topics for cultural anthropology essay

100 Anthropology Essay Topics

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Anthropology Essay Topics: A Comprehensive Guide

Essay writing is pivotal in every student’s academic journey. In particular, anthropology students will encounter numerous essays throughout their educational journey. It’s essential to master the art of crafting outstanding essays to secure top grades. Contrary to common misconceptions, essay writing isn’t confined to language or linguistics courses. Every discipline, including anthropology, demands this skill. Thus, students must refine their essay writing abilities to produce stellar content.

Selecting the Ideal Anthropology Essay Topic

The essence of an exceptional anthropology essay often lies in the topic chosen. Selecting a broad topic might overwhelm you, preventing you from addressing it thoroughly. Conversely, an overly narrow topic might lack adequate content, making it challenging to meet word count requirements. The ideal topic should be of personal interest and fall between these extremes.

Anthropology Essay Topics to Consider

At times, professors might provide topics. But often, the onus is on students to choose. To aid in this selection, here’s a list of ten anthropology essay topics:

• Anthropology’s role in forensic science
• Varied marriage customs across global cultures
• Human evolution traced through time
• Native American cultures and anthropology
• Literature’s contribution to human evolution
• The increasing threat of terrorism
• Anthropology’s influence on art
• Supernatural beliefs across different cultures
• The effect of social media on global cultures
• The interplay between anthropology and genetic engineering

Cultural Anthropology Essay Topics

Delving deeper into cultural anthropology, here are ten more topic suggestions:

• Defining ‘culture’ across societies
• Supernatural beliefs and their cultural implications
• Diverse cultural perceptions of death
• Rituals associated with death globally
• Marriage customs across various cultures
• Societal hierarchies and caste systems
• The pivotal role of ancestors in culture
• Unique clothing designs across the world
• Body modification views in different cultures
• A deep dive into ancient Roman culture

Evolution-centric Anthropology Essay Topics

For those interested in evolution, consider these topics:

• The development of human intelligence
• The fascinating evolution of the human eye
• Sexual selection among humans
• An exploration of the Red Queen hypothesis
• Comparing human brains to other species
• Chromosomal evolution in plants
• Bird evolution mysteries
• Climate change and its evolutionary repercussions
• The earliest known life forms on Earth
• Natural selection in the animal kingdom

Ritual-based Anthropology Essay Topics

Rituals form the backbone of many cultures. Delve into these topics:

• The essence of ritual efficacy
• The intersection of magic and science
• The linkage between myths and rites
• Global variations in marriage rituals
• Childbirth rituals across cultures
• Death ceremonies worldwide
• The historical evolution of rituals
• The societal significance of rituals
• The intricate web of myths, rituals, and religion
• The interrelation of rituals, myths, and faith across societies

Physical Anthropology Topics:

• The mystery of Neanderthals and their relationship with modern humans.
• Human bipedalism: Why did we start walking on two legs?
• The role of nutrition in human evolution.
• Cranial capacity and its relation to intelligence.
• The significance of lactose tolerance in human evolution.

Cultural Anthropology Topics:

• Indigenous communities and their relationship with the modern world.
• Cultural adaptations to extreme environments.
• Tattoos and body piercings: Cultural significance and global variations.
• The cultural impact of globalization.
• Migration and its effect on cultural identity.

Medical Anthropology Topics:

• Traditional medicine vs. Western medicine.
• The cultural basis of certain illnesses.
• Global health issues and cultural perceptions.
• The role of rituals in healing.
• Mental health awareness in various cultures.

Linguistic Anthropology Topics:

• The dying languages of indigenous tribes.
• The role of language in shaping thought.
• Bilingualism and its effects on cognitive functions.
• The evolution of slang and colloquialisms.
• The cultural implications of language loss.

Archaeological Topics:

• The significance of the Dead Sea Scrolls.
• Unearthing ancient civilizations: Lessons from Pompeii.
• The mysteries of the Egyptian pyramids.
• Megalithic structures around the world.
• The societal structure of the Indus Valley Civilization.

Religious Anthropology Topics:

• The origins of world religions.
• Shamanism across different cultures.
• Religious rites and their social implications.
• The anthropology of atheism.
• Comparative study of creation myths.

Gender and Sexuality Topics:

• Gender roles in matrilineal societies.
• The third gender in various cultures.
• Cultural perceptions of homosexuality.
• Transgenderism across history.
• The social construction of femininity.

Economic Anthropology Topics:

• The cultural basis of consumerism.
• Barter systems and their societal implications.
• The anthropological study of modern-day capitalism.
• The rise and fall of ancient economies.
• Gift economies and their societal significance.

Political Anthropology Topics:

• The rise of nation-states.
• Ancient political structures and their relevance today.
• The role of leaders in tribal communities.
• The anthropology of revolutions.
• The cultural basis of political ideologies.

Technological Anthropology Topics:

• The impact of the Internet on societal structures.
• Mobile phones and their influence on culture.
• The anthropological perspective on AI.
• Social media and its role in shaping modern identities.
• Technology adoption rates across various cultures.

Environmental Anthropology Topics:

• Indigenous knowledge and environmental conservation.
• Cultural adaptation to climate change.
• Rituals related to agriculture and harvesting.
• The anthropological study of urban landscapes.
• Human-animal relationships in different societies.

Art and Anthropology Topics:

• Indigenous art forms and their significance.
• The evolution of music across cultures.
• Dance forms and their cultural roots.
• The anthropology of film and cinema.
• The cultural implications of fashion and clothing.

Migration and Diaspora Topics:

• The anthropology of refugee communities.
• Cultural assimilation vs. preservation in immigrant communities.
• The impact of remittances on home communities.
• The evolution of diaspora identities.
• The role of food in migrant communities.

Kinship and Family Topics:

• The evolution of the nuclear family.
• Kinship structures in patrilineal societies.
• The role of elders in family structures.
• Marriage customs and their evolution.
• The anthropology of adoption.

Unique Anthropology Essay Ideas

For those seeking distinctiveness, here are some unique topics:

• Gift-giving customs in diverse societies
• Global agricultural practices
• The practice of polygamy across cultures
• The rich tapestry of folklore
• Traditional healing across cultures
• Gender roles in various societies
• Religious convictions and customs
• Clothing preferences and designs across cultures
• Societal social networks

Students aim for top grades in pursuit of academic excellence. However, various challenges might hinder this quest. That’s where our institution can assist, from topic selection to complete essay writing. Reach out today, and let us guide you through your anthropology essay journey.

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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!

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Cultural Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Writing an anthropology research paper? This list of cultural 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 cultural anthropology. Browse other  anthropology research paper topics  for more inspiration.

200+ Cultural Anthropology Research Paper Topics

Aborigines Agricultural revolution Aleuts Algonguians Altamira cave Anasazi Anthropology of war Aotearoa (New Zealand) Ape culture Argentina Asante Asia Athabascan Australia Australian aborigines Aymara Balkans Baluchistan Berdache Brazil Bride price Cannibalism Caribs Caste system Celtic Europe Chachapoya Indians Chants Characteristics of culture Childhood Childhood studies Clans Class societies Collectors Complex Societies Configurationalism Copper Age Cross-cultural research Cuba Cults Cultural adaptation Cultural conservation Cultural constraints Cultural convergence Cultural ecology Cultural relativism Cultural traits Cultural tree of life Culture Culture and personality Culture area concept Culture change Culture of poverty Culture shock Cyberculture Darkness in El Dorado controversy Diffusionism Division of labor Dowry Egalitarian societies El Ceren Elders Emics Endogamy Eskimo acculturation Eskimos Ethnocentrism Ethnographer Ethnographic fieldwork Ethnographic writing Ethnography Ethnohistory Ethnology Etics Eudyspluria Exogamy Extended family Feasts and Festivals Feuding Fiji Folk culture Folk speech Folk speech Folkways Forms of family French structuralism Functionalism Gangs Genocide Gerontology Globalization Great Wall of China Guarani Nandeva Indians Gypsies Haidas Haiti Hinduism History of Anthropology Homosexuality Hopi Indians Horticulture Hottentots Huari [Wari] Human competition and stress Human life cycle Ik Indonesia Informants Inoku Village Intelligence Intensive agriculture Inuit IQ tests Iron Age Iroquois Irrigation Israel Jewelry Jews Kibbutz Kinship and descent Kinship terminology Koba Kula ring Kulturkreise !Kung Bushmen Kwakiutls Labor Language and culture Lapps Lascaux cave Maasai Mana Manioc beer Ma-ori Marquesas Marriage Matriarchy Mbuti Pygmies Memes Mexico Miami Indians Migrations Modal personality Mongolia Monogamy Mores Multiculturalism Mundugamor Music Native Peoples of Central and South America Native Peoples of the Great Plains Native Peoples of the United States Navajo Nomads Northern Iroquoian Nations Nuclear family Objectivity in ethnography Ojibwa Oldowan culture Olmecs Omaha Indians Onas Oral literature Orality and anthropology Ornamentation Pacific rim Pacific seafaring Panama Patriarchy Peasants People’s Republic of China and Taiwan Peyote rituals Plant cultivatiion Political organizations Political science Polyandry Polygamy Polygyny Polynesians Population explosion Potlatch Qing, the Last Dynasty of China Quechua Rank and status Rank Societies Rarotonga Rites of passage Role and status Sambungmachan Samburu Samoa San Bushmen Sardinia Sartono Secret societies Segmentary lineage systems Sex identity Sex roles Sexual harassment Sexuality Siberia Simulacra Slash-and-burn agriculture Slavery Social structures Sociobiology Stereotypes Structuralism Subcultures Sudanese society Symboling Tahiti Taj Mahal Tasmania Technology Textiles and clothing Tierra del Fuego Tikopia Tlingit Tlingit culture Tonga Transcultural psychiatry Travel Ubirr Untouchables Urban legends Vanishing cultures Venezuela Venus of Willendorf Verification in ethnography Villages Work and skills Yabarana Indians Yaganes Yanomamo Zande Zapotecs Zulu Zuni Indians

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Cultural anthropology is one of the four subdisciplines of anthropology. The other subdisciplines include biological anthropology, archaeology, and linguistic anthropology. Some anthropologists include a fifth subdiscipline, applied anthropology, although other anthropologists see applied anthropology as an approach that crosscuts traditional subdisciplinary boundaries rather than as a subdiscipline itself. In the United States, the subfields tend to be unified: Departments of anthropology include all of the sub-fields within their academic structures. In Europe, however, subdisciplines often reside in different academic departments. These differences between American and European anthropology are due more to historical than philosophical differences in how the discipline developed.

