physical anthropology research paper to consider. Feel free to check more physics topics .

Genotype-environment correlation study
Genetic hitchhiking- What it means
Do people learn altruism or is it a trait?
The cephalization process
The contribution of Henry Walter Bates to the Anthropology field
Adaptive mutation- What is it?
The effects of adaptive mutation
Human development and abiogenesis- what are they about?
Discuss the placental mammals and Australian marsupials’ convergent evolution
Explain animal stability variation after being in captivity compared to those in the wild
Variations in the evolution of different species in various parts of the globe
Physical anthropology essentials
Physical anthropology trends

These are interesting topics to explore if you love physical anthropology. Nevertheless, take your time to research your topic to come up with a brilliant paper.

Biology anthropology research topics revolve around the origin, diversity, and evolution of humankind. Until the late 20th century, this field was also called physical anthropology. If interested in researching and writing about the origin, diversity, and evolution of humankind, here are interesting topics in biological anthropology to consider.

Explain how biological anthropology differs from the other science fields
How does biological anthropology attempt to interpret and explain human evolution?
Explain the use of biological anthropology by primatologists in improving the understanding of evolutionary developments in primates
Explore the use of fossil records in paleoanthropology
How biological anthropology attempts to explain human behaviors and social structures’ development
Explain how studying modern humans enables scientists to draw conclusions and insights from the biological anthropology viewpoint
Identify the primary geographical areas where biological anthropologists explore
How geographical locations help in explaining the human evolution

Pick any of these topics and then research them extensively before you write your paper.

Cultural ethnography entails the study of behavior and patterns in humans, as well as why and how they differ in modern societies. Some cultural anthropology research topics may also include ethnohistory, ethnography, and cross-cultural studies. Here is a list of possible topics to consider for your paper.

The underlying religious beliefs that influence forced nuptials among children in Northern Nigeria
The challenging roles played by women in modern Africa
Investigating how religious beliefs influence the African cultures
How superstitions affect the African way of life
The evolution of sexual discrimination in modern times
The influence of cultural and social backgrounds on gay marriage
Explain the existence of racism in modern times
Assess the causes of homelessness among the Indian people
How can India deal with homelessness?
How homosexuality influences the cultural and social landscape
Influence of homosexuality on societal attitudes in Africa
How culture influences human society
The link between cultural anthropology and political science
Cultural imperialism and contemporary media
Describe culture shock and how to overcome it
How to minimize cultural baggage
The key points of any culture
How religious practices and beliefs affect culture
How language acquisition influences culture

These are interesting cultural anthropology research paper topics you can explore. Nevertheless, take your time to research any of these ideas before you write about them.

Linguistic anthropology entails the study of the link between culture and language. This includes how a language relates to social action, thought, power, and identity. Here are interesting topics to explore if interested in linguistic anthropology.

Discoveries and events that led to the emergency of linguistic anthropology
Important changes in theories behind linguistic anthropology
Dell Hymes’ contribution to linguistic anthropology
How some methodological changes affected linguistic anthropology from the 1980s
The language with the most social life’s influence among the Bengali immigrants
Language rediscovery and culture renaissance
What is language endangerment?
Language is an abstract concept
Exploring Latin America’s indigenous languages
A detailed analysis of language classification

Explore these topics if you love learning and writing about language and its development over time.

Forensic anthropology entails studying human remains with a focus on skeletal analysis. This field is commonly used to solve criminal cases. Here are topics to consider in this category.

Discuss the primary agents that cause biological changes in the human body
A critical assessment of radioactive carbon dating accuracy
Recent improvements in crime detection
Evidential support for evolutionist and creationist views about human origin
Recent evidence that supports Homo habilis’ existence in the past
How accurate is DNA evidence in matching and testing on criminology?
The effect of radioactivity on different forms of life because of the 1986’s atomic catastrophe Chernobyl
A review of the latest archaeological dating methods
Exploring migratory paths and environmental influences on Neanderthals appearance and survival
How effective were the methods used in Egyptian mummification?

Any of the topics listed here can be a good idea for an essay or research paper. Nevertheless, understand your assignment requirements first, and then take your time to research your chosen topic extensively before writing.

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Anthropology: Developing Topics & Research Questions

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Developing Topics & Research Questions
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Developing a Research Question Takes Research

When the scope of your paper is too big, it's hard to dig through information and to write a paper wit any depth. The goal of most research papers in college is to seek a possible answer to a particular questions related to a topic. A research question, when not too broad or too narrow, helps guide and focus your paper.

The question should also be one in which you haven't decided on a pre-determined answer. You may find that looking for sources that provide a certain answer may be too limiting. The answer you are expecting might not be supported by evidence.

Brainstorm & do some pre-research

The research question isn't a question you make up at the top of your head. It's normal to start with a broad topic in mind. After doing some brainstorming about a topic, you will need to do some reading to find an angle to pursue, and, even then, your question may change as you find more information later.

Ask questions

From your pre-research, think about questions you might be able to ask regarding the topic. Most scholarly research examines fairly narrow topics and looks at relationships between concepts. One way to limit the scope of your topic is to ask who, what, where, when, why, and how questions.

Be flexible

It's okay to continue to tweak your question; the end result should be that you have answered the question you've laid out in the introduction, even if the introduction is the last paragraph you actually end up revising in your final paper.

Picking Your Topic IS Research

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Encourages students to develop background knowledge to create a research question. Research questions should have topic, question and significance. The narrator suggests using the following formulation: I’m studying _______________ to investigate ______________ in order to understand. Complex research questions take time to create.

Keeping your research question in mind, if you can answer TRUE to the statements below, your research question is probably workable.

It cannot simply be answered with a yes/no.
It has social significance/a problem associated with it.
There is reliable evidence available to address it.
It has appropriate scope.

Be careful about investigating questions that you think you already have the answer to.

Choosing a Manageable Research Topic

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Conservation of nature's strongholds needed to halt biodiversity loss

Researchers argue for scaling-up area-based conservation to maintain ecological integrity.

To achieve global biodiversity targets, conservationists and governments must prioritize the establishment and effective management of large, interconnected protected areas with high ecological integrity, John G. Robinson from the Wildlife Conservation Society, US, and colleagues argue in an essay publishing May 21 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology .

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), signed at the 2022 Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in Montreal, recognized the importance of protecting large areas of natural habitat to maintain the resilience and integrity of ecosystems. To halt biodiversity loss, these protected and conserved areas need to be in the right places, connected to one another, and well managed. One of the GBF targets is to protect at least 30% of the global land and ocean by 2030, known as the 30x30 target.

To achieve GBF targets, the authors propose prioritizing large, interconnected protected areas with high ecological integrity, that are effectively managed and equitably governed. They emphasize the importance of conserving landscapes at scales large enough to encompass functioning ecosystems and the biodiversity they contain. In many cases, this will require interconnected groups of protected areas that are managed together. Effective governance means that the diversity of stakeholders and rights holders are recognized and that the costs and benefits are shared equitably between them. The authors argue that protected and conservation areas that meet all four criteria -- which they name "Nature's Strongholds" -- will be disproportionately important for biodiversity conservation. They identify examples of Nature's Strongholds in the high-biodiversity tropical forest regions of Central Africa and the Amazon.

By applying the four criteria presented in this essay to identify Nature's Strongholds around the world, governments and conservationists can coordinate their efforts to best address threats to biodiversity, the authors say.

The authors add, "'Nature's Strongholds' -- large, interconnected, ecologically intact areas that are well managed and equitably governed -- are identified in Amazonia and Central Africa. The approach offers an effective way to conserve biodiversity at a global scale."

Ecology Research
Endangered Plants
Biodiversity
Rainforests
Land Management
Urbanization
Environmental Policies
Biodiversity hotspot
Organic farming
Agroecology
Conservation biology
Sustainable land management
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Journal Reference :

John G. Robinson, Danielle LaBruna, Tim O’Brien, Peter J. Clyne, Nigel Dudley, Sandy J. Andelman, Elizabeth L. Bennett, Avecita Chicchon, Carlos Durigan, Hedley Grantham, Margaret Kinnaird, Sue Lieberman, Fiona Maisels, Adriana Moreira, Madhu Rao, Emma Stokes, Joe Walston, James EM Watson. Scaling up area-based conservation to implement the Global Biodiversity Framework’s 30x30 target: The role of Nature’s Strongholds . PLOS Biology , 2024; 22 (5): e3002613 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3002613

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When Protectionism Kills Talent

We examine the repercussions of protectionist policies implemented in the United States since 2018 on the composition of workforce and career choices within the semiconductor industry. We find that the shift towards protectionism, aimed at reviving domestic manufacturing and employment, paradoxically resulted in a significant drop in hiring domestic talent. The effect is stronger for entry-level and junior positions, indicating a disproportionate impact on newcomers to the workforce. Additionally, we trace the trajectories of undergraduate and graduate cohorts possessing chip-related skills over time, and document significant shifts away from the chip industry.

We are grateful to Alex Butler, John Griffin, Ahmet Gulek, Tom Meling, Jungu Myung, René Stulz, Yufeng Wu, Alminas Zaldokas, and seminar participants at the Pennsylvania State University for helpful feedback. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Title: chameleon: mixed-modal early-fusion foundation models.

Abstract: We present Chameleon, a family of early-fusion token-based mixed-modal models capable of understanding and generating images and text in any arbitrary sequence. We outline a stable training approach from inception, an alignment recipe, and an architectural parameterization tailored for the early-fusion, token-based, mixed-modal setting. The models are evaluated on a comprehensive range of tasks, including visual question answering, image captioning, text generation, image generation, and long-form mixed modal generation. Chameleon demonstrates broad and general capabilities, including state-of-the-art performance in image captioning tasks, outperforms Llama-2 in text-only tasks while being competitive with models such as Mixtral 8x7B and Gemini-Pro, and performs non-trivial image generation, all in a single model. It also matches or exceeds the performance of much larger models, including Gemini Pro and GPT-4V, according to human judgments on a new long-form mixed-modal generation evaluation, where either the prompt or outputs contain mixed sequences of both images and text. Chameleon marks a significant step forward in a unified modeling of full multimodal documents.

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Philosophical Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Writing an anthropology research paper? This list of philosophical anthropology research paper topics provides some ideas for narrowing down your topic to a successful and manageable one. This page also explores the subject of philosophical anthropology. Browse other anthropology research paper topics for more inspiration.

Altruism Bruno, Giordano Buber,Martin Categorical imperative Comte, Auguste Condorcet,Marguis de Critical realism Deleuze, Gilles Dennett, Daniel C. Derrida, Jacques Dewey, John Empedocles Engels, Friedrich Enlightenment versus postmodernism Enlightenment, age of Entelechy Environmental ethics Environmental philosophy Essentialism Ethics and anthropology Evolutionary epistemology Evolutionary ethics Evolutionary ontology Feuerbach, Ludwig Fromm, Erich Hegel, G.W. F. Heidegger, Martin Henri Bergson Heraclitus Hermeneutics Hobbes, Thomas Human dignity Human excellence Humanism, secular India, philosophies of Integrity, dynamic Kant, Immanuel Kropotkin, Prince Peter A. Lucretius Marx, Karl Marxism Naturalism Neo-Marxism Nietzsche, Friedrich Pantheism Philosophy, dynamic Popper, Karl Positivism Postmodernism Pragmatism Science, philosophy of Spencer, Herbert Teilhard de Chardin, Pierre Teleology Theories Time Unamuno,Miguel de Vernadsky, Vladimir Ivanovich Whitehead, Alfred North Xenophanes

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Philosophical Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Historical Background

Following Bernhard Groethuysen, philosophical anthropology is often conceived as embracing all previous philosophy, insofar as previous philosophy dealt with man’s place in the world. But this wide conception blurs the distinctive features of philosophical anthropology. Its history is best restricted to those authors and ideas whose impact is either admitted or can be traced in the literature of modern philosophical anthropology.

The impact of Søren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche is pervasive. Other generally acknowledged forerunners are Blaise Pascal, Johann Gottfried Herder, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel, and Ludwig Feuerbach. Pascal’s influence is discernible in philosophical anthropology’s conception of man as self-contradictory and mysterious, capable of surpassing his natural limits in quest of authenticity. Pascal’s distinction between the organic esprit de finesse and the abstract and lifeless esprit géométrique was accentuated by Kant’s distinction between the phenomenal world of the senses, with its quest for happiness (in the sense of egotistic pleasure), and the noumenal world of the thing-in-itself, between a world of determinate law and a world of transcendental choice. These concepts reveal themselves in the philosophical anthropologists’ assumption of an unbridgeable gap between value and reason, between the ideal and the practical. Kant’s basic questions—“What can I know? What ought I to do? What may I hope?”—are universally accepted in philosophical anthropology.

