History Of Anthropology Research Articles

The peculiarities of the daily life of the Russian and German military elites in the late 19th and early 20th centuries: a comparative analysis

Importance. The interest in the research topic is due to the need to study the adaptation of the military elites of Russia and Germany to the challenges of modernization at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries through the prism of their daily practices, value orientations and social composition. The goal of the study is to conduct a comparative analysis of these aspects, revealing their impact on the traditional army models’ crisis.Research Methods. The research is based on a comparative analysis of statistics, memoirs and modern works using interdisciplinary methods: comparative historical, quantitative, qualitative (content analysis, case study), institutional and socio-cultural approaches.Results and Discussion. It is shown that the Russian military elite, while retaining archaic features, suffered from social contradictions and lack of professionalism, while the German, being meritocratic, was subject to technocratic dogmatism. Leisure practices reflected key differences: status hedonism and class traditions in Russia versus discipline and professional pragmatism in Germany.Conclusion. It is emphasized that both models, despite their differences, turned out to be vulnerable: the Russian one because of its isolation from society, the German one because of its isolation on narrow professional tasks. The study contributes to military historical anthropology and the theory of elites by offering a model for analyzing the relationship between everyday life and institutional crises.

Nature’s keepers: Working families and the economy of earthly objects

This article develops a historical anthropology of craftspeople in the sciences through the story of the family Wunder, who for three generations (from 1771 to 1832) ran a prolific trade in rare plants and large mammal fossils from their workshop in the mountains of Upper Franconia. Studies of scientific homes and families have had an extraordinary impact on the history of science, showing how experiments and museums were so housed as to model highly exclusive scientific publics, and how projects of inquiry were shared among spouses, children, and servants. But this literature has rarely stepped outside of elite, urban homes and country estates. Doing so demonstrates how material flows conventionally oriented around metropolitan institutions could hinge on the spatial logistics of post roads, highland footpaths, inns and taverns – and the families who minded them. Viewed from the village, new university and museum institutions rose in reciprocal action with rural projects, otherwise excluded from the story of a liberal-bourgeois public sphere and the emergence of the modern natural sciences ( Naturwissenschaften ). I argue further for a thick description of science among craftspeople and peasants, suggesting nature’s keepers as a useful social category for actors involved in the everyday production of the economies and spatial logistics of natural inquiry. Across Central and Alpine Europe, inns, workshops, and country lanes composed a substructure of scientific life that materially shaped natural history and its theoretical horizons in “deep time,” directing the movements of earthly objects and educated travelers.

Transportation of Rostov Region Residents to Forced Labor in the Third Reich in 1942–1943: Traumatic Experience and Survival Methods of “Eastern Workers”

Introduction. Transportation to forced labor is a special stage of a kind of “initiation” of Soviet citizens into slaves of the Third Reich, “Untermenschen,” associated with violent separation from their home, relatives, and established way of life, with a one-time transition to a destructive situation of loss of personal freedom, humiliation of human dignity, and physical and psychological exhaustion. Methods and materials. The author relied on the approaches of historical anthropology, historical psychology, and the history of everyday life. The source base of the study was formed by the documents of the Rostov Regional Commission for the Accounting of Damage and Atrocities Inflicted by the Nazi Occupiers on Institutions, Enterprises, and Citizens of Rostov and the Rostov region and the memories of natives of the Don who survived Nazi slavery. Analysis. The article describes the key stages of organizing the transportation of “Eastern workers”: from collections in the region to the distribution point in the Third Reich. The first psychological shock was caused by the forced separation from home and relatives, which “Eastern workers” experienced during the departure from the collection points of the cities and districts of the region. During transportation, people entered the stage of psycho-emotional overload associated with both psychophysiological stressors (hunger, lack of sleep, pain) and with the experience of aggression and violence, humiliation of personal dignity, perception of their own and others’ suffering, death of other people, group isolation, and uncertainty of the future. The article also reflects forms of resistance through escapes during stops at stations and the possibility of rescue by partisans during combat operations. Results. The transportation of residents of the Rostov region in 1942–1943 to Nazi Germany was one of the first stages of the psychological and physiological breakdown of Soviet citizens by the Nazis, who were destined to become “slaves” of the Third Reich.

Histories of anthropology: Interactions between centers and peripheries in the making of anthropological discourses Edited by GabriellaD'Agostino and VincenzoMatera. 2nd ed. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025. 676 pp.

Histories of anthropology: Interactions between centers and peripheries in the making of anthropological discourses Edited by GabriellaD'Agostino and VincenzoMatera. 2nd ed. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2025. 676 pp.