The central organizing concept of cultural anthropology is culture, which is ironic given that culture is largely an abstraction that is difficult to measure and even more difficult to define, given the high number of different definitions of the concept that populate anthropology textbooks. Despite over a century of anthropology, the most commonly used definition of anthropology is Edward Burnett Tylor’s, who in 1871 defined culture as “that complex whole that includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by [humans] as members of a society.”

Tylor’s definition is resonant with contemporary anthropologists because it points to some important, universally agreed-upon aspects of culture, even though it does not satisfactorily define what culture is. Teachers of cultural anthropology often cite culture as a constellation of features that work together to guide the thoughts and behaviors of individuals and groups of humans. Aspects of culture often seen in introductory classes include: (1) Culture is commonly shared by a population or group of individuals; (2) cultural patterns of behavior are learned, acquired, and internalized during childhood; (3) culture is generally adaptive, enhancing survival and promoting successful reproduction; and (4) culture is integrated, meaning that the traits that make up a particular cultural are internally consistent with one another.

Nevertheless, anthropologists differ greatly in how they might refine their own definition of the culture concept. Anthropologists also differ in how they approach the study of culture. Some anthropologists begin with the observation that since culture is an abstraction that exists only in the minds of people in a particular society, which we cannot directly observe, culture must be studied through human behavior, which we can observe. Such an approach is often termed an objective, empiricist, or scientific approach and sometimes called an etic perspective. By etic, anthropologists mean that our understanding of culture is based upon the perspective of the observer, not those who are actually being studied.

Other anthropologists, while recognizing that culture is an abstraction and is difficult to measure, nevertheless hold that a worthy goal of anthropologists is to understand the structure of ideas and meanings as they exist in the minds of members of a particular culture. Such an approach is often labeled subjective, rationalist, or humanistic, and sometimes called an emic approach. By emic, anthropologists mean that the central goal of the anthropologist is to understand how culture is lived and experienced by its members.

Although these two approaches have quite different emphases, cultural anthropologists have traditionally recognized the importance of both styles of investigation as critical to the study of culture, although most anthropologists work only within one style.

How Cultural Anthropology Differs From Sociology

In many colleges and universities in the United States, sociology and anthropology are included under the same umbrella and exist as joint departments. This union is not without justification, as cultural anthropology and sociology share a similar theoretical and philosophical ancestry. In what ways is cultural anthropology different?

Cultural anthropology is unique because its history as a discipline lies in a focus on exploration of the “Other.” That is, the anthropologists of the 19th century took a keen interest in the lives and customs of people not descended from Europeans. The first anthropologists, E. B. Tylor and Sir James Frazer among them, relied mostly on the reports of explorers, missionaries, traders, and colonial officials and are commonly known as “armchair anthropologists.” It was not long, however, before travel around the globe to directly engage in the investigation of other human societies became the norm. The development of cultural anthropology is directly tied to the colonial era of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The late 19th century was an era in which evolutionary theory dominated the nascent social sciences. The armchair anthropologists of the period were not immune from the dominant paradigm, and even scholars like Lewis Henry Morgan, who worked extensively and directly with American Indians, developed complicated typologies of cultural evolution, grading known cultures according to their technological accomplishments and the sophistication of their material culture. As is to be expected, Europeans were invariably civilized, with others categorized as being somewhat or extremely primitive in comparison. It was only as anthropologists began to investigate the presumably primitive societies that were known only through hearsay or incomplete reports that it was realized that such typologies were wildly inaccurate.

In the United States, the development of anthropology as a field-based discipline was driven largely by westward expansion. An important part of westward expansion was the pacification and extermination of the indigenous Native American cultures that once dominated the continent. By the late 1870s, the Bureau of American Ethnology was sponsoring trips by trained scholars, charged with recording the life-ways of American Indian tribes that were believed to be on the verge of extinction. This “salvage ethnology” formed the basis of American anthropology and led to important works such as James Mooney’s Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890, published in 1896, and Edward Nelson’s The Eskimo about Bering Strait, published in 1899.

In Britain, some of the earliest investigations of aboriginal peoples were conducted by W. H. R. Rivers, C. G. Seligmann, Alfred Haddon, and John Meyers, members of the 1898 expedition to the Torres Straits. The expedition was a voyage of exploration on behalf of the British government, and for the anthropologists it was an opportunity to document the lives of the indigenous peoples of the region. This work later inspired Rivers to return to the Torres Straits in 1901 to 1902 to conduct more extensive fieldwork with the Toda. By the 1920s, scientific expeditions to remote corners of the world to document the cultures of the inhabitants, geology, and ecology of the region were commonplace. Many of these expeditions, such as the Steffansson-Anderson Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913 to 1918, have since proven invaluable, as they recorded the cultures of people only recently in con-tact with the European societies that would forever alter them.

Cultural anthropology, therefore, has its roots as a colonial enterprise, one of specializing in the study of small-scale, simple, “primitive” societies. This is, however, not an accurate description of contemporary cultural anthropology. Many anthropologists today work within complex societies. But the anthropology of complex societies is still much different than sociology. The history of working within small-scale, isolated cultural settings also led to the development of a particular methodology that is unique to cultural anthropology.

The fieldwork experiences of anthropologists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were critical for the development of anthropology as a rigorous, scientific discipline. How does an outsider accurately describe cultural practices and an understanding of the significance of those practices for members of the culture studied? Achieving these goals meant living with and participating in the lives of the people in the study culture. It is this balance between careful observation and participation in the lives of a group of people that has become the cornerstone of modern cultural anthropology.

Called participant observation, the method is the means by which most of an anthropologist’s information about a society is obtained. Anthropologists often use other methods of data collection, but participant observation is the sole means by which anthropologists can generate both emic and etic understandings of a culture.

There are, however, no straightforward guidelines about how one actually goes about doing participant observation. Cultural settings, personal idiosyncrasies, and personality characteristics all ensure that fieldwork and participant observation are unique experiences. All anthropologists agree that fieldwork is an intellectually and emotionally demanding exercise, especially considering that fieldwork traditionally lasts for a year, and often longer. Participant observation is also fraught with problems. Finding the balance between detached observation and engaged participation can be extremely difficult. How does one balance the two at the funeral of a person who is both key informant and friend, for example? For these reasons, the fieldwork experience is an intense rite of passage for anthropologists starting out in the discipline. Not surprisingly, the intense nature of the fieldwork experience has generated a large literature about the nature of fieldwork itself.

Part of the reason for lengthy fieldwork stays was due to a number of factors, including the difficulty of reaching a field site and the need to acquire competence in the local language. However, as it has become possible to travel to the remotest corners of the globe with relative ease, and as anthropologists pursue opportunities to study obscure languages increasingly taught in large universities, and as it is more difficult to secure research funding, field experiences have generally become shorter. Some anthropologists have abandoned traditional participant observation in favor of highly focused research problems and archival research, made possible especially in areas where significant “traditional” ethnographic field-work has been done.

A second research strategy that separates cultural anthropology from other disciplines is holism. Holism is the search for systematic relationships between two or more phenomena. One of the advantages of lengthy periods of fieldwork and participant observation is that the anthropologist can begin to see interrelationships between different aspects of culture. One example might be the discovery of a relationship between ecological conditions, subsistence patterns, and social organization. The holistic approach allows for the documentation of systematic relationships between these variables, thus allowing for the eventual unraveling of the importance of various relationships within the system, and, ultimately, toward an understanding of general principles and the construction of theory.

In practical terms, holism also refers to a kind of multifaceted approach to the study of culture. Anthropologists working in a specific cultural setting typically acquire information about topics not necessarily of immediate importance, or even interest, for the research project at hand. Nevertheless, anthropologists, when describing the culture they are working with, will often include discussions of culture history, linguistics, political and economic systems, settlement patterns, and religious ideology. Just as anthropologists become proficient at balancing emic and etic approaches in their work, they also become experts about a particular theoretical problem, for which the culture provides a good testing ground, and they become experts about the cultural area, having been immersed in the politics, history, and social science of the region itself.

History of Cultural Anthropology

The earliest historical roots of cultural anthropology are in the writings of Herodotus (fifth century BCE), Marco Polo (c. 1254-c. 1324), and Ibn Khaldun (1332—1406), people who traveled extensively and wrote reports about the cultures they encountered. More recent contributions come from writers of the French Enlightenment, such as eighteenth century French philosopher Charles Montesquieu (1689-1755). His book, Spirit of the Laws, published in 1748, discussed the temperament, appearance, and government of non-European people around the world. It explained differences in terms of the varying climates in which people lived.

The mid- and late nineteenth century was an important time for science in general. Influenced by Darwin’s writings about species’ evolution, three founding figures of cultural anthropology were Lewis Henry Morgan (1818-1881) in the United States, and Edward Tylor (1832-1917) and James Frazer (1854-1941) in England. The three men supported a concept of cultural evolution, or cumulative change in culture over time leading to improvement, as the explanation for cultural differences around the world. A primary distinction in cultures was between Euro-American culture (“civilization”) and non-Western peoples (“primitive”). This distinction is maintained today in how many North American museums place European art and artifacts in mainstream art museums, while the art and artifacts of non-Western peoples are placed in museums of natural history.

The cultural evolutionists generated models of progressive stages for various aspects of culture. Morgan’s model of kinship evolution proposed that early forms of kinship centered on women with inheritance passing through the female line, while more evolved forms centered on men with inheritance passing through the male line. Frazer’s model of the evolution of belief systems posited that magic, the most primitive stage, is replaced by religion in early civilizations which in turn is replaced by science in advanced civilizations. These models of cultural evolution were unilinear (following one path), simplistic, often based on little evidence, and ethnocentric in that they always placed European culture at the apex. Influenced by Darwinian thinking, the three men believed that later forms of culture are inevitably superior and that early forms either evolve into later forms or else disappear.