Herder was the first German author to correlate biology and the philosophy of man. From him stems the conception of man as a deficient being who must compensate for his lack of natural tools and weapons by the creative use of weapons and technology. Hegel’s theory of alienation and its Marxist version have become a vital element in philosophical anthropology’s comprehension and critique of society. Feuerbach formulated the claim that man can be used as the common denominator of philosophy, the true ens realissimum, embracing reason, will, and emotion. He held that philosophical anthropology was to take the place of theology; and indeed, contemporary philosophical anthropology may be regarded as secularized theology. Feuerbach conceived of God as a projection and objectification of the human spirit, reflecting the categorial structure of the human mind and its conceptual tools. This, as well as the corresponding Hegelian view of the divine spirit as being reflected in human history, is one of the recurring themes of cultural philosophical anthropology.

In a specifically German version and modified by the methodology of the practitioners of the Geisteswissenschaften, the “science of human nature,” which stemmed from Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, and the Earl of Shaftesbury and reached its culmination in the eighteenth century, is the principal root of philosophical anthropology. David Hume’s Treatise of Human Nature provided a program for philosophical anthropology. “There is no question of importance whose decision is not comprised in the science of man…. In pretending to explain the principles of human nature we in effect propose a complete system of the sciences” (Everyman ed., Vol. I, p. 5). Philosophical anthropology took up Hume’s empiricism with regard to the moral sciences, as well as his conception of religion.

Adam Smith’s spectator theory of the moral sentiments was an early statement of the excentric position of man. The “Newtonian-Baconian” school of Scottish and French social thought of the eighteenth century (Francis Hutcheson,Adam Ferguson, John Millar,Dugald Stewart, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, Denis Diderot, and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert), which culminated in John Stuart Mill’s sociology, was a direct precursor of philosophical anthropology in its aim of putting the study of man on an empirical biological basis. This school sought to elucidate and bridge the gap between man’s distinctive nature and the sociocultural order in “the belief that it was natural for man to make an order of life different from that in which the race was nurtured earlier, that it was in the nature of his equipment that he should react intelligently and creatively to the situations in which he found himself” (G. Bryson, Man and Society, Princeton, NJ, 1945, p. 173).

The more widely recognized forerunners of philosophical anthropology—Herder, Christian Garve, and Wilhelm von Humboldt—were directly influenced by the Scottish and French anthropologists and Encyclopedists, who had undermined Cartesian dualism. Thus, at the end of the eighteenth century, there was a wide acceptance of certain propositions concerning man’s creative powers, his individuality, and his sociability. The Scottish and French precursors, however, had intended to develop more rigorous methods of investigation than those used by contemporary philosophical anthropologists.

Subject Matter, Attitude, and Goal

Like existentialism and Lebensphilosophie, philosophical anthropology studies man’s existence, his experiences, and his anxieties, combining the subjectivism of existentialism with the cultural objectivism of Lebensphilosophie. It uses the phenomenological methods of Verstehen and reduction. Philosophical anthropology shares with existentialism, phenomenology, and Lebensphilosophie a critique of society. Yet these currents are not identical; Heidegger and Karl Jaspers, for example, refuse to be identified with philosophical anthropology, despite their great impact on it.

Philosophical anthropology seeks to interpret philosophically the facts that the sciences have discovered concerning the nature of man and of the human condition. It presupposes a developed body of scientific thought, and accordingly, in its program it aspires to a new, scientifically grounded metaphysics. It seeks to elucidate the basic qualities that make man what he is and distinguish him from other beings. It combines, and mediates between, what Kant designated as physiological and pragmatic anthropology.

Physiological anthropology studies man’s natural limitations; pragmatic anthropology deals with man’s potentialities, with what he, as a free agent, makes of himself, or is able and ought to make of himself. Thus, philosophical anthropology studies both man as a creature and man as the creator of cultural values—man as seen by a scientific observer and man as interpreted by himself (Aussen- and Innenansicht). Accordingly, most philosophical anthropologists wish to combine scientific methods with an imaginative philosophical approach.

Philosophical anthropology seeks to correlate the various anthropologies that have developed with the specialization of the sciences. Max Scheler distinguished between scientific, philosophical, and theological anthropologies, or interpretations of the fundamental structure of human activities, which know nothing of one another. In order to stem what its followers describe as anarchy of thought and the “loss of the center,” philosophical anthropology offers itself as a coordinating discipline. With the dissolution of traditional beliefs in guidance by gods, by kings and feudal leaders, by God, or by nature, there is today a general lack of direction. Man is now, as he was for Protagoras, the only possible measure. By coordinating and interpreting fragmented knowledge, philosophical anthropology aims at a new understanding of man’s essential qualities and potentialities. It aims to accomplish this by the development of suitable methods, by a factual elucidation of the perplexities inherent in human institutions, and by borderline research (coordinating different branches of the sciences) used as a basis for a new “map of knowledge.”

Since philosophical anthropology arose as an interpretation of various scientific disciplines, it has practitioners in many fields. Although there are only a few academic chairs of philosophical anthropology (Göttingen, Nijmegen), the number of professed philosophical anthropologists is large, chiefly in the German-speaking countries, but also in the Netherlands, Spanish-speaking countries, the United States, and France. Modern French humanism, whether existentialist, religious, or Marxist, is both historically and analytically allied with philosophical anthropology. Many philosophical anthropologists stress that they are theological, historical, political, juristic, biological, phenomenological, or cultural philosophical anthropologists. Much so-called philosophical anthropology is best treated under metaphysics, ontology, theory of value, epistemology, theology, philosophy of science or of history, or under the related contemporary philosophies. This article will discuss only the distinctive features.

Philosophical anthropology embraces most of the social sciences. Some leading practitioners, such as Arnold Gehlen, emphasize the concept of action, rather than man, as the distinguishing feature of philosophical anthropology, and define it as a new empirical discipline, Handlungswissenschaft (similar to “behavioral science” and the “theory of action”), as distinct from the natural sciences and the Geisteswissenschaften.