Anthropological Meaning of an Event in Fundamental Ontology M. Heidegger: Historical and Philosophical Analysis

Aim. Disclosure of the existential meaning of being as a unique event of human existence in the fundamental ontology of M. Heidegger as a result of the historical and philosophical analysis of his creative heritage.Methodology. Methods of dialectical and hermeneutic research are used in conjunction with comparative and historical-philosophical analysis of the non-classical specificity of the philosophical foundations of M. Heidegger’s fundamental ontology. Results. The fundamental principle of the existence of being in its anthropological implementation is the event (Ereignis), understood as a deep dimension of time, which in each of its moments manifests itself in the form of being-here or Dasein. The unique specificity of the phenomenon of man is fundamentally manifested through the temporality of his existence as the basis of his own authenticity acquired through it in a non-identical form of self-determination, thus allowing him to join the eternally fulfilling being. In this regard, a distinction is made between the classical understanding in the history of philosophy of being as Sein and the non-classical as Seyn, designated within the framework of the conceptual position in fundamental ontology by M. Heidegger as “being”, which is present, personifying an infinite number of various events fulfilled in interconnection with each other. The metaphysically static construction of the understanding of being as capital manifests itself in the form of a position that is overcome through an existential rethinking of the phenomenon of man and his figuratively idealized “I” as a receptacle of event-formed accomplishments in the form of being-here. Thus, an event, as a clearing of being, is declared to be the source of unlimited human freedom, which is built from his acceptance of his own mortality as a fundamental condition for the uniqueness of the emergence and acquisition of existential value of a meaningfully constructed self in the process of its boundless individuation.Research implications. The results of the study can be used as an expanded idea of the existential content of the human phenomenon and its various relationships with being for further in-depth theoretical understanding of the previously unexplored horizons of its unique self-actualization. In particular, the identified research results can contribute to the improvement of theoretical knowledge in the field of history of philosophy, ontology and anthropology, as well as their applied use in the field of existential psychotherapy.

Historical anthropology of Shahsun nomads of Iran

Nomads are a group whose axis of social communication is organized based on relative, causal, real, or ideal kinship. Shahsun lived in parts of northwestern Iran, especially Mughan and Ardabil. Shahsuns are one of the most important and famous nomads of Eastern Azerbaijan province and have a long history. Shahsun nomads have special customs and traditions. Their life is mostly based on the animal husbandry economy, and agricultural activities are at the next stage of importance. They had special local clothes such as Petawa and Charuq, which are indicators of Ilat Shahsun's clothing. Among the special arts of Shahsun, I can mention handicrafts, the most important of which is Varnish weaving, as well as music and the use of various instruments such as Reeds, Tutak, Tar, and Garman, which are popular among these nomads. They live in the region of The beauty of Arsbaran is that in their way of accommodation, it is possible to mention the use of pavilions, Kome, and Chatma. Apart from field research and objective observations and experiences, the present article is an analytical study and review of texts and documents related to the history of Shahsuns. This research is based on the opinion of the French anthropologist Marcel Moss, who believes in the in-depth research method, that is deep observation and study about a limited community like nomads. What is followed in this research is to investigate and analyze the culture, beliefs, religious practices, and social behavioral patterns of the Shahsun nomads.

Русские солидаристы в Австралии в условиях обострения международной напряженности в годы Корейской войны (1950–1953)

The article is devoted to the political activities of Russian emigrants in Australia during the Cold War. The author focuses on the history of the Australian Department of the National Labor Union (NTU) during the sharp escalation of international tensions associated with the Korean War of 1950–1953. The source material for the article is the archives of the USA and Germany, primarily ego documents. The methodological basis of the study approaches characteristics of historical anthropology. The author proves that Australia's remoteness from the main "front" of the Cold War, which was in Europe, left a strong imprint on the activities of anti-communist groups on the Green Continent.

“Lev Ha’ir” Mahane Yehuda and Nahlaot: A Kurdish Neighborhood in the Heart of the City Jerusalem