Most nineteenth century thinkers were “armchair anthropologists,” a nickname for scholars who learned about other cultures by reading reports of travelers, missionaries, and explorers. On the basis of readings, the armchair anthropologist wrote books that compiled findings on particular topics, such as religion. Thus, they wrote about faraway cultures without the benefit of personal experience with the people living in those cultures. Morgan stands out, in his era, for diverging from the armchair approach. Morgan spent substantial amounts of time with the Iroquois people of central New York. One of his major contributions to anthropology is the finding that “other” cultures make sense if they are understood through interaction with and direct observation of people rather than reading reports about them. This insight of Morgan’s is now a permanent part of anthropology, being firmly established by Bronislaw Malinowski (18841942).

Malinowski is generally considered the “father” of the cornerstone research method in cultural anthropology: participant observation during fieldwork. He established a theoretical approach called functionalism, the view that a culture is similar to a biological organism wherein various parts work to support the operation and maintenance of the whole. In this view a kinship system or religious system contributes to the functioning of the whole culture of which it is a part. Functionalism is linked to the concept of holism, the perspective that one must study all aspects of a culture in order to understand the whole culture.

The “Father” of Four-Field Anthropology

Another major figure of the early twentieth century is Franz Boas (1858-1942), the “father” of North American four-field anthropology. Born in Germany and educated in physics and geography, Boas came to the United States in 1887. He brought with him a skepticism toward Western science gained from a year’s study among the Innu, indigenous people of Baffin Island, Canada. He learned from that experience the important lesson that a physical substance such as “water” is perceived in different ways by people of different cultures. Boas, in contrast to the cultural evolutionists, recognized the equal value of different cultures and said that no culture is superior to any other. He introduced the concept of cultural relativism: the view that each culture must be understood in terms of the values and ideas of that culture and must not be judged by the standards of another. Boas promoted the detailed study of individual cultures within their own historical contexts, an approach called historical particularism. In Boas’s view, broad generalizations and universal statements about culture are inaccurate and invalid because they ignore the realities of individual cultures.

Boas contributed to the growth and professionalization of anthropology in North America. As a professor at Columbia University, he hired faculty and built the department. Boas trained many students who became prominent anthropologists, including Ruth Benedict and Margaret Mead. He founded several professional associations in cultural anthropology and archaeology. He supported the development of anthropology museums.

Boas was involved in public advocacy and his socially progressive philosophy embroiled him in controversy. He published articles in newspapers and popular magazines opposing the U.S. entry into World War I (1914-1918), a position for which the American Anthropological Association formally censured him as “un-American.” Boas also publicly denounced the role of anthropologists who served as spies in Mexico and Central America for the U.S. government during World War I. One of his most renowned studies, commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), was to examine the effects of the environment (in the sense of one’s location) on immigrants and their children. He and his research team measured height, weight, head size and other features of over 17,000 people and their children who had migrated to the United States. Results showed substantial differences in measurements between the older and younger generations. Boas concluded that body size and shape can change quickly in response to a new environmental context; in other words, some of people’s physical characteristics are culturally shaped rather than biologically (“racially”) determined.

Boas’ legacy to anthropology includes his development of the discipline as a four-field endeavor, his theoretical concepts of cultural relativism and historical particularism, his critique of the view that biology is destiny, his anti-racist and other advocacy writings, and his ethical stand that anthropologists should not do undercover research.

Several students of Boas, including Mead and Benedict, developed what is called the “Culture and Personality School.” Anthropologists who were part of this intellectual trend documented cultural variation in modal personality and the role of child-rearing in shaping adult personality. Both Mead and Benedict, along with several other U.S. anthropologists, made their knowledge available to the government during and following World War II (1939-1945). Benedict’s classic 1946 book, The Chrysanthemum and the Sword was influential in shaping U.S. military policies in post-war Japan and in behavior toward the Japanese people during the occupation. Mead likewise, offered advice about the cultures of the South Pacific to the U.S. military occupying the region.

The Expansion of Cultural Anthropology

In the second half of the twentieth century cultural anthropology in the United States expanded substantially in the number of trained anthropologists, departments of anthropology in colleges and universities, and students taking anthropology courses and seeking anthropology degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral level. Along with these increases came more theoretical and topical diversity.

Cultural ecology emerged during the 1960s and 1970s. Anthropologists working in this area developed theories to explain cultural similarity and variation based on environmental factors. These anthopologists said that similar environments (e.g., deserts, tropical rainforests, or mountains) would predictably lead to the emergence of similar cultures. Because this approach sought to formulate cross-cultural predictions and generalizations, it stood in clear contrast to Boasian historical particularism.

At the same time, French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss (b. 1908) developed a different theoretical perspective influenced by linguistics and called structuralism. Structuralism is an analytical method based on the belief that the best way to learn about a culture is by analyzing its myths and stories to discover the themes, or basic units of meaning, embedded in them. The themes typically are binary opposites such as life and death, dark and light, male and female. In the view of French structuralism these oppositions constitute an unconsciously understood, underlying structure of the culture itself. Levi-Strauss collected hundreds of myths from native peoples of South America as sources for learning about their cultures. He also used structural analysis in the interpretation of kinship systems and art forms such as the masks of Northwest Coast Indians. In the 1960s and 1970s French structuralism began to attract attention of anthropologists in the United States and has had a lasting influence on anthropologists of a more humanistic bent.

Descended loosely from these two contrasting theoretical perspectives—cultural ecology and French structuralism—are two important approaches in contemporary cultural anthropology. One approach, descended from cultural ecology, is cultural materialism. Cultural materialism, as defined by its leading theorist Marvin Harris (1927-2001), takes a Marxist-inspired position that understanding a culture should be pursued first by examining the material conditions in which people live: the natural environment and how people make a living within particular environments. Having established understanding of the “material” base (or infrastructure), attention may then be turned to other aspects of culture, including social organization (how people live together in groups, or structure) and ideology (people’s way of thinking and their symbols, or superstructure). One of Harris’ most famous examples of a cultural materialist approach is his analysis of the material importance of the sacred cows of Hindu India. Harris demonstrates the many material benefits of cows, from their plowing roles to the use of their dried dung as cooking fuel and their utility as street-cleaning scavengers, underlay and are ideologically supported by the religious ban on cow slaughter and protection of even old and disabled cows.

The second approach in cultural anthropology, descended from French structuralism and symbolic anthropology, is interpretive anthropology or intepretivism. This perspective, championed by Clifford Geertz (1926-2006), says that understanding culture is first and foremost about learning what people think about, their ideas, and the symbols and meanings important to them. In contrast to cultural materialism’s emphasis on economic and political factors and behavior, interpretivists focus on webs of meaning. They treat culture as a text that can only be understood from the inside of the culture, in its own terms, an approach interpretivists refer to as “experience near” anthropology, in other words, learning about a culture through the perspectives of the study population as possible. Geertz contributed the concept of “thick description” as the best way for anthropologists to present their findings; in this mode, the anthropologist serves as a medium for transferring the richness of a culture through detailed notes and other recordings with minimal analysis.

Late Twentieth and Turn of Century Growth

Starting in the 1980s, several additional theoretical perspectives and research domains emerged in cultural anthropology. Feminist anthropology arose in reaction to the lack of anthropological research on female roles. In its formative stage, feminist anthropology focused on culturally embedded discrimination against women and girls. As feminist anthropology evolved, it looked at how attention to human agency and resistance within contexts of hierarchy and discrimination sheds light on complexity and change. In a similar fashion, gay and lesbian anthropology, or “queer anthropology,” has exposed the marginalization of gay and lesbian sexuality and culture in previous anthropology research and seeks to correct that situation.

Members of other minority groups voice parallel concerns. African American anthropologists have critiqued mainstream cultural anthropology as suffering from embedded racism in the topics it studies, how it is taught to students, and its exclusion of minorities from positions of power and influence. This critique has produced recommendations about how to build a non-racist anthropology. Progress is occurring, with one notable positive change being the increase in trained anthropologists from minority groups and other excluded groups, and their rising visibility and impact on the research agenda, textbook contents, and future direction of the field.

Another important trend is increased communication among cultural anthropologists worldwide and growing awareness of the diversity of cultural anthropology in different settings. Non-Western anthropologists are contesting the dominance of Euro-American anthropology and offering new perspectives. In many cases, these anthropologists conduct native anthropology, or the study of one’s own cultural group. Their work provides useful critiques of the historically Western, white, male discipline of anthropology.

At the turn of the twenty-first century, two theoretical approaches became prominent and link together many other diverse perspectives, such as feminist anthropology, economic anthropology, and medical anthropology. The two approaches have grown from the earlier perspectives of cultural materialism and French structuralism, respectively. Both are influenced by postmodernism, an intellectual pursuit that asks whether modernity is truly progress and questions such aspects of modernism as the scientific method, urbanization, technological change, and mass communication.

The first approach is termed structurism, which is an expanded political economy framework. Structurism examines how powerful structures such as economics, politics, and media shape culture and create and maintain entrenched systems of inequality and oppression. James Scott, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Arthur Kleinman, Veena Das, and Paul Farmer are pursuing this direction of work. Many anthropologists use terms such as social suffering or structural violence to refer to the forms and effects of historically and structural embedded inequalities that cause excess illness, death, violence, and pain.

The second theoretical and research emphasis, derived to some extent from interpretivism, is on human agency, or free will, and the power of individuals to create and change culture by acting against structures. Many anthropologists avoid the apparent dichotomy in these two approaches and seek to combine a structurist framework with attention to human agency.

The Concept of Culture

Culture is the core concept in cultural anthropology, and thus it might seem likely that cultural anthropologists would agree about what it is. Consensus may have been the case in the early days of the discipline when there were far fewer anthropologists. Edward B. Tylor (1832-1917), a British anthropologist, proposed the first anthropological definition of culture in 1871. He said that “Culture, or civilization … is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Kroeber and Kluckhohn 1952, p. 81). By the 1950s, however, an effort to collect definitions of culture produced 164 different definitions. Since that time no one has tried to count the number of definitions of culture used by anthropologists.

In contemporary cultural anthropology, the theoretical positions of the cultural materialists and the interpretive anthropologists correspond to two different definitions of culture. Cultural materialist Marvin Harris defines culture as the total socially acquired life-way or life-style of a group of people, a definition that maintains the emphasis on the holism established by Tylor. In contrast, Clifford Geertz, speaking for the interpretivists, defines culture as consisting of symbols, motivations, moods, and thoughts. The interpretivist definition excludes behavior as part of culture. Again, avoiding a somewhat extreme dichotomy, it is reasonable and comprehensive to adopt a broad definition of culture as all learned and shared behavior and ideas.