Philosophical anthropology is an attempt to construct a scientific discipline out of man’s traditional effort to understand and liberate himself. At the same time, however, it is pervaded by the same antiscientific currents that mark existentialism, Lebensphilosophie, and phenomenology. But it is its dialogue with science that gives philosophical anthropology its peculiar character.

The Crisis of Science

Philosophical anthropologists see a “crisis of science,” a crisis first brought into view by three “humiliations of man.” First, the humiliation of Copernican astronomy removed man’s habitat, the earth, from the center of the universe; second, Charles Darwin’s biological evolutionism “shamed and degraded” man; and third, the historical schools revealed the relativity of religious and national cultural values. The crisis in science has been brought to a head by modern developments in depth psychology, post-Euclidean mathematics, and the indeterminacy principle in nuclear physics. From the scientific point of view, these developments represent advances rather than a crisis. However, German philosophers since Kant have conceived of science as being fixed in a rigid mathematicomechanical determinism. According to philosophical anthropologists, this basic concept has broken down. There is a wide consensus among Continental thinkers that nineteenth-century materialism has been overcome and that the methods of the Geisteswissenschaften and phenomenology have been vindicated.

These methods seek the meaning immanent in events and in the works of man rather than the causal nexus between events. They aim to interpret other minds (both individual and collective), their peculiar intentions and tendencies, and the institutions through which their ideas have found expression. They investigate the conscious and unconscious actions of human beings and the structure of interpersonal (social and cultural) relationships. These methods are descriptive, interpretative, organic, and concrete, rather than explanatory, mechanical, and abstract, as in the natural sciences. This distinction of two methodologies—causal explanation on the one hand and Verstehen and phenomenological reduction on the other—takes up the emphasis of what is known in English as the Germano-Coleridgean school on, in the words of J. S. Mill, a philosophy of society in the form of a philosophy of history seeking a philosophy of human culture.

Theory of Knowledge

The crisis of science, according to philosophical anthropologists, evinces a deep crisis in the theory of knowledge— a crisis that makes imperative the adoption of pragmatic theories of truth. Traditional epistemology, they claim, was occupied with only one of the functions of consciousness. It failed to take into account what Pascal called the logique du coeur or esprit de finesse, which was akin to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “imagination” and John Henry Newman’s “illative reason.” And consciousness itself is only a part of the forces that shape human reasons. For philosophical anthropologists, as for sociologists of knowledge, knowledge is determined by dispositions and by outside factors. Erich Rothacker claims that all knowledge is based on the particular ways of thought (dogmatische Denkformen) of national and sectional cultures, which determine both the questions asked and the answers given. Questions and answers have no validity apart from their appropriateness to the cultural environment (Umwelt). On the other hand, Scheler sought to establish an objective scale of values that would take into account nonrational elements. He distinguished in an ascending order the strata of vitality, intellectuality, and holiness (Herrschaftswissen, Leistungswissen, and Heilswissen). Despite his epistemological relativism, Rothacker has applied a similar scheme of “lower” and “higher” values in his psychological theory. Although most philosophical anthropologists profess value relativism, implicit value scales may be discerned underlying their methodological views and cultural criticism.

Methodology

Philosophical anthropology rejects the Cartesian dualism of body and soul: Man is not part animal and part spirit but a being sui generis, distinct from animals in physical condition and in aspirations. This attitude, together with philosophical anthropology’s theological roots, may account for a nearly universal (although currently weakening) rejection of Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud for allegedly appealing to the forces of primitivism and animality in man. At the same time, many philosophical anthropologists reject modern intellectualism; their rejection of rationality, like that of many existentialists and Lebensphilosophs, has its roots in the romantic reaction to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. In its suspicion of Verwissenschaftlichung (“scientism”), philosophical anthropology perpetuates the traditional German attacks on Reflexionsphilosophie, in which the nonrational aspects of reality are alleged to be ignored.

Philosophical anthropology’s conception of method was formulated by Wilhelm Dilthey and Edmund Husserl. Husserl’s nonempirical phenomenological approach to philosophical questions was claimed to be presuppositionless, wholly scientific, and logically prior to the natural sciences. It is concerned with meanings, an intuitive comprehension of directly experienced essences, and it involves a distinct method for “analyzing” (or rather, interpreting) facts, qualities, relationships, and the basic categories of human nature and culture—a method of analysis different from that which results in an explanatory theory. However, such thinkers as the biologist Adolf Portmann and the psychologist Karl Jaspers attempt to combine the scientific and interpretative approaches.

Ludwig Binswanger, for example, does not exclude the methods of natural science, but raises two objections to reveal their inherent limitations. One is that all abstractions are transpositions and simplifications of reality. The other is that the registration of stimuli in experimental psychology restricts the field of investigation so as to make the perception of meaningful wholes impossible; it precludes the essential selective and synthesizing activities.

Helmuth Plessner sees philosophical anthropology as the paradigm of borderline research. Although there is still a methodological gap between the physical and the social sciences, there has been spectacular progress toward methodological and substantive unification of physics, chemistry, and mineralogy, and of physiology and biochemistry. This progress supplies a model for philosophical anthropology. In its physical concerns, philosophical anthropology should correlate the work of medicine, zoology, chemistry, and physics, and in its nonphysical concerns, it should correlate the work of psychology, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, and the cultural sciences.

The physical and nonphysical concerns correspond to the traditional divisions of body and soul and of empiricism and subjective idealism. The division between body and soul emphasizes the ineluctable natural limitations of man and the determined aspects of his nature, and thus ignores his freedom and historicity, while the division between empiricism and subjective idealism has traditionally lost itself in metaphysical speculation. Philosophical anthropology tries to avoid both extremes; it sees man as essentially homo absconditus, inscrutable, an open question. Man must formulate his destiny so that he is not held rigidly in one role but safeguards his creative freedom. The direction in which this freedom permits man to fulfill himself is not amenable to scientific discovery, and thus science is devalued. Man’s choices depend on his philosophical understanding of his own position in the world.

An infinite variety of choices is open to man. What distinguishes man’s nature is not how he chooses, but that he does choose—that he is not determined by his biological and physiological constitution but is formed in the light of cultural values he himself has created and internalized. Philosophical anthropology’s contribution to the study of cultures is its emphasis on the creative element in the unfolding of the various conceptions of man’s position in the world. Therefore, man’s selfunderstanding, or self-image, is a central theme of philosophical anthropology.