Jerusalem stands as one of the oldest cities in the world and is revered as one of humanity’s most sacred urban centers throughout history. The city exemplifies a distinctive religious, cultural, and social mosaic. It has maintained its status as a holy center for Judaism for approximately 3,000 years, for Christianity for around 2,000 years, and for Islam for about 1,400 years. Throughout its extensive history, Jerusalem has experienced numerous conflicts and reconstruction efforts, reflecting the complex interplay of diverse sacred sites associated with these religions. The Old City of Jerusalem, characterized by its narrow streets and rich historical fabric, is organized into four primary districts: the Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Armenian quarters. In the mid-19th century, the city’s medieval appearance, enclosed by walls, began to transform with the establishment of new neighborhoods outside the walls, largely driven by Jewish immigration from various regions of the world. This study focuses on two of the most well-known neighborhoods: Mahane Yehuda and Nahlaot. These areas were established by Kurdish Jews who migrated from Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and Syria and settled in Jerusalem. Known as Lev Ha’ir, meaning “The Heart of the City,” these neighborhoods have become cultural, historical, and social hubs for the Kurdish Jewish community. During my fieldwork between 2011 and 2012, I visited these neighborhoods and conducted interviews with residents living there. This study aims to explore the narratives surrounding the establishment of these neighborhoods, the positionality and role of Kurdish Jews within them, and the significance of these areas for Jewish identity in the historical context of Israel and the broader narrative of the city of Jerusalem. In this context, the study is expected to make a contribution to the historical anthropology literature.

Anthropology of peasant protest during the years of “revolutionary turning point”

Based on a wide range of published sources and archival materials, including documents of official record management, newspaper reports and chronicles, a historical and anthropological analysis of the generational factor during the period of the phenomenal peasant protest of the “revolutionary turning point” has been pre-sented. Generational methodology made it possible to conduct historical and anthropological research conside-ring the generational structure of Russian and Soviet society in the first third of the 20th century. The new fore-shortening of this research is aimed at identifying conflicts in the legal consciousness of the peasantry in condi-tions of revolutionary turbulence. Determining the role of children, adolescents and rural youth in various forms of peasant protest made it possible to combine thematic issues of peasant studies, gender studies and historical anthropology. The relationship between the emotional state of the peasantry, generational ties in the village, and the role of the community in organizing the participation of children, adolescents and youth in various forms of protest has been revealed in the context of the tradition of peasant protest in Russia. The article emphasizes that, despite the innovations of revolutionary times, the importance of the community in the “protest” solution of prob-lematic relationships “village — government” remained decisive, and the peasant protest preserved the traditional goals of rural residents — the desire for truth and justice. Specific examples demonstrate the relevance of the proposed historical and anthropological typology of the peasant protests: non-violent protest, local rebellion, and peasant revolution.

Editorial

The late Metropolitan of Pergamon, John Zizioulas (1931–2023), is widely regarded as one of the most influential theologians and thinkers of the 20th century. The originality and creativity of his thought have attracted significant attention, resulting in numerous articles, essays, and academic theses worldwide. His major monographs, including his posthumous magnum opus, Remembering the Future: Towards an Eschatological Ontology, have already been translated into several languages. Through his academic work and ecclesiastical service, Zizioulas has shaped the agenda of not only contemporary Orthodox theology, but Christian theology as a whole. Studying any aspect of Orthodox theology today—whether it be hermeneutics, philosophical theology, ecclesiology, dogmatics, ecumenism, the history of theology, anthropology, political theology, ecotheology, or gender issues—very often involves referencing his work to be complete. In light of this, the John Zizioulas Foundation, in cooperation with St. Sebastian Orthodox Press (Los Angeles, California) and the Volos Academy for Theological Studies (Volos, Greece), has decided to launch a journal dedicated to an in-depth and scholarly study of Zizioulas’ theology.

A Glimpse of Historical Anthropology: Take the Representatives of David Ke, Zheng Zhenman and Zhao Shiyu as an Example

This paper takes the four works of David Ke, Zheng Zhenman, and Zhao Shiyu and discusses the research ideas, subjects, and methods of historical anthropology. Through the micro-level analysis of clan research, it reveals the evolution of local social history and context. David's Emperor and Ancestors discusses the formation, development, and decline of clans in South China, emphasizing the role of clans as production control organizations; Zheng Zhenman's Fujian Family Organization and Social Changes in the Ming and Qing Dynasties analyzes the evolution of family structure, clan organization, and their social networks, and Zhao Shiyu's Carnival and Small History explores the historical changes of North China society from the perspective of local ritual traditions and temple fairs. This paper aims to understand social history from the perspective of historical anthropology through clan research and to reflect on its research paradigm.

Rostros de Oceanía en el Museo de La Plata: itinerarios de una colección

El moldeado y vaciado de rostros, manos y pies formó parte de las diversas estrategias de conocimiento de los antropólogos desde el siglo XIX. Este estudio se centra en una colección de máscaras faciales obtenidas por el antropólogo alemán Otto Finsch a partir de sujetos vivos de pueblos nativos de Oceanía y conservadas en el Museo de La Plata, Argentina. Analizamos los materiales, archivos y catálogos; también, testimonios orales de trabajadores del museo que estuvieron en contacto con esta colección. En primer lugar, revisamos cómo surgieron estas máscaras, cómo fueron adquiridas por este museo, cómo fueron exhibidas y qué sucedió con ellas después de que fueron retiradas de la exposición. En segundo lugar, comentamos algunos puntos de discusión en torno a esta colección partiendo del supuesto de que estos materiales representan un patrimonio científico que no sólo da cuenta de la historia de la antropología y el contexto en el que se constituyó, sino que también es factible de ser reactivado en nuevas narrativas.