Culture exists, in a general way, as something that all humans have. Some anthropologists refer to this universal concept of culture as “Culture” with a capital “C.” Culture also exists in a specific way, in referring to particular groups as distinguised by their behaviors and beliefs. Culture in the specific sense refers to “a culture” such as the Maasai, the Maya, or middle-class white Americans. In the specific sense culture is variable and changing. Sometimes the terms “microculture” or local culture are used to refer to specific cultures. Microcultures may include ethnic groups, indigenous peoples, genders, age categories, and more. At a larger scale exist regional or even global cultures such as Western-style consumer culture that now exists in many parts of the world.

Characteristics of Culture

Since it is difficult to settle on a neat and tidy definition of culture, some anthropologists find it more useful to discuss the characteristics of culture and what makes it a special adaptation on which humans rely so heavily.

Culture is based on symbols

A symbol is something that stands for something else. Most symbols are arbitrary, that is, they bear no necessary relationship to that which is symbolized. Therefore, they are cross-culturally variable and unpredictable. For example, although one might guess that all cultures might have an expression for hunger that involves the stomach, no one could predict that in Hindi, the language of northern India, a colloquial expression for being hungry says that “rats are jumping in my stomach.” Our lives are shaped by, immersed in, and made possible through symbols. It is through symbols, especially language, that culture is shared, changed, stored, and transmitted over time.

Culture is learned

Cultural learning begins from the moment of birth, if not before (some people think that an unborn baby takes in and stores information through sounds heard from the outside world). A large but unknown amount of people’s cultural learning is unconscious, occurring as a normal part of life through observation. Schools, in contrast, are a formal way to learn culture. Not all cultures throughout history have had formal schooling. Instead, children learned culture through guidance from others and by observation and practice. Longstanding ways of enculturation, or learning one’s culture, include stories, pictorial art, and performances of rituals and dramas.

Cultures are integrated

To state that cultures are internally integrated is to assert the principle of holism. Thus, studying only one or two aspects of culture provides understanding so limited that it is more likely to be misleading or wrong than more comprehensively grounded approaches. Cultural integration and holism are relevant to applied anthropologists interested in proposing ways to promote positive change. Years of experience in applied anthropology show that introducing programs for change in one aspect of culture without considering the effects in other areas may be detrimental to the welfare and survival of a culture. For example, Western missionaries and colonialists in parts of Southeast Asia banned the practice of head-hunting. This practice was embedded in many other aspects of culture, including politics, religion, and psychology (i.e., a man’s sense of identity as a man sometimes depended on the taking of a head). Although stopping head-hunting might seem like a good thing, it had disastrous consequences for the cultures that had practiced it.

Cultures Interact and Change

Several forms of contact bring about a variety of changes in the cultures involved. Trade networks, international development projects, telecommunications, education, migration, and tourism are just a few of the factors that affect cultural change through contact. Globalization, the process of intensified global interconnectedness and movement of goods, information and people, is a major force of contemporary cultural change. It has gained momentum through recent technological change, especially the boom in information and communications technologies, which is closely related to the global movement of capital and finance.

Globalization does not spread evenly, and its interactions with and effects on local cultures vary substantially, from positive change for all groups involved to cultural destruction and extinction for those whose land, livelihood and culture are lost. Current terms that attempt to capture varieties of cultural change related to globalization include hybridization (cultural mixing into a new form) and localization (appropriation and adaptation of a global form into a new, locally meaningful form).

Ethnography and Ethnology

Cultural anthropology embraces two major pursuits in its study and understanding of culture. The first is ethnography or “culture-writing.” An ethnography is an in-depth description of one culture. This approach provides detailed information based on personal observation of a living culture for an extended period of time. An ethnography is usually a full-length book.

Ethnographies have changed over time. In the first half of the twentieth century, ethnographers wrote about “exotic” cultures located far from their homes in Europe and North America. These ethnographers treated a particular local group or village as a unit unto itself with clear boundaries. Later, the era of so-called “village studies” in ethnography held sway from the 1950s through the 1960s. Anthropologists typically studied in one village and then wrote an ethnography describing that village, again as a clearly bounded unit. Since the 1980s, the subject matter of ethnographies has changed in three major ways. First, ethnographies treat local cultures as connected to larger regional and global structures and forces; second, they focus on a topic of interest and avoid a more holistic (comprehensive) approach; and third, many are situated within industrialized/post-industrialized cultures.

As topics and sites have changed, so have research methods. One innovation of the late twentieth century is the adoption of multi-sited research, or research conducted in more than one context such as two or more field sites. Another is the use of supplementary non-sited data collected in archives, from Internet cultural groups, or newspaper coverage. Cultural anthropologists are turning to multi-sited and non-sited research in order to address the complexities and linkages of today’s globalized cultural world. Another methodological innovation is collaborative ethnography, carried out as a team project between academic researchers and members of the study population. Collaborative research changes ethnography from study of people for the sake of anthropological knowledge to study with people for the sake of knowledge and for the people who are the focus of the research.

The second research goal of cultural anthropology is ethnology, or cross-cultural analysis. Ethnology is the comparative analysis of a particular topic in more than one cultural context using ethnographic material. Ethnologists compare such topics as marriage forms, economic practices, religious beliefs, and childrearing practices, for example, in order to discover patterns of similarity and variation and possible causes for them. One might compare the length of time that parents sleep with their babies in different cultures in relation to personality. Researchers ask, for example, if a long co-sleeping period leads to less individualistic, more socially connected personalities and if a short period of co-sleeping produces more individualistic personalities. Other ethnological analyses have considered the type of economy in relation to frequency of warfare, and the type of kinship organization in relation to women’s status.

Ethnography and ethnology are mutually supportive. Ethnography provides rich, culturally specific insights. Ethnology, by looking beyond individual cases to wider patterns, provides comparative insights and raises new questions that prompt future ethnographic research.

Cultural Relativism

Most people grow up thinking that their culture is the only and best way of life and that other cultures are strange or inferior. Cultural anthropologists label this attitude ethnocentrism: judging other cultures by the standards of one’s own culture. The opposite of ethnocentrism is cultural relativism, the idea that each culture must be understood in terms of its own values and beliefs and not by the standards of another culture.

Cultural relativism may easily be misinterpreted as absolute cultural relativism, which says that whatever goes on in a particular culture must not be questioned or changed because no one has the right to question any behavior or idea anywhere. This position can lead in dangerous directions. Consider the example of the Holocaust during World War II in which millions of Jews and other minorities in much of Eastern and Western Europe were killed as part of the German Nazis’ Aryan supremacy campaign. The absolute cultural relativist position becomes boxed in, logically, to saying that since the Holocaust was undertaken according to the values of the culture, outsiders have no business questioning it.

Critical cultural relativism offers an alternative view that poses questions about cultural practices and ideas in terms of who accepts them and why, and who they might be harming or helping. In terms of the Nazi Holocaust, a critical cultural relativist would ask, “Whose culture supported the values that killed millions of people on the grounds of racial purity?” Not the cultures of the Jewish people, the Roma, and other victims. It was the culture of Aryan supremacists, who were one subgroup among many. The situation was far more complex than a simple absolute cultural relativist statement takes into account, because there was not “one” culture and its values involved. Rather, it was a case of cultural imperialism, in which one dominant group claimed supremacy over minority cultures and proceeded to change the situation in its own interests and at the expense of other cultures. Critical cultural relativism avoids the trap of adopting a homogenized view of complexity. It recognizes internal cultural differences and winners/losers, oppressors/victims. It pays attention to different interests of various power groups.

Applied Cultural Anthropology

In cultural anthropology, applied anthropology involves the use or application of anthropological knowledge to help prevent or solve problems of living peoples, including poverty, drug abuse, and HIV/AIDS. In the United States, applied anthropology emerged during World War II when many anthropologists offered their expertise to promote U.S. war efforts and post-war occupation. Following the end of the war, the United States assumed a larger global presence, especially through its bilateral aid organization, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID hired many cultural anthropologists who worked in a variety of roles, mainly evaluating development projects at the end of the project cycle and serving as in-country anthropologists overseas.

In the 1970s cultural anthropologists worked with other social scientists in USAID to develop and promote the use of “social soundness analysis” in all government-supported development projects. As defined by Glynn Cochrane, social soundness analysis required that all development projects be preceded by a thorough baseline study of the cultural context and then potential redesign of the project based on those findings. A major goal was to prevent the funding of projects with little or no cultural fit. The World Bank hired its first anthropologist, Michael Cernea, in 1974. For three decades, Cernea influenced its policy-makers to pay more attention to project-affected people and their culture in designing and implementing projects. He promoted the term “development induced displacement” to bring attention to how large infrastructure projects negatively affect millions of people worldwide and he devised recommendations for mitigating such harm.

Many cultural anthropologists are applying cultural analysis to large-scale institutions (e.g., capitalism and the media) particularly their negative social consequences, such as the increasing wealth gap between powerful and less powerful countries and between the rich and the poor within countries. These anthropologists are moving in a new and challenging direction. Their work involves the study of global—local interactions and change over time, neither of which were part of cultural anthropology’s original focus. Moreover, these cultural anthropologists take on the role of advocacy and often work collaboratively with victimized peoples.

Anthropologists are committed to documenting, understanding, and maintaining cultural diversity throughout the world as part of humanity’s rich heritage. Through the four-field approach, they contribute to the recovery and analysis of the emergence and evolution of humanity. They provide detailed descriptions of cultures as they have existed in the past, as they now exist, and as they are changing in contemporary times. Anthropologists regret the decline and extinction of different cultures and actively contribute to the preservation of cultural diversity and cultural survival.

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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.

Top 20 Anthropology Paper Topics

• How does the environment impact the color of a person?
• The advantages and disadvantages of eugenics in the 21st century.
• A closer look at the aging process in the western culture.
• What are the implications of physical labor on the physique of a person?
• Define the relationship between Kyphosis to human senescence
• Does smoking impact the appearance of a human being?
• Death caused by drowning: How to determine it through examination of physical and anatomical evidence.
• Existence of Homo Habilis is supported by modern facts.
• Compare two theories that explain the origins of human beings.
• A review of key beliefs about human body preservation in ancient Egypt.
• The role played by storytelling in different cultures.
• Applying anthropology as forensic science.
• Heroes in society.
• Closed societies.
• Emergency of terrorism into a culture.
• Feminism application in different cultures.
• A review of the concept of wellness in different cultures.
• What role does literature play in human development?
• Analyzing conflicts in Latin American and Asian cultures.
• Genetic engineering and anthropology: How are they related?