The Self-Image of Man

Formerly, man was threatened not primarily by man, but by nature. Through science, nearly all natural phenomena have been or can be brought under man’s control. Man is threatened neither by nature nor by the God who made nature, but by his own use of nature. Man’s enemy is man, manmade structures, or the God who made man.

Again, even in coming to know nature, man (or his scientific representatives) meets himself rather than nature. Man no longer seeks nature as such, but nature as we question it for specific scientific purposes and in the specific contexts of axiomatic frameworks that we ourselves have determined.

Thus, man is inescapably confronted by man. We have reason to ask, What is this man? But what causes us to ask questions about the form in which man’s subjective image of himself appears in his consciousness?

Man’s subjective image determines what he makes of himself. Animals are as nature has created them, but man must complete his character; nature has supplied only the rudiments of it. Man must form his own personality, and he does so according to his image of what he can and should be. Scheler has delineated a historical typology of Western man’s self-images, or “reality-worlds.”

Man first saw himself as homo religiosus, a view based on the Judeo-Christian legacy of supernaturalism and its ensuing feelings of awe and of inherited guilt. The next stage was homo sapiens, rational man in harmony with the divine plan. Since the Enlightenment, this image has been largely superseded by the naturalistic, pragmatic image of homo faber—man as the most highly developed animal, the maker of tools (including language),who uses a particularly high proportion of his animal energy in cerebral activities. Body and soul are regarded as a functional unity. Human being and development are explained by the primary urges of animal nature—the desire for progeny and the desire for food, possessions, and wealth. Machiavellianism, Marxism, racism, Darwinism, and Freudianism, it is claimed, are based on this interpretation of man.

These three self-images of man have in common a belief in the unity of human history and in a meaningful evolution toward higher organization. The images of homo dionysiacus and homo creator break with this tradition and herald a new orientation of anthropological thought. In the image of man as homo dionysiacus, man sees decadence as immanent in human nature and history. Typical exponents of this view are Arthur Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and neoromantics like Ludwig Klages, Oswald Spengler, and Leo Frobenius. Man is seen as the “deserter” or the faux pas of life; as a megalomaniac species of rapacious ape; as an infantile ape with a disorganized system of inner secretions; or as essentially deficient in vital powers and dependent for survival on technical means. Man’s power of thought is an artificial surrogate for missing or weak instincts, and his “freedom to choose” is a euphemism for his lack of direction. Human social institutions are pitiful crutches for assuring the survival of a biologically doomed race. Reason is regarded as separate from the soul, which belongs to the vital sphere of the body. Reason is the destructive, “demoniac” struggle with, and submergence of, the healthy activity of the soul.

The image of man as homo creator is likewise derived from Nietzsche, and also from Feuerbach. But the Nietzschean superman has been transformed into a stricter philosophical conception by Nicolai Hartmann, Max Scheler, and the Sartrean existentialists. Scheler called this view a “postulatory atheism of high responsibility.” Man has no ontological knowledge of an ultimate being. Contrary to Kant’s postulate of the ethical need for a God, in the new view there must be no God—for the sake of human responsibility and liberty. Only in a mechanical, nonteleological world is there the possibility of a free moral being.Where there is a planning, all-powerful God, there is no freedom for man responsibly to work out his destiny. Nietzsche’s phrase “God is dead” expresses the ultimate moral responsibility of man; the predicates of God (predestination and Providence) are to be related to individual man.

Man’s awareness of his own self-images illuminates the whole range of his genuine potentialities so that his choice of an authentic form of life is not restricted by narrowness of view.

The Major Branches of Philosophical Anthropology

Philosophical anthropology shares with French humanism a particular critical analysis of society, but before this analysis can be presented, it is necessary to make a survey of the important branches of philosophical anthropology and of their results.

Biological Philosophical Anthropology

The reaction to determinism in the physical sciences has given rise to biological philosophical anthropology, or bioanthropology. Bioanthropology scrutinizes biological theories philosophically, primarily to correlate man’s creative achievements and attitudes with his physiological organization. Man’s cultural role—his character as a symbol- making being capable of abstraction, forethought, language, and intersubjective communication—is depicted as an irreducible function of his physiological constitution.

Among many important practitioners of bioanthropology are the biologists F. J. J. Buytendijk and Adolf Portmann and the philosopher Arnold Gehlen. Important starting points of bioanthropological thought have been Walter Garstang’s concept of paidomorphosis and Jakob von Uexküll’s concept of milieu (Umwelt), which was developed earlier, in philosophical terms, by Edmund Husserl. Paidomorphosis emphasizes the embryonic qualities that are preserved in man but lost in adult animals, as well as man’s retarded extrauterine development. Gehlen has used the concept of man as a fetal ape to account for man’s cultural achievements which, he claims, are conditioned by man’s helpless status in the world. Devoid of instincts and of natural weapons and tools, man has been compelled to compensate for his shortcomings by active responses to the challenges of his environment and of his physiological urges.Man defends himself by his actions, whose scope, direction, and intensity, in contrast to instinctive reactions, are within his discretion. He transforms the natural environment into a system of action (Handlungskreis), the responses to which are perpetuated in institutions and language. Man’s cultural environment is thus both a physiological condition of his survival and a distinctive criterion of his nature.

From his investigations into animal physiology, Uexküll derived a theory of the specific environmental determination of human life. Each species of animal lives in its own Umwelt; its consciousness of sense data is strictly limited by its innate capacities of perception. The range of these capacities corresponds to the teleology immanent in the “life plan” of different animals and is strictly limited to the life plan’s specific tasks. Uexküll started from Kant’s theory that the categories of the understanding determine the perception and conception of the data of the senses. It was Uexküll’s teleological interpretation that distinguished his work from that of Western contemporaries who independently developed the sociology of animals. In the German romantic tradition, Uexküll was concerned with fighting the “mechanistic,” positivistic conception of science that he saw represented in biochemistry and behaviorism.

