ANSS Subject and Bibliographic Access Committee
Question/Answer on cataloging issues – November/December 2018
Question: What subject headings are commonly applied to works about the theory and methodology of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology?
Submitted By: Tom Durkin, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Students of anthropology generally learn about the history of the development of anthropology, including the theory and methodology that guide the ethnographic study of culture. Most graduate students are required to take classes that focus on this topic. In the classic “four field” structure of the study of anthropology, ethnology is frequently referred to as “cultural anthropology.” The history of the development of cultural anthropology is complex because anthropologists have developed and applied many different philosophical theories. It is important for students to understand theory because it influences research design and the intellectual positions that are taken and supported in scholarly anthropological works. This list of subject terms below has been created to provide guidance for the subject terms related to the philosophical history of anthropology.
General Terms
This list of example LCSH terms is very general, but most works about the history and theory of cultural anthropology are found under those listed here. In particular, the terms Anthropology and Ethnology with the subdivisions History or Philosophy appear to be the most common terms applied.
Anthropologists — History
Anthropology — History — Textbooks
Anthropology — Philosophy
Culture — Philosophy
Ethnologists — History
Ethnology — Great Britain — History
Ethnology — History
Ethnology — Philosophy
Human beings — Philosophy
Interpretation (Philosophy)
Material culture — Philosophy
Philosophical anthropology — History — 20th century
Social epistemology
Social sciences — Philosophy
Social sciences — History
Specializations within Cultural Anthropology
For a student exploring the range of philosophical stances that cultural anthropologists have taken, it can be very helpful to review a list of anthropological sub-disciplines or specialties. The list below is not exhaustive, because LCSH terms do not necessarily exist for every specialty within cultural anthropology. The study of anthropology continues to develop in new directions every day.
Anthropological linguistics
Anthropology and history
Anthropology of religion
Applied anthropology
Architecture and anthropology
Art and anthropology
Buddhist anthropology
Business anthropology
Economic anthropology
Educational anthropology
Ethnological jurisprudence
Ethnopsychology
Forensic anthropology
Law and anthropology
Mass media and anthropology
Mathematical anthropology
Medical anthropology
Music and anthropology
Neuroanthropology
Political anthropology
Psychoanalysis and anthropology
Public anthropology
Theological anthropology
Urban anthropology
Visual anthropology
Theoretical Positions in Cultural Anthropology
Cultural anthropologists have taken many philosophical positions as they have worked to analyze and interpret the cultures of the world. Many of the terms below describe theoretical positions that have grown or diminished in application over time as the field of cultural anthropology has developed.
Acculturation
Action research
Action theory
Actor-network theory
Agent (Philosophy)
Cognition and culture
Cultural relativism
Culture diffusion
Ethics, Evolutionary
Ethnocentrism
Feminist anthropology
Functionalism (Social sciences)
Holism — Philosophy
Human ecology
Kinship
Marxist anthropology
Personality and culture
Phenomenological anthropology
Postmodernism
Poststructuralism
Sapir-Whorf hypothesis
Self-knowledge, Theory of [for works on theories of reflexivity]
Sex role — Cross-cultural studies [for works on gender roles]
Social action
Social Evolution
Social structure
—Structural analysis [as an LCSH subdivision]
Structural anthropology
Structuralism
Symbolic anthropology
Symbolic interactionism
System theory
Totemism [important in structural anthropology]
Methodology in the Practice of Cultural Anthropology
Anthropological methodology, including research design and field techniques, is frequently directly related to the philosophical and theoretical position that an anthropologist takes during the analytical and interpretive stages of research. This list of terms represents those frequently used to describe methodological works in anthropology.
Anthropological illustration
Anthropology — Fieldwork — Technological innovations
Anthropology — Methodology — Handbooks, manuals, etc
Anthropology — Research — Methodology
Anthropology — Statistical methods
Cross-cultural studies [this term is also frequently used as a subdivision]
Ethnohistory — Methodology
Ethnologists — Effect of technological innovations on
Ethnology — Fieldwork — Technological innovations
Ethnology — Methodology
Methodology [a very general term used for many areas of research]
Participant observation
Photography in ethnology — History
Social sciences — Fieldwork
Social sciences — Research
Anthropologists Important to the History of Anthropological Theory and Methodology
Many anthropologists have contributed to the development of anthropological theory, and they are far too numerous to list here. Discussions of the influence of the significant researchers listed below are frequently incorporated into works about the history of anthropology. The terms listed here are taken from the LC Name Authority File (LCNAF).
Benedict, Ruth, 1887-1948 [Research in Personality and Culture]
Boas, Franz, 1858-1942 [Research in Cultural Relativism]
Douglas, Mary, 1921-2007 [Research in Anthropology of Religion, Structuralism]
Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (Edward Evan), 1902-1973 [Research in Anthropology of Religion]
Geertz, Clifford [Research in Symbolic Anthropology and Thick Description]
Harris, Marvin, 1927-2001 [Research in Cultural Materialism]
Hurston, Zora Neale [Research in Folkloric Narrative]
Kroeber, A. L. (Alfred Louis), 1876-1960 [Research in Culture Area]
Lévi-Strauss, Claude [Research in Structuralism]
Lowie, Robert Harry, 1883-1957 [Research in Kinship Studies]
Malinowski, Bronislaw, 1884-1942 [Research in Functionalism and Participant Observation]
Mead, Margaret, 1901-1978 [Research in Gender Identity and Sex Roles]
Morgan, Lewis Henry, 1818-1881 [Research in Social Evolution]
Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews, 1874-1941 [Research in Feminist Anthropology, Folklore and Social Structure]
Parsons, Talcott, 1902-1979 [Research in Social Action Theory and Structural Functionalism]
Powdermaker, Hortense, 1903-1970 [Research in Institutional Anthropology]
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (Alfred Reginald), 1881-1955 [Research in Structural Functionalism]
Sahlins, Marshall, 1930- [Research in Historical and Economic Anthropology]
Sapir, Edward, 1884-1939 [The Sapir–Whorf Hypothesis]
Steward, Julian Haynes, 1902-1972 [Research in Cultural Ecology]
Tax, Sol, 1907-1995 [Research in Action Theory and Applied Anthropology]
Turner, Victor W. (Victor Witter), 1920-1983 [Research in Symbolic Anthropology]
White, Leslie A., 1900-1975 [Research in Cultural Evolution]
Also, do not forget the useful: Anthropologists — Biography
For further reading:
Little, Daniel E. “Ethnology.” In Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, edited by Robert Audi. 3rd ed. Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Urry, James. “History of anthropology.” In the Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, edited by Alan Barnard, and Jonathan Spencer. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2009.
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