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.

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Anthropology Essay Topics: 50+ Great Ideas for Your Next Paper

by  Antony W

December 5, 2023

You have to get topics selection right if you must write a comprehensive anthropology essay. However, since brainstorming and preliminary research can take time, we’ve put together a list of 50+ topics that can help you ideation time, so you can get down to actual research and writing.

Your essay will revolve around human history . You mainly write about past dynasties within a specific time and environment. The paper may touch on human behavior, character, social relation, or physical characteristics – just to mention a few examples.

Key Takeaways

• Do not go for a broad topic, as it makes it difficult to address an anthropological issue thoroughly.
• Avoid narrow topics, as they don’t have sufficient research materials to explore.
• Choose a topic that’s concise and direct to the point, one that fits within the scope of the assignment brief.
• Ensure you choose an interesting topic, as it’s easy to explore an area that focuses on something that fascinates you.

50+ Best Anthropology Essay Topics

The following is a list of the 50 + best essay topics that you might find interesting enough to explore in your anthropology assignment:

Anthropology Essay Topics Based on Rituals

• Understanding the fundamental dynamics of ritual and its effectiveness
• Explore the convergence of magic and science and investigate the overlapping frontiers
• Is there an interconnection between myths and rituals?
• Mapping the diversity in marriage rituals worldwide
• Tracing traditions across global societies to gain cultural insights into childbirth rituals
• Mapping the spectrum of death ceremonies
• What can we learn from the historical analysis of rituals through time?
• Explain the societal significance of the role and impact of rituals in cultural frameworks
• Untangling the complexities of the interplay of myths, rituals, and religious systems
• Examining the nexus of rituals, myths, and faith in diverse societies

Cultural Anthropology Topics

• Exploring the varied notions of culture across societies
• Examining supernatural beliefs to uncover cultural ramifications and significance
• Diverse perspectives on death: Cultural connotations and interpretations
• A cross-cultural examination on the global rituals surrounding death
• Comparative study of marriage customs: Insights from multifaceted cultural perspectives
• Societal stratification and caste systems, their dynamics and impact
• Ancestral reverence and its centrality in cultural practices
• The uniqueness of apparel designs in global cultures

Evolution Anthropology Topics

• Examining evolutionary mechanisms in fauna and the dynamics of natural selection in animal species
• An investigative journey into evolutionary theory of the red queen hypothesis
• The evolutionary trajectory of human intelligence from origins to cognitive development
• Avian evolutionary enigmas probing into mysteries of bird evolution
• Can insights from plant evolution help us to understand chromosomal transformations and adaptations?
• Earliest life forms on earth and their evolutionary significance
• Explore the enigmatic evolution of vision to demonstrate that you understand the complexity of the human eye
• A scientific exploration into sexual selection and its societal ramifications
• Analyzing human brain evolution in the context of other species
• Evolutionary responses to climate change and understanding adaptation and survival strategies

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• Navigating tradition and modernity to explore indigenous communities’ dynamic interface with the contemporary world
• Analyzing cultural adaptations in extreme environments to survive adversity
• Investigating the multifaceted cultural significance and diverse global practices of tattoos and body piercings
• Globalization’s ripple effect: Unpacking its multilayered cultural impacts
• Understanding the complex dynamics of migration and its transformative influence on cultural identity
• Examining the transformative impact of technological dynamics on cultural paradigms
• Exploring the interplay and influences of cultural dimensions of health
• Humanities in cultural education: Mapping their crucial role in cultivating understanding
• Post Covid-19 societal dynamics: Analyzing transformations in response to the pandemic
• A comprehensive analysis of positives and negatives of social media’s dual impacts on culture:
• Cultural forces in political landscapes: Unpacking influences and mechanisms
• An exploration of genetic contributions to genetics and human evolution across time
• Comparative analysis of American and European cultures to uncover their distinctions and overlaps
• Delving into human societies and time-honored traditions
• Media’s influence on belief systems: Understanding the dynamics of change
• The transformative impacts of the global pandemic in shaping the pathways to the future

Medical Anthropology Topics

• Interrogating paradigms: Traditional medicine in dialogue with western medical practices
• Unraveling the cultural contexts of illness and exploring the socio-cultural foundations of specific ailments
• Examine the cultural perceptions of global health challenges to understand varied interpretations and responses
• Examining the role and efficacy of rituals as therapeutic agents in the healing process
• Awareness and attitudes across diverse societal contexts on cultural perspectives on mental health

Anthropology Essay Topics on Current Events

• Climate change effects on indigenous communities
• Anthropological perspectives unveiling societal impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic
• Anthropology’s role in tackling social inequality and human rights violations
• Ethical quandaries in anthropological research among vulnerable populations
• Addressing racial and ethnic disparities based on anthropological frameworks and solutions
• Globalization’s influence on cultural diversity and indigenous knowledge systems
• Anthropological insights into migration and refugee crises
• Anthropology’s contributions and analytical scope on environmental sustainability
• Marginalized urban communities: Ethnographic investigations and experiences
• Health and healthcare from anthropological lenses and their impact on social and cultural dimensions
• Anthropology’s role in alleviating gender inequalities and advocating women’s rights
• Anthropological perspectives on dynamics and implications of technological on society:
• Cultural significance of food systems: Ethnographic studies unveiling meanings
• Anthropological approaches to understanding and resolving violence and conflict
• Anthropological insights and transformations on digital technologies and social identity
• Conduct an anthropological examination on the intersections of race, class, and education.  
• Aging and cultural dimensions: Ethnographic research on elderly populations
• Anthropological insights into challenges and experiences of the LGBTQ+ communities:
• Cultural heritage preservation and indigenous rights
• Anthropological approaches and contributions to social justice and activism

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About the author 

Antony W is a professional writer and coach at Help for Assessment. He spends countless hours every day researching and writing great content filled with expert advice on how to write engaging essays, research papers, and assignments.

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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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Popular request:

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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373 Culture Research Topics & Ideas for Essays and Papers

18 January 2024

last updated

Culture research topics include various human behaviors and beliefs, offering a deep dive into societal norms, values, traditions, and symbols that have shaped and continue to shape civilizations across time and space. Themes encompass many areas, such as linguistics, anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, and arts. Topics also may include investigating the effects of globalization on indigenous cultures, the role of pop culture in shaping societal values, impacts of cultural assimilation, or tracing the evolution of language in a particular region. Studies in this field illuminate the tapestry of human existence, providing rich insights into unique human histories. Thus, culture research topics are not only intrinsically fascinating but also have crucial implications for policy, education, and understanding of identity, community, and coexistence in an increasingly diverse and interconnected world.

Hot Cultural Topics

• Unearthing Indigenous Histories Through Technology
• Cryptocurrency’s Influence on Art and Culture
• Ethical Dilemmas in Genomic Data Sharing
• The Intersection of Environmentalism and Fashion Trends
• Debating Authenticity in Social Media Influencer Culture
• Exploring Minority Representation in Hollywood
• Augmented Reality as a Cultural Experience
• Redefining Gender Norms in Video Gaming
• Street Art as a Political Commentary
• Future of Libraries in the Digital Age
• Culinary Trends Sparked by Plant-Based Movements
• Cultural Shifts in Privacy Perception Post-Social Media
• Language Preservation in a Globalized World
• AI and the Transformation of Creative Industries
• Mental Health Narratives in Popular Music
• Eco-Cities: Blending Urbanism and Sustainability
• Cross-Cultural Understanding Through Travel During Pandemic
• Consumerism and Minimalism: Contrasting Cultural Phenomena
• Unconventional Family Structures in Contemporary Literature
• Futurism in Architectural Design and Cultural Identity

Easy Cultural Essay Topics

• Influence of Digital Art on Cultural Identity
• Food Traditions as Cultural Symbols
• Relationship Between Language and Cultural Heritage
• Rise of E-Sports and Its Cultural Significance
• Virtual Reality in the Realm of Cultural Preservation
• Social Media as a Tool for Cultural Exchange
• Influence of Climate Change on Cultural Practices
• Anime and Manga: Japanese Culture’s Global Reach
• Cultural Perception of Privacy in the Era of Big Data
• Reality TV’s Effect on Cultural Stereotypes
• Cultural Implications of Urban Green Spaces
• Nostalgia and Culture in Retro Fashion Trends
• Understanding Cultural Context in Classic Literature
• Cultural Diversity in Modern Cinema
• Significance of Cultural Festivals in Building Community
• Influence of Sci-Fi on Our Perception of Future Cultures
• Cultural Perspectives on Mental Health in Popular Literature
• Globalization’s Effect on Indigenous Cultures
• Street Food and Its Connection to Local Culture

Interesting Culture Topics to Research for Essays and Papers

• Maori Culture and Traditions
• Intricacies of Japanese Tea Ceremony
• Voodoo Practices in Haitian Culture
• Celtic Traditions and Mythology
• Arab Bedouin Traditions and Nomadic Lifestyle
• Native American Tribes and Their Cultural Diversity
• Balinese Rituals and Spiritual Practices
• The Complexity of Tibetan Buddhism
• Greek Orthodox Customs and Traditions
• Culture of the Sami People in Scandinavia
• Andean Cultures: Incas and Their Descendants
• Mayan Civilization: Ancient Practices and Beliefs
• Yoruba Religion and Cultural Traditions in West Africa
• Nomadic Culture of the Mongolian Steppes
• Diverse Cultural Practices of Australian Aboriginals
• Culture of the Maasai Tribes in East Africa
• Persian Poetry and Its Cultural Significance
• Dance Forms and Culture of Polynesian Islands
• Cultures of the Amazon Rainforest Tribes
• Korean Hanbok and Traditional Dress Culture