Buytendijk’s physiological and psychological investigations have been undertaken in close contact with such phenomenologically oriented thinkers as Scheler, Plessner, Viktor von Weizsäcker, and V. E. von Gebsattel. Like Uexküll, Buytendijk rejects Cartesian dualism and its mechanical interpretation of bodily processes; unlike Uexküll, he rejects the hypothesis that man is determined by his Umwelt. Through his detailed comparisons of animal and human physiology and psychology, Buytendijk has sought to work out man’s unique condition as expressed in his capacity for abstraction and symbolization (the ability to create signs representing what is bodily absent), and in his capacity for the logical correlation of signs. For Buytendijk, biology is a historical science that must be understood in motivational, teleological terms. He conceives of motives and processes as value-related and spontaneous, derived from the built-in planning capacity of a self-structuring organism. Parallels with verstehende sociology are obvious, but Buytendijk’s impressive ability to rest his philosophical views on a biological basis cannot conceal the fact that he held his views prior to his scientific illustration and testing of them.

Adolf Portmann’s work represents the culmination of bioanthropology. It aims at an integration of biological with psychological, sociological, and anthropological thought. According to Portmann, human biology has turned into anthropology, because the life of man, despite superficial similarities to animal life, is something sui generis. Portmann emphasizes the uniqueness of human action, language, foresight, and upright carriage, and of the human growth rhythm—duration of pregnancy, bodily proportions, extrauterine babyhood, and late formation of the female pelvis. These qualities, he claims, arise from a characteristic interpenetration of the hereditary process and teleological, sociocultural processes. Man’s individuality (which continues to grow while the body decays) and man’s sociability combine to establish his undetermined “openness,” in contrast to determination of the animal by his Umwelt.

Portmann’s central concept is “internality,” the fact that individuals are centers of purposeful activity who use the external shell of the body as a means of self-expression and of communication with other individuals. Portmann does not claim that the affirmation of man’s individuality and sociability provides the “meaning of life.” Although specific mysteries of man’s biological structure have been solved, he claims, the “basic fact” for philosophical anthropology continues to be man’s “mysteriousness.” Man has no built-in evolutionary mechanism leading to an equilibrium; there is only a creative variability (Disponibilität) of the human situation. Man’s spontaneous individuality creates new self-images; his sociability spreads and maintains them.

Portmann has sought, however, to advance beyond the limits of functional morphology to a vantage point that will illuminate the hierarchy of values—a vantage point whose need has increased in view of the tremendous potential power of biotechnical advances to influence and change the human condition, and perhaps human nature. However, as in the biophilosophies of Henri Bergson, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Julian Huxley, it is easier to discern the philosophical basis of Portmann’s biological hypotheses than it is to discover any positive contribution that biology has made to his philosophical thought. He first developed his conception of man as functional unit as a philosophical hypothesis. “Openness” has been a theme of philosophical anthropology since the time of Herder and Kant.

In general, it must be said that no substantive lesson is to be drawn from either functional or analytical biology, except that it is of man’s essence to create structured and meaningful systems of action. The biological foundation of man’s creativity entails no concrete guide to what man ought to do. Nothing would appear to follow from the fact that creativity has biological roots except that man cannot permit himself to be altogether determined by any given environment. He must transcend it creatively, and he must be guided by ideas and leitmotifs rather than by instincts, by decisions rather than by reactions to stimuli. But the questions of what decisions man will take and what ideas he will adopt are not answered by bioanthropology, which emphasizes the malleability of human nature as a basic fact. Any insight into the potential content of human achievement must therefore be based on the plurality of the cultures that have unfolded in history. Bioanthropology thus leads into cultural philosophical anthropology.

Cultural Philosophical Anthropology

Like American cultural anthropology, cultural philosophical anthropology is concerned with man and his works, with culture history and culture sociology, and with historical morphology and the philosophy of history. It is interested primarily in developed societies—“high cultures” that have created a style of their own beyond the biological and trivial uniformities of the tribal state. Like German sociology, it emphasizes the multiformity rather than the uniformity of human nature, and the history rather than the theory of cultures. Like Portmann’s bioanthropology, it finds an ultimate mystery in man—the mystery of archetypes and racial dispositions.

Cultural anthropology combines Dilthey’s historicism with the phenomenological method. Man comes to know and liberate himself through history. A comparative study of societies elucidates the human situation and the human predicament. But this study results in the same merely formal characteristics elaborated by bioanthropology— the adaptability of the human mind, the need for a “sane” worldview, sociability with its ensuing problems, a common growth rhythm, and common basic physiological urges.

Arnold Gehlen and Erich Rothacker are the most representative cultural philosophical anthropologists, while Werner Sombart is the most opinionated. Gehlen and Rothacker present integrated theoretical systems that have an ultimately psychological basis. Their psychologies, like that of Dilthey, are essentially descriptive and interpretative, and their psychological interpretations mirror their cultural philosophies.

Rothacker has classified cultural factors in a scale by “laws of polarity.”He seeks to understand individual cultures by a process of “reduction” to “national souls” (attitudes and dispositions that generate Weltanschauungen) and to myths. These ur-experiences are not further reducible; they are embodied in the racial inheritance. Therefore, although people do create and develop the Umwelt of their national cultures, the possibilities that are thereby realized are ultimately determined. Rothacker’s historicist relativism is less free from ethnocentrism than one might be led to expect by the emphasis of philosophical anthropology on the openness of man.

Gehlen’s psychology is rooted in the archaic stage of cultural development. The values of this stage serve as criteria for the evaluation of late cultures, which accordingly appear as falls from grace.

In Sombart’s anthropology ethnocentric traits are also emphasized. Thus, man’s irreconcilable diversity rather than his potential openness is seen as distinguishing the human situation.

Ernst Cassirer, on the other hand, sought to discover the basic function of human cultural achievements (language, myth, religion, art, science, history) behind their innumerable forms and to trace them to a common origin in man’s symbol-making power—the power to build up an “ideal world” of his own.

Psychological Philosophical Anthropology

Bioanthropology and cultural philosophical anthropology are the most important branches of philosophical anthropology. Among other branches, only psychological philosophical anthropology and theological philosophical anthropology require separate mention.

Psychological philosophical anthropology is the most successful post-Freudian development in psychiatry on the Continent and, through existential psychoanalysis, is exerting considerable influence in the English-speaking world. The outstanding figures in this movement are Ludwig Binswanger, Erwin Straus, and Medard Boss. Erich Fromm seeks to incorporate his psychology within philosophical anthropology, and Rollo May in the United States and R. D. Laing in Britain follow similar lines. Their common belief is that traditional experimental psychology requires the assistance of philosophical thought to arrive at satisfactory results. Some psychological philosophical anthropologists oppose the empirical hypotheses and inductive statistical methods of experimental psychology; most of them combine experimental methods with a specific philosophical or phenomenological approach.