Untold Stories in the History of Anthropology: Japan, Colonialism, Anglophone Hegemony, and World Anthropologies

In what Tomas Gerholm called the “world system of anthropology,” dominated by the United States, Great Britain, and France, the history of anthropology outside these central countries is rarely told. Japan is no exception, despite having one of the largest anthropological associations in the world in terms of membership. To fill this gap in knowledge, this article first describes the development of Japanese anthropology, with particular attention to its origins in the late nineteenth century, when the Ainu were a major object of study, and to Japan’s colonial past in later periods. The relationship between anthropology and folklore studies is also discussed. The article then explains why Japan has been relegated to the periphery in terms of the power imbalance in the academic world system. Japan is not alone in this regard, and the attempt by many concerned people to redress the imbalance has recently led to the “world anthropologies” project. After examining how this project has evolved, the article offers some practical suggestions for its implementation.

Managing the “Hypersexual and “Primitive” Sexual Instinct

Highlighting the “difference” or “aberration” of indigenous communities was central to the construction of their “uncivilized” status in British colonial India. Existing scholarship on indigeneity in modern South Asia has highlighted how elite opinion, whether it be colonial or Indian, emphasized the “strangeness” of the lifestyles of the indigenous communities. Scholarship on gender, sexuality, and indigeneity has noted how any sexual or marital practice that deviated from the norms of upper-caste Hindu heteronormative patriarchy was deemed “uncivilized,” reinforcing the “savagery” of the indigenous. In this article, I deconstruct the process of the sexual pathologization of indigenous communities in colonial India and argue that the field of sexology played a seminal role in this process as it endowed it with a sense of scientific objectivity and legitimacy. I demonstrate how the British sexologist Havelock Ellis focused on the alleged hypersexuality and seasonal nature of the sexual response among specific indigenous communities, namely the Andamanese and the Hos, in his monumental work, Studies in the Psychology of Sex. I also show that such a pathologized view of indigenous sexuality was not only the mainstay of colonial sexology but also informed the work of elite Indian sexologists such as A. P. Pillay, as well as the writings of the anthropologist Verrier Elwin. Thus, the specter of sexually aberrant indigeneity first cast by colonial sexology left a lasting legacy in the sexological and anthropological history of modern India.

Introduction

This article examines the origins and history of forensic anthropology. It pays particularly close attention to trends and developments in the discipline during the approximately 50-year period from the founding of the Anthropology Section of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS) in 1972 to the present. It highlights how narratives of the founding and expansion of North American forensic anthropology should be extended to include more notable foreign anatomists and anthropologists as well as theorists and practitioners of color. It explores how relationships between academic institutions and museums, such as the Smithsonian, led to partnerships with law enforcement agencies and more widespread professionalization, which continues to this day. Concerns surrounding professionalization contributed to the founding of the AAFS Anthropology Section and the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. This article considers the Anthropology Section’s founding and purpose and how the section has changed over time. It also discusses the expansion of educational programs and training, taphonomic research facilities, anthropological work in medical examiner’s and coroner’s offices, and military, mass fatality, humanitarian, and human rights work in forensic anthropology. The article concludes by reflecting on the impact of the Daubert ruling and whether it has appreciably affected and altered forensic anthropology in the United States.

Sebelum Islam:Evolusi Sosial dan Budaya Arab dibawah Pengaruh Romawi dan Persia

This research examines the social and cultural evolution of pre-Islamic Arab society through an in-depth analysis of the influence of the Roman and Persian Empires. The main focus of this research is to explore the structural changes that occurred in Arab society before the emergence of Islam, by considering the complex dynamics of interethnic interactions, trade systems, and cultural practices. This research uses an interdisciplinary approach that combines the perspectives of archaeology, historical anthropology, and geopolitical studies to reveal complex mechanisms of social change. The research results show that pre-Islamic Arab society had a very dynamic and adaptive social structure. The initially rigid tribal system experienced significant changes due to interactions with large empires, economic exchange, and the process of cultural acculturation. This study confirms that the pre-Islamic period was not just a transitional period, but was an important phase in the formation of the social and cultural identity of Arab society. The findings of this research provide a significant contribution to understanding the complexity of the history of the Arab region, as well as dismantling conventional narratives that tend to simplify the social dynamics of that period.