Cultural Anthropology Topics for a Research Paper

• Decoding Symbolism in Ancient Mayan Art
• Understanding Power Structures in Tribal Societies
• Exploring Ritualistic Practices of the Australian Aborigines
• Influence of Globalization on Indigenous Cultural Practices
• Rituals and Customs: A Comparative Study Between Maasai and Zulu Tribes
• Investigating Linguistic Diversity in the Amazon Rainforest
• Dynamics of Cultural Adaptation in Refugee Communities
• Indigenous Knowledge and Biodiversity Conservation
• Comparative Study of Death Rituals Across Cultures
• Cultural Contexts of Folklore and Mythology in Slavic Societies
• Digital Anthropology: Social Media and Cultural Practices
• Cultural Perspectives on Gender and Sexuality in Pacific Island Societies
• Transcultural Psychiatry: Mental Health Across Cultures
• Insights into Cultural Healing Practices of Native American Tribes
• Foodways and Culture: A Study of Mediterranean Societies
• Dynamics of Social Change in Post-Colonial Societies
• Material Culture: Analysis of Ancient Egyptian Artifacts
• Cultural Interpretations of Climate Change in Arctic Communities
• Cultural Factors in Public Health: A Case Study of Sub-Saharan Africa
• Sacred Spaces and Cultural Identity: An Exploration of Hindu Temples

Cultural Criticism Essay Topics

• Postmodernism and Cultural Representation in Media
• Interrogating Orientalism: Western Perception of Eastern Cultures
• Deconstructing the Beauty Standard in Pop Culture
• Eco-Criticism and Interpretation of Environmental Narratives
• Analyzing Power Structures in Classic Literature
• Cultural Bias in Artificial Intelligence Systems
• Culture and Censorship: Freedom of Expression in Various Societies
• Unpacking Gender Stereotypes in Advertising
• Culture of Fear: Media Representation of Terrorism
• Colonial Narratives and Indigenous Voices in History Textbooks
• Cyber Culture: The Dark Side of Online Communities
• Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation: A Thin Line
• Cultural Hegemony and Minority Representation in Film Industry
• Ethnocentrism in Anthropological Research: A Critique
• Understanding Whiteness: Critique of White Privilege
• Body Image and Self-Esteem: A Critique of the Fashion Industry
• Religion and Cultural Bias in Western Feminist Discourses
• Consumer Culture and Critique of Fast Fashion
• Mental Health Stigma: Cultural Perspectives and Criticisms

Cultural Diversity Topics for an Essay

• Navigating Cultural Diversity in Multinational Corporations
• Multilingualism and Cultural Identity in Diverse Societies
• Cultural Diversity in Urban Design and City Planning
• Influence of Cultural Diversity on Public Health Policies
• Diverse Cultures: Integration Challenges in Immigration Policies
• Cultural Diversity and Ethical Considerations in Clinical Trials
• Understanding Cultural Diversity in Early Childhood Education
• Cultural Diversity in Contemporary Literature: A Critical Analysis
• Representation of Cultural Diversity in the Animation Industry
• Multiculturalism and Its Influence on National Identity
• Promoting Cultural Diversity through Public Broadcasting
• Cultural Diversity and Inclusivity in Tech Industry
• Managing Cultural Diversity in International Space Missions
• Challenges of Cultural Diversity in Peacekeeping Missions
• Influence of Cultural Diversity on Artistic Expression
• Linguistic Diversity and Cultural Preservation
• Cultural Diversity in Global Climate Change Dialogues
• Cultural Diversity and Adaptation Strategies in Sports Teams
• Diversity in Cuisine: Culinary Traditions Across Cultures
• Cultural Diversity and Conflict Resolution in Global Diplomacy

Culture Heritage Research Topics

• Preservation of Indigenous Knowledge Systems
• Exploring Cultural Landscapes and Their Conservation
• Digital Archiving and Cultural Heritage Preservation
• Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage
• Cultural Heritage Tourism: Balancing Preservation and Promotion
• Intersections of Cultural Heritage and Climate Change
• Restitution of Cultural Artifacts: Ethical Considerations
• Reconstructing Cultural Heritage in Post-War Regions
• Maritime Cultural Heritage: Underwater Archaeology Challenges
• Cultural Heritage and Memory: Significance of Oral Histories
• Revitalization of Endangered Languages: Strategies and Challenges
• Historic Urban Landscapes: Conserving Cultural Heritage in Cities
• World Heritage Sites and Their Sustainability Issues
• Conservation of Ancient Manuscripts and Rare Books
• Sacred Sites and Cultural Heritage: Managing Religious Tourism
• Cultural Heritage and Identity in Diaspora Communities
• Management of Archaeological Sites: Balancing Research and Preservation
• Investigating Looting and Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property
• World Cuisine as an Element of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Cultural Phenomena Topics

• Unraveling the K-Pop Phenomenon: Cultural and Global Implications
• Cryptocurrency Culture: A New Financial Phenomenon
• Cross-Cultural Analysis of Conspiracy Theories
• Spread of Internet Memes: A Modern Cultural Phenomenon
• Cultural Aspects of the Global Wellness Movement
• Globalization and the Cultural Phenomenon of Fast Food
• Cyberculture and the Emergence of Virtual Communities
• Reality TV and Its Cultural Repercussions
• Influence of Celebrity Culture on Youth Values
• Pandemic Culture: Changes in Behavioral Patterns Due to COVID-19
• Examining the Cultural Phenomenon of Social Activism in Digital Spaces
• Coffee Culture: A Global Phenomenon With Local Variations
• Influence of Anime and Manga on Global Pop Culture
• Cultural Phenomena of Aging Societies in Developed Countries
• Nerd Culture and Its Influence on Entertainment Industry
• Fashion Trends as Reflections of Cultural Change
• Online Gaming Communities as Cultural Phenomena
• Cultural Shifts in Attitudes Toward Mental Health
• The Phenomenon of Remote Work and Cultural Implications
• Cultural Perception and Adoption of Renewable Energy Solutions

Cultural Psychology Research Topics in Culture Studies

• Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Emotional Expression
• Psychology of Superstitions in Various Cultures
• Analysis of Collectivist vs. Individualistic Cultural Psychologies
• Cultural Factors Influencing Child Development
• Cultural Psychology of Grief and Mourning Rituals
• Understanding Perception of Time in Different Cultures
• Body Language and Non-Verbal Communication Across Cultures
• Examining the Cultural Context of Dreams
• Cultural Influences on Human Memory
• Cultural Diversity and Its Effects on Learning Styles
• Cognitive Biases and Cultural Influences: A Comparative Study
• Cultural Influences on Risk Perception and Decision-Making
• Psychological Perspectives on Folklore and Mythology Across Cultures
• Understanding the Cultural Aspects of Empathy
• Interplay of Language and Thought in Cultural Psychology
• Cultural Differences in Coping Strategies for Stress
• Cultural Influences on Perception of Pain
• Influence of Culture on Self-Esteem and Self-Concept
• Psychological Analysis of Taboos Across Different Cultures

Environmentalism and Culture Research Topics

• Cultural Practices in Biodiversity Conservation
• Green Architecture: Cultural and Environmental Interactions
• Cultural Perceptions of Climate Change in Island Nations
• Understanding Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Environmental Stewardship
• Environmental Ethics in Native American Cultures
• Ecotourism and Its Influence on Local Culture
• Influence of Environmental Movements on Contemporary Art
• Cultural Factors Affecting Renewable Energy Adoption
• Influence of Traditional Farming Practices on Biodiversity
• Cultural Aspects of Waste Management Practices
• Sacred Natural Sites and Their Role in Conservation
• Cultural Landscapes and Strategies for Their Preservation
• Impact of Climate Migration on Cultural Identity
• Rituals and Myths Related to Nature Across Cultures
• Impact of Environmental Policies on Indigenous Cultures
• Understanding Cultural Dimensions of Urban Green Spaces
• Influence of Culture on Perceptions of Genetically Modified Organisms
• Culture and the Transition to a Circular Economy
• Perceptions of Water Scarcity in Different Cultures
• Cultural Responses to Deforestation in Rainforest Communities

Gender and Culture Research Topics

• Exploring the Cultural Construction of Masculinity
• Perception of Beauty Standards Across Different Cultures
• Cultural Interpretations of Transgender Identities
• Influence of Cultural Norms on Gender Equity in Education
• Understanding Gender Roles in Indigenous Cultures
• Implications of Matrilineal Societies for Gender Equality
• Cultural Factors Affecting Women’s Political Participation
• Gender Dynamics in Traditional Rituals and Festivals
• Intersectionality of Gender, Culture, and Religion
• Gender Representation in Global Advertising
• Investigating Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Literature
• Cultural Perception of Non-Binary Gender Identities
• Influence of Gender Roles on Career Choices Across Cultures
• Cultural Factors Influencing Maternal Health
• Gender Dynamics in Migration and Displacement
• Influence of Culture on Men’s Mental Health
• Gendered Spaces: A Cultural Perspective
• Culture and Gender Inequity in Access to Healthcare
• Cultural Perspectives on Domestic Roles and Responsibilities

Globalization and Culture Topics

• Understanding the Cultural Implications of Globalized Media
• Cultural Resistance to Globalization in Indigenous Communities
• Globalization and the Spread of English: Implications for Linguistic Diversity
• Influence of Globalization on Local Music Genres
• Exploring Cultural Homogenization in Global Cities
• Food Culture in the Age of Globalization: A Case Study
• Globalization and the Commodification of Indigenous Cultures
• Globalization and the Transformation of Traditional Art Forms
• Diaspora Communities: Navigating Globalization and Cultural Identity
• Transnational Cinema: Cross-Cultural Influences and Globalization
• Implications of Globalization for Indigenous Knowledge Systems
• Globalization and Changing Gender Norms: A Cross-Cultural Study
• Cultural Hybridity in Globalized Fashion Trends
• Internet Culture and Globalization: A Complex Relationship
• Globalization and Its Effect on Cultural Heritage Preservation
• Influence of Globalized Education on Cultural Diversity
• Cultural Adaptation in Global Marketing Strategies
• Globalization and Transformation of Religious Practices
• Impact of Global Migration on Cultural Diversity
• Understanding Globalization’s Effect on Cultural Autonomy