Since psychological philosophical anthropology deals with individual cases, it lends itself to concrete and descriptive investigations. Analyses have been made of laughter and weeping, fantasy, shame, resentment, pleasure, love, and fear. These analyses do not consist in mere registration of stimuli but in selective and synthesizing acts of interpretation by phenomenological “reduction” to an intuition of essential qualities. Plessner has traced the capacity for laughter and weeping to man’s “excentricity,” his ability to transcend his innate nature and to observe, judge, and respond to situations. Human moods (Stimmungen) are typically described as obstacles to the achievement of authenticity. The irrational elements in moods undermine the continuity of character, which is man’s potential ability to give meaning and direction to his life. Accidental attitudes that arise from the challenge of situations thus deprive man of his right to make responsible choices; they tie him to an impoverished, one-sided anthropology.

Binswanger developed existential analysis from Freud’s psychoanalysis. He describes Freud’s positivist, “utilitarian” anthropology as one-sided and negative. Its culture concept, he claims, concentrates negatively on the taming of natural urges rather than positively on a teleological image of man’s potentiality. Freud’s “somatographic” or “somatomorphic” conception of existence stresses the scientific analysis of sleep, dream, passion, and sensuality while, according to Binswanger, it neglects the historical and cultural aspects of existence, such as religion, art, ethics, and myth, all of which are as important as science. In Binswanger’s view psychological investigation should be directed toward the self-transcending, exercise of man’s liberty to make authentic choices. The psychologist’s task is to illuminate the “inner life history” of the patient, his self-structuring in the light of his inner motivation. Self-structuring is equivalent to character or to the response that the individual makes to the challenge of the world around him. St. Augustine, to whom we owe the beginnings of autobiography, is a case in point. Illness prevented him from carrying out his ambition to become an orator. He transcended his natural disability by turning toward the spiritual world and thus arrived at his essential “real being.” He could have reacted otherwise— by resentment or frustration, by neurosis or suicide. These and other potentialities held out to Augustine the temptation to restrict his character by the impoverishment inherent in giving in to an irresponsible choice—a choice suggested by the logic of the situation. Augustine chose an autonomous life that preserved his access to a full range of human values. Psychosis is explained as an “abortive encounter”with existence, or a form of existential misdirection. Diagnosis of a psychosis therefore depends on a valid interpretation of what constitutes an authentic existence. An authentic existence, according to Binswanger, consists in a life in keeping with a legitimate cultural (religious or national) tradition; in a dialogue with other beings (the “Thou”); or in the ability to act in character in the face of situational challenges.

However, the first of these criteria depends on values that are subject to unresolved doubt; the other two are so devoid of specific content that they hardly invite contradiction. Existential analysis, even more than psychoanalysis, obliterates the line between the normal and the abnormal and reduces psychological problems to questions of Weltanschauung.

Viktor von Weizsäcker, V. E. von Gebsattel, Erwin Straus, and Harald Schultz-Hencke have carried out structural analyses of inhibited character types and, in particular, of sexual perversions. Health is defined as openness to all potentialities of life, and obsessional urges are therefore interpreted as disturbed worldviews that enslave the individual in rigid, one-sided, compulsive attitudes and interfere with his social “I-Thou” relationships. Sexual perversions, in particular, have been construed by Gebsattel as obsessional urges that preclude a lasting I-Thou relationship based on mutual freedom, and as thus being incapable of providing ultimate satisfaction. Medard Boss, however, arguing from an equally existential basis, stoutly rejects this view. Gebsattel’s apotheosis of the procreative element in love, however, points to the close affinity of philosophical anthropology with “secularized theology.”

Theological Philosophical Anthropology

Theological anthropology emphasizes the Biblical conception of man in a dialogue with God. Martin Buber, Emil Brunner, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer are remarkable representatives of this movement, although their work is best studied in its theological context. However, the openness of man and his individuality and sociability are dominant themes of their work. The human difficulty of making the right choices is paralleled by the theological conception of man as simultaneously just and sinning.

A merely intellectual and logical exposition of God’s message, in their view, is not enough for an understanding of God’s revelation. An emphatic existential I-Thou relationship between man and God, based on the logique du coeur, is required.What matters is not that something is true, but how it can be made to come true. Belief in God has been explained by theological philosophical anthropologists, following Feuerbach, in terms of the self-understanding and the creative self-image of man.

The need for a postscientific interpretation of the Creed that is appropriate to a “mature” humanity and avoids theological sophistry has become a leading motif of theological anthropology, and this makes it difficult to distinguish between its tenets and those of secular philosophical anthropologies.

Critique of Society

Philosophical anthropology shares with contemporary French humanism the conception that there is a crisis of the sciences that reflects a radical crisis of European society. It rejects contemporary bourgeois society, from either a romantic or a Marxist viewpoint, for the alleged dehumanizing tendencies it has developed in the process of rationalization following the breakup of feudal and religious institutions.

The rise of scientific rationalism is not regarded as a process of liberation from the shackles of superstition, conventions, and fallacies, but as a process that has deprived Western man of his “center of gravity” and has alienated him from his authentic nature through the replacement of value by “means-end” relationships, by neutral experiment, and by mechanico-mathematical abstraction. In the view of philosophical anthropologists, the “age of transition,” or “age of crisis,” which heralded the acceptance of utilitarianism in the English-speaking world, is still unresolved. Man’s salvation from alienation is not seen as a continuous process of improvement or of piecemeal social engineering but as a radical challenge that is less concerned with practical reform than with a utopian rejection of the modern world.

The central theoretical insights of philosophical anthropology consist in an affirmation of the individuality and sociability of man as ultimate values. This theory would seem to suggest a social organization that combines an optimum of free choice with the minimum encroachment on individual liberty that is compatible with a viable social coexistence. This is in fact the utilitarian image of man that has prevailed since the early nineteenth century in the English-speaking world, where this image of man has been internalized to such an extent that the discussion of ultimate metaphysical questions has predominantly given way to the discussion of means to assure the accepted end of mutual accommodation and individual discretion. By contrast, on the Continent, and especially in Germany, the romantic reaction to the French Revolution precluded the acceptance of the philosophy of the Enlightenment. No commonly accepted concept of society was developed to counterbalance an unbridled individualism except the radical panaceas of nationalism and totalitarianism. By emphasizing the importance of both individuality and sociability, philosophical anthropology is returning to the type of position that gave birth to utilitarianism, and it may therefore be a step toward a utilitarian view of the world. Although most of its representatives present ethnocentric or nihilistic conclusions, these are not inevitable consequences of philosophical anthropology’s affirmation of the creativity and sociability of man.