Goose-Fashion or Troika Harnessing: Features of the Road Tradition of Russia in the 19th Century

The circumstances of road travel in the Russian Empire (road daily life, road culture, traditional culture of travelling, road tradition of Russia) have started to be studied by historians and other specialists only recently. This scholarly direction is at the intersection of the history of everyday life with historical anthropology and ethnography. It is of considerable importance because it makes it possible to better understand how road traffic was organized in pre-revolutionary Russia, the largest state in the world, and what difficulties it was associated with. This topic can be studied using a variety of narrative sources (primarily, memoirs) and interpreting fiction texts that were created with a focus on authenticity (for example, based on childhood memories). This paper focuses on the opposition of two ways to harness horses to a carriage in Russia in the nineteenth century, both in winter and in summer (troika vs. goose-fashion). The author draws on historical sources related to the Russian North (including Vyatka Province), the Urals, Siberia, and other regions. The analysis traces the correlation between the methods of harnessing horses and the seasonal and climatic conditions of daily life. The author highlights the importance of a lot of equipped roads for the formation of a sustainable road tradition. Also, an explanation is offered as to when and for what reasons one or another harnessing option was preferred. All these data help make a conclusion about how the specific features of the historical and cultural tradition (in this case, the road tradition of Russia) are formed.

Composite Portrait as a Method in Biological and Historical Anthropology

Galton’s method of composite portraiture is based on obtaining an integral image of a group based on images of individuals. Composite portrait and anthropological photography complement of standard descriptive and measurement techniques in ethnic anthropology. Anthropological photography and composite portraiture developed in Russia by objectifying of methods and obtaining photographical quantitatives. Currently, the method presented in the digital program allows one to obtain as increased clarity portraits and in the classical Galton’s technique, method has been verified and actively used in anthropological practice. In composites, the number of initial images and homogeneity of the group are essential of the final visual information and its biological interpretation. In the complete absence of typological of the sample unity, the portrait turns out to be “unreadable”. A composite portrait allows us to characterize: intra- and intergroup morphological variability, homogeneity of the sample, anthropological type, age, sex, ethnoterritorial and chronological variability, what is important in comparative studies using historical photography. The independence of the method from the imaging technique allows us to obtain a generalized anthropological description of ancient populations based on pictorial sources, which is relevant in the context of historical anthropology. Using the composite portrait and cephaloscopic description, significant results were achieved in the anthropological study of Russian portraiture of the 18th–19th centuries, Western European portraits of the 16th–17th centuries, and pictorial sources of the ancient Mediterranean. Museum collections with extensive iconographic materials on the anthropo- socio-cultural diversity of humanity can be studied with the composite portrait, a scientific tool for visualizing the anthropological appearance of ancient and modern populations.

Ernesto de Martino and His Circulation: When a Ferrari for Making Theory Travel Is Not Enough

Abstract: This article surveys and discusses the international circulation of theory by Italian ethnologist Ernesto de Martino (1908–1965), a leading figure in the history of Italian anthropology and folkloristics. Although there are some translations of his works in different languages, and he has been the subject of three intellectual biographies in English and French (Ferrari 2012; Charuty 2009; Geissheusler 2021), de Martino’s thinking has not received due recognition outside of Italy. De Martino himself was a cosmopolitan scholar who read widely in several languages and across many disciplines. His work began to circulate abroad as early as the 1960s, mainly in France (Fabre 1997, 1999), but his first real entry into English-speaking anthropology only took place in the 1980s (Saunders 1984). From the author’s position as a translator of de Martino’s works (de Martino 2005, 2015a, 2023), and thus an agent in making him travel, this paper will consider various reasons for this lack of attention. Some are internal to de Martino’s work, but others are related to the academic political economy of anthropology. The author argues, however, that the present moment is propitious for finally seeing an international impact of de Martino’s thought, in anthropology as well as in other disciplines.

Religion in the Roman Empire

Religion in the Roman Empire (RRE) aims to advance and document new and integrative perspectives on religion in the ancient world, combining multidisciplinary methodologies. Committed to interdisciplinarity and new approaches to the study of religion, it offers a space to take up recent, but still incipient, research to modify and cross the disciplinary boundaries of the History of Religion, Archaeology, Anthropology, Classics, Ancient History, Jewish History, Rabbinics, New Testament, Early Christianity, Patristics, Coptic Studies, Gnostic and Manichean Studies, Late Antiquity and Oriental Languages. We hope to stimulate the development of new approaches that can encompass the local and global trajectories of the multi-dimensional pluralistic religions of antiquity.