Intercultural Communication Topics

• Intercultural Communication in Multinational Corporations
• Exploring Communication Barriers in Intercultural Marriages
• Interpretation of Non-Verbal Cues Across Cultures
• Intercultural Communication in Virtual Teams
• Analysis of Humor in Intercultural Communication
• Influence of Cultural Stereotypes on Intercultural Communication
• Examining Intercultural Communication in Healthcare Settings
• Challenges of Intercultural Communication in Diplomacy
• Influence of Social Media on Intercultural Communication
• Impact of Language Proficiency on Intercultural Communication
• Intercultural Communication in International Development Projects
• Implications of Cultural Taboos in Intercultural Communication
• Intercultural Miscommunication: Case Studies and Analysis
• Influence of Cultural Dimensions on Communication Styles
• Intercultural Communication in Refugee and Immigrant Integration
• Strategies for Effective Intercultural Communication in Education
• Investigating the Role of Empathy in Intercultural Communication
• Impact of Intercultural Communication on Global Marketing Strategies
• Ethics in Intercultural Communication: A Critical Review

List of Culture Research Topics

• Cultural Perspectives on Death and Afterlife
• Influence of Pop Culture on Youth Identity Formation
• Understanding Culturally Specific Healing Practices
• Martial Arts as Cultural Phenomena: A Comparative Study
• Street Art and Its Cultural Significance
• Dynamics of Food Culture: Traditional vs. Modern
• Exploring the Cultural History of Tattoos
• Cultural Aspects of Aging: East vs. West
• Cultural Factors Influencing Childbirth Practices
• Language Revitalization in Endangered Cultures
• Cultural Significance of Traditional Dress Codes
• Examining Body Modification Practices Across Cultures
• Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Agriculture
• Analysis of Cultural Aspects in Cybersecurity
• Influence of Culture on Parenting Styles
• Representation of Culture in Animated Films
• Cultural Practices in Disaster Management and Preparedness
• Cultural Transformation in Post-Colonial Societies
• Cultural Understanding of Mental Health Disorders
• Decoding Cultural Symbolism in Mythology and Folklore

Multiculturalism and Diversity Research Topics

• Multiculturalism in Children’s Literature: A Content Analysis
• Exploring the Dynamics of Multicultural Teams in Organizations
• Multicultural Education and Student Achievement: An Empirical Study
• Influence of Multiculturalism on Urban Design and Architecture
• Multiculturalism and Its Effect on National Identity
• Implications of Multiculturalism for Social Justice Education
• Perceptions of Diversity in the Media Industry
• Understanding the Challenges of Multicultural Counselling
• Cultural Diversity and Innovation in Start-Up Ecosystems
• Effect of Multiculturalism on Interpersonal Relationships in Diverse Societies
• Diversity and Inclusion in the Tech Industry: Case Studies
• Cultural Diversity in the Judiciary: An International Comparison
• Multilingual Education in Multicultural Societies: Best Practices
• Multiculturalism and Its Influence on Public Health Policies
• Social Cohesion in Multicultural Neighborhoods: A Field Study
• Cultural Diversity in Political Representation: A Global Perspective
• Inclusion of Minority Cultures in National History Curriculum
• Multiculturalism and Its Influence on Contemporary Art Movements
• Challenges of Managing Diversity in Higher Education Institutions
• Multiculturalism and the Transformation of Urban Food Culture

Sociology of Culture Research Topics

• Sociological Perspectives on Cultural Taboos
• Culture and Social Class: Interplay and Implications
• Cultural Factors in the Sociology of Deviance
• Exploring Cultural Capital in Educational Achievement
• Sociological Analysis of Food Culture and Social Status
• Subcultures and Their Influence on Mainstream Society
• Sociology of Cultural Assimilation in Immigrant Communities
• Cultural Factors Affecting Social Mobility: An Empirical Study
• Sociological Dimensions of Popular Culture
• Understanding Cultural Factors in Health Disparities
• Sociology of Aging in Different Cultural Contexts
• Exploring the Sociology of Cultural Trauma
• Cultural Context of Social Movements
• Sociological Analysis of Celebrity Culture
• Cultural Dimensions of Urban Sociology
• Influence of Culture on Social Networks
• Sociological Perspectives on Cultural Appropriation
• Cultural Factors in Gender Inequality: A Sociological View
• Understanding the Cultural Aspects of Gentrification
• Sociology of Culture and Social Change: Case Studies
• Cultural Transformation and Its Sociological Implications
• Understanding Cultural Stigma in Mental Health
• Body Image Perceptions Across Different Cultures
• Cultural Influences on Societal Trust and Cohesion
• Sociology of Music: Exploring Cultural Genres
• Cultural Factors in Youth Gangs and Deviance
• Cultural Nuances in the Sociology of Emotions
• Exploring the Cultural Context of Aging Societies
• Cultural Perspectives on Social Stratification
• Sociological Implications of Intercultural Marriages
• Cultural Narratives in Gender Identity Construction
• Sociology of Art: Understanding Cultural Expressions
• Understanding Cultural Perspectives on Human Rights
• Cultural Factors in Environmental Sociology
• Cultural Interpretations of Religious Symbols
• Sociology of Language and Cultural Identity
• Cultural Influences on Children’s Socialization Processes
• Exploring the Cultural Dynamics of Social Protests
• Sociological Perspectives on Cultural Heritage and Identity
• Cultural Context of Intergenerational Relationships

Subculture Research Ideas

• Gothic Subculture: A Sociological Perspective
• Exploring the Culture of eSports Enthusiasts
• Punk Rock: An Ethnographic Study of Rebellion and Resistance
• Exploring the Vegan Subculture: Beliefs and Lifestyle
• Cosplay Subculture: Identity and Community
• Street Art: A Study of Subcultural Expression
• Influence of Hip-Hop Subculture on Urban Fashion
• In-Depth Study of the Online Gaming Subculture
• Psychedelic Subculture: Perception, Art, and Social Norms
• Understanding the Straight Edge Subculture: Music and Morality
• Subculture and Identity Formation in Adolescents
• Tattoo Subculture: Expressions of Individuality or Conformity?
• Exploring the Subculture of Comic Book Fandom
• Bodybuilding Subculture: Discipline, Lifestyle, and Body Image
• Subcultural Study of Skateboarders: Rebellion or Recreation?
• Hacker Subculture: Values, Beliefs, and Ethos
• Exploring the Subculture of Minimalist Lifestyle
• The Culture of Craft Beer Enthusiasts: A Subcultural Analysis
• Unveiling the Mysterious World of Secret Societies

Western Civilization Essay Topics in Culture Research

• Democracy and Its Origins in Ancient Greece
• Influence of Renaissance Art on Western Culture
• Exploring the Cultural Significance of the Magna Carta
• Western Civilization and the Emergence of Scientific Thinking
• Christianity’s Influence on Western Morality and Ethics
• Enlightenment Thought and Its Influence on Modern Western Society
• Fall of the Roman Empire: A Pivot Point in Western Civilization
• Imperialism and Western Civilization: A Historical Analysis
• Historiography of the French Revolution in Western Discourse
• Industrial Revolution: The Engine of Western Progress
• Influence of Western Civilization on Global Legal Systems
• The Age of Exploration: Western Civilization Expands
• Western Civilization: From Gutenberg’s Press to the Internet
• Interpretations of the American Revolution in Western Thought
• Historical and Cultural Analysis of Western Romanticism
• Contribution of Western Civilization to Modern Medicine
• Development and Influence of Western Classical Music
• The Influence of Western Philosophy on Modern Thought
• The Role of Western Civilization in Shaping Modern Economics
• Western Civilization and Its Influence on Modern Democracy

To Learn More, Read Relevant Articles

509 capstone project topics & good ideas, 572 motivational speech topics & good ideas.

A List of 185 Interesting Cultural Topics to Write About

Culture is a set of knowledge, behaviors, and beliefs shared by a group of people. You would probably agree that it’s an integral part of humanity. It’s no wonder that students are often assigned to write about it.

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That’s why we came up with a list of interesting and creative culture essay topics. Whether you are writing a research paper, an essay, or a speech, our list of culture topics is for you. You can find various topics from popular culture and funny aspects of culture to cultural diversity. They will be useful for middle school, high school, and college students.

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• 🔝 Top 10 Topics
• 🏺 Western Culture Topics
• 📚✍️ Cultural Criticism
• 🎥 Cultural Phenomena
• 🧔👓 Subculture Topics
• 🧑🤝🧑 Socio-Cultural Topics
• ⛩️🕌 Cultural Diversity
• 👥 Cultural Anthropology

🔝 Top 10 Cultural Topics

• What causes culture shock?
• Cultural appropriation in fashion
• The Cold War’s impact on culture
• Women’s role in Italian culture
• Global impact of American culture
• How to preserve cultural diversity
• Pros and cons of cultural globalization
• Cultural differences in East Asian countries
• How do people assimilate into a foreign culture?
• Cultural background’s effect on one’s personality

🏺 Western Culture Topics to Write About

Much of today’s culture takes roots in the Western world. With this subject, the possibilities are endless! You can write about ancient civilizations or modern European culture. Sounds interesting? Then have a look at these topics:

• Write about a Greek myth of your choice.
• Research the history of the ancient Roman theater.
• Pick a Greek philosopher and describe their legacy.
• The heritage of the Roman Empire in the modern world.
• Discover the history of the Olympic Games .
• How did Christianity spread throughout Europe?
• The architecture of ancient Britain.

• How did the Great Plague influence western culture?
• Write about the key Renaissance artists .
• How did humanism emerge in British culture?
• Pick a European country and analyze how its traditions developed.
• The impact of the Renaissance on Europe’s worldview.
• Research the latest archeological discoveries of western civilization .
• How did the Protestant Reformation influence German culture?
• The legacy of the Renaissance artworks.
• What was the effect of the 1848 revolution on art?
• The role of scientific discoveries in Europe’s socio-cultural formation.
• Analyze the influence of colonization of African culture.
• Describe the highlights of the Enlightenment period .
• How did Brexit affect the British lifestyle?
• Did the American Revolution bring change in culture?
• What attitude does Poland have about their World War II heritage?
• How did the technological revolution impact everyday life in Europe?
• The influence of World War I on French culture.
• Write about European fashion during a specific period.