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Study explains why the brain can robustly recognize images, even without color

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Pawan Sinha looks at a wall of about 50 square photos. The photos are pictures of children with vision loss who have been helped by Project Prakash.

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Even though the human visual system has sophisticated machinery for processing color, the brain has no problem recognizing objects in black-and-white images. A new study from MIT offers a possible explanation for how the brain comes to be so adept at identifying both color and color-degraded images.

Using experimental data and computational modeling, the researchers found evidence suggesting the roots of this ability may lie in development. Early in life, when newborns receive strongly limited color information, the brain is forced to learn to distinguish objects based on their luminance, or intensity of light they emit, rather than their color. Later in life, when the retina and cortex are better equipped to process colors, the brain incorporates color information as well but also maintains its previously acquired ability to recognize images without critical reliance on color cues.

The findings are consistent with previous work showing that initially degraded visual and auditory input can actually be beneficial to the early development of perceptual systems.

“This general idea, that there is something important about the initial limitations that we have in our perceptual system, transcends color vision and visual acuity. Some of the work that our lab has done in the context of audition also suggests that there’s something important about placing limits on the richness of information that the neonatal system is initially exposed to,” says Pawan Sinha, a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT and the senior author of the study.

The findings also help to explain why children who are born blind but have their vision restored later in life, through the removal of congenital cataracts, have much more difficulty identifying objects presented in black and white. Those children, who receive rich color input as soon as their sight is restored, may develop an overreliance on color that makes them much less resilient to changes or removal of color information.

MIT postdocs Marin Vogelsang and Lukas Vogelsang, and Project Prakash research scientist Priti Gupta, are the lead authors of the study, which appears today in Science . Sidney Diamond, a retired neurologist who is now an MIT research affiliate, and additional members of the Project Prakash team are also authors of the paper.

Seeing in black and white

The researchers’ exploration of how early experience with color affects later object recognition grew out of a simple observation from a study of children who had their sight restored after being born with congenital cataracts. In 2005, Sinha launched Project Prakash (the Sanskrit word for “light”), an effort in India to identify and treat children with reversible forms of vision loss.

Many of those children suffer from blindness due to dense bilateral cataracts. This condition often goes untreated in India, which has the world’s largest population of blind children, estimated between 200,000 and 700,000.

Children who receive treatment through Project Prakash may also participate in studies of their visual development, many of which have helped scientists learn more about how the brain's organization changes following restoration of sight, how the brain estimates brightness, and other phenomena related to vision.

In this study, Sinha and his colleagues gave children a simple test of object recognition, presenting both color and black-and-white images. For children born with normal sight, converting color images to grayscale had no effect at all on their ability to recognize the depicted object. However, when children who underwent cataract removal were presented with black-and-white images, their performance dropped significantly.

This led the researchers to hypothesize that the nature of visual inputs children are exposed to early in life may play a crucial role in shaping resilience to color changes and the ability to identify objects presented in black-and-white images. In normally sighted newborns, retinal cone cells are not well-developed at birth, resulting in babies having poor visual acuity and poor color vision. Over the first years of life, their vision improves markedly as the cone system develops.

Because the immature visual system receives significantly reduced color information, the researchers hypothesized that during this time, the baby brain is forced to gain proficiency at recognizing images with reduced color cues. Additionally, they proposed, children who are born with cataracts and have them removed later may learn to rely too much on color cues when identifying objects, because, as they experimentally demonstrated in the paper, with mature retinas, they commence their post-operative journeys with good color vision.

To rigorously test that hypothesis, the researchers used a standard convolutional neural network, AlexNet, as a computational model of vision. They trained the network to recognize objects, giving it different types of input during training. As part of one training regimen, they initially showed the model grayscale images only, then introduced color images later on. This roughly mimics the developmental progression of chromatic enrichment as babies’ eyesight matures over the first years of life.

Another training regimen comprised only color images. This approximates the experience of the Project Prakash children, because they can process full color information as soon as their cataracts are removed.

The researchers found that the developmentally inspired model could accurately recognize objects in either type of image and was also resilient to other color manipulations. However, the Prakash-proxy model trained only on color images did not show good generalization to grayscale or hue-manipulated images.

“What happens is that this Prakash-like model is very good with colored images, but it’s very poor with anything else. When not starting out with initially color-degraded training, these models just don’t generalize, perhaps because of their over-reliance on specific color cues,” Lukas Vogelsang says.

The robust generalization of the developmentally inspired model is not merely a consequence of it having been trained on both color and grayscale images; the temporal ordering of these images makes a big difference. Another object-recognition model that was trained on color images first, followed by grayscale images, did not do as well at identifying black-and-white objects.

“It’s not just the steps of the developmental choreography that are important, but also the order in which they are played out,” Sinha says.

The advantages of limited sensory input

By analyzing the internal organization of the models, the researchers found that those that begin with grayscale inputs learn to rely on luminance to identify objects. Once they begin receiving color input, they don’t change their approach very much, since they’ve already learned a strategy that works well. Models that began with color images did shift their approach once grayscale images were introduced, but could not shift enough to make them as accurate as the models that were given grayscale images first.

A similar phenomenon may occur in the human brain, which has more plasticity early in life, and can easily learn to identify objects based on their luminance alone. Early in life, the paucity of color information may in fact be beneficial to the developing brain, as it learns to identify objects based on sparse information.

“As a newborn, the normally sighted child is deprived, in a certain sense, of color vision. And that turns out to be an advantage,” Diamond says.

Researchers in Sinha’s lab have observed that limitations in early sensory input can also benefit other aspects of vision, as well as the auditory system. In 2022, they used computational models to show that early exposure to only low-frequency sounds, similar to those that babies hear in the womb, improves performance on auditory tasks that require analyzing sounds over a longer period of time, such as recognizing emotions. They now plan to explore whether this phenomenon extends to other aspects of development, such as language acquisition.

The research was funded by the National Eye Institute of NIH and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

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List Of 110 Research Paper Topics & Ideas On Anthropology
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