📚✍️ Cultural Criticism Essay Topics

Cultural criticism looks at texts, music, and artworks through the lens of culture. This type of analysis suggests that culture gives an artwork a specific meaning. The following topics will guide you towards an excellent critical essay:

• Analyze the cultural aspects of your favorite novel.
• Ethnicity in Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates .
• What’s the meaning of financial stability in The Great Gatsby ?
• Discover social changes in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind .
• The effect of industrialization in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath .
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and its context.
• Representation of race in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison .
• Note the cultural features of The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais.
• Write about the main character’s mindset in The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini .
• What are the main character’s values in A Bronx Tale ?
• Hispanic customs in The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle.
• Discover cultural clashes in Fury by Salman Rushdie.
• Pick a movie and analyze the cultural impact on your perception of the plot.
• Discuss the beliefs of white women in The Help .
• Does the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding portray Greek-American culture correctly?
• How did the background story in Slumdog Millionaire change your perception of the main character?
• What’s the meaning of gender in Bend It Like Beckham ?
• Far and Away : integration into a new society.
• Pick a painting and analyze its cultural background.

• Compare depictions of Christ from different continents.
• Discover the context of Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People .
• What’s the context of Punjabi Ladies Near a Village Well ?
• Discuss the symbolism of Girl with a Pearl Earring .
• Write about social roles based on Homer among the Greeks by Gustav Jäger.
• Select a song and analyze how culture is reflected in the lyrics.

🎥 Cultural Phenomena Topics for an Essay

Cultural phenomena refer to developing certain beliefs or preferences among many people. It is also called the bandwagon effect . Keep in mind that the fact of something becoming popular is not a phenomenon. This notion is more concerned with the process of gaining fame than with fame itself. Take a look at these helpful topic ideas for your paper:

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• Describe any cultural phenomenon in your area.
• Reasons why TikTok gained popularity in the U.S.
• How did the Pokemon Go! fad spread across the world?
• Analyze the percentage of people worldwide who like McDonald’s .
• What factors made “the dab” popular?
• Can the bandwagon effect explain bullying ?
• Discover cross-cultural fashion trends.
• Does social media facilitate cultural phenomena?
• Pick a celebrity and analyze their fanbase.
• How can you explain the high demand for Apple products?
• What made sitcoms popular?
• Write about Thanksgiving celebrations outside the U.S.
• Reasons why famous authors from the past remain influential.
• Does effective marketing cause the bandwagon effect?
• Discuss the tendency to follow trends for social acceptance.
• Choose a classic movie and analyze its popularity.
• Examine similar TV talent shows across nations.
• Discover why some dishes are considered “America’s favorite.”
• Explore the psychological side of cultural phenomena.
• List criteria needed for becoming a famous musician.
• Analyze the bandwagon effect in history.
• Why was holocaust normalized in some nations?
• Explain why Nike products are popular all over the world.
• Did the bandwagon effect play a part in the Renaissance?
• Can the spread of religious beliefs be called a cultural phenomenon?

🧔👓 Subculture Topics for an Essay

The term “subculture” means “a culture within a culture.” In other words, it’s a smaller group, inside a larger one, with its own beliefs and interests. You can write about a specific subculture or discover why such groups form. Feel free to use these essay topics:

• Write about the athletic community.
• Are marketing strategies aimed at subcultures effective?
• Why is the deviation from social norms considered dangerous?
• What makes the Amish stand out?
• Can a subculture serve as a basis for a culture?
• Does the U.S. benefit from cybersport?

• Tell about a social group that you’re a part of.
• Clothes as an identifier of a subculture.
• Pick a religious organization and describe it.
• Why did the anime community grow worldwide?
• Explain why some subcultures are considered dangerous.
• How do social groups emerge?
• Should parents encourage children to join an interest group ?
• Describe the way people develop mutual beliefs cross-culturally.
• How does social media influence one’s lifestyle?
• Which interest group does your family belong to?
• Do subcultures benefit society?
• Analyze the Social Disorganization Theory concerning subcultures.
• How did hipsters influence global fashion trends?
• What are the requirements for becoming a skater?
• Discover the history and lifestyle of Goths .
• What is the basis of scumbro culture?
• Belonging to an interest group as a healthy social practice.
• What are the most popular subcultures amongst generation Z ?
• Discuss the importance of the hairstyle for subcultures.

🧑🤝🧑 Socio-Cultural Essay Topics

Let’s break the word “socio-cultural” in two parts. Social aspects include people, their roles, and available resources. Cultural factors refer to language, laws, religion, and values. Therefore, socio-cultural issues revolve around the unique design of a specific culture. Here are some topic ideas on this subject that you might find helpful.

• Describe the social stigma attached to single mothers .
• What pushes the elderly to the edge of poverty?
• Do marketing strategies vary from country to country?
• Is receiving psychological assistance culturally accepted in developing countries?
• Can art be misunderstood because of the socio-cultural context?
• Compare the average wage in the U.S. and the country of your choice.
• Does the increased use of technology in schools affect society?
• What factors push Americans to abuse drugs ?
• Which socio-cultural aspects make drunkenness acceptable?
• Describe the social environment in a country that legalizes slavery .
• Why do Christians get persecuted in some countries?
• How does information overload impact modern teenagers?
• Is child abuse justified outside the U.S.?
• Does technology affect the emotional maturity of children?
• Free education in Europe: pros and cons.
• Prove that the U.S. healthcare system should help the homeless.
• How often does cyberbullying occur worldwide?
• What does successful life mean for a third world country citizen?
• Does globalization put the national identity in danger?
• The importance of developing cultural sensitivity .
• Write about various religions in America .

• Discuss the correlation between the economic level and crime rates .
• Manifestations of ethical egoism in modern society.
• Cross-cultural missionary work: pros and cons.
• Does social stigma towards HIV contribute to its spread?

⛩️🕌 Cultural Diversity Topics for an Essay

America is one of the most diverse nations in the world. Each culture has its language, customs, and other factors that enrich a country like the U.S. The life of a culturally diverse community has its advantages and challenges. In your paper, unpack one of the aspects of such an environment. Take a look at these essay topics:

• Discuss ethnic groups within the U.S. which have the highest suicide rate .
• Is it essential for American psychologists to develop cultural competence ?
• Describe the basic principles of cultural respect.
• Prove that racism should not be tolerated.
• Does the American education system embrace ethnic minorities?
• Analyze the benefit of ethnic inclusiveness for the U.S. food industry .
• How can managers encourage a multiethnic environment in the workplace?
• White about the challenges of second-generation Americans.
• Should the term “ immigrant ” be banned?
• Discuss the advantages of the U.S. as a multicultural nation.
• Prove that the English language proficiency test shouldn’t be required for U.S. citizenship.
• What is the effect of prejudice against ethnic minorities?
• How does diversity find a place in American traditions ?
• Describe the culture shock experience of an international student.
• Is transracial adoption becoming more common in the U.S.?
• What is cultural narcissism, and how can you avoid it?
• Effective strategies for conflict resolution in a diverse environment .
• What multiculturalism policies currently exist in the U.S.?
• Analyze the heritage of a specific nation.
• Should learning a second language be mandatory in America?
• What are the stereotypes associated with different ethnicities?
• Describe the benefits of ethnic diversity.
• Write about the widespread interracial marriages in the U.S.
• How can one avoid cultural ignorance?
• Are the Americans guilty of ethnocentrism ?

👥 Cultural Anthropology Topics for a Paper

Cultural anthropology is a study of beliefs, practices, and social organization of a group. The shaping of ideas and the physical environment are in the focus of this study. In other words, anthropology discovers why people live the way they do. This list will help narrow down your attention on this subject.

• Why are social networks commonly used in the U.S.?
• Explain the popularity of online shopping worldwide.
• Will e-books replace paper books in developed countries?
• Artificial intelligence technologies in Japan.
• Pick two American states and compare their laws.
• Why is cycling so prevalent in the Netherlands?
• How architecture reflects a nation’s history.
• Why is it easier to receive citizenship in some countries than in others?
• Explain why Americans have a strong sense of national pride.
• Analyze the perception of time in tropical countries.
• Are most Swiss households wealthy?
• Discover how language reflects a cultural worldview.
• Does the country’s economy affect the self-esteem of its citizens?
• Reasons for the political division in the U.S.
• Analyze the difference in lifestyles between the Northern and the Southern states .
• Why is it common in some countries to be bilingual ?
• Analyze the cultural values of a communistic nation.
• How can liberalism affect the education system?
• What’s the social meaning of disease in third world countries?
• Examine how the two-child policy affects the Chinese lifestyle.
• Free health care: pros and cons.
• Write about the way the former Soviet Union countries transitioned from communism.
• Do Christian traditions vary from culture to culture?
• Analyze the impact of refugee presence in European countries.
• Does traditional food reflect the history of a nation?

We hope you were able to pick a culture topic for your paper after reading this article.

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Good luck with your assignment on culture!

Further reading:

• 497 Interesting History Topics to Research
• 137 Social Studies Topics for Your Research Project
• 512 Research Topics on HumSS (Humanities & Social Sciences)
• How to Write an Art Critique: Examples and Simple Techniques
• 430 Philosophy Topics & Questions for Your Essay
• 267 Hottest Fashion Topics to Write About in 2024

🔍 References

• So You’re an American?: State.gov
• A Brief History of Western Culture: Khan Academy
• What Exactly is “Western Culture”?: University of California, Santa Barbara
• What is Cultural Criticism?: University of Saskatchewan
• What is a Subculture?: Grinnell College
• Socio-Cultural Factors and International Competitiveness: ResearchGate
• Cultural Diversity: Definition & Meaning: Purdue Global
• What Is Cultural Anthropology?: US National Park Service
• Cultural Anthropology: Encyclopedia Britannica
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Anthropology Essay Examples

10+ Anthropology Essay Examples & Topics to Kick-Start Your Writing

Published on: May 5, 2023

Last updated on: Jan 30, 2024

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Are you a student looking for inspiration for your next anthropology essay?

With so many subfields, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure of what to focus on. You want to create an essay that is not only informative but also engaging and thought-provoking. You want to stand out from the crowd and make a lasting impression on your readers.

But how do you achieve that when you're not even sure where to start from?

Don't worry, we've got you covered.

In this blog, we've compiled a collection of some of the best anthropology essay examples to help you get started. We will also provide you with a list of topics you can choose from!

So get ready to dive into the rich and complex world of anthropology through these essays.

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What is an Anthropology Essay?

Anthropology is the study of human societies and cultures. An anthropology essay is an academic paper that explores various aspects of this field. 

The goal of an anthropology essay is to analyze the practices of human beings in different parts of the world. Check out this anthropology essay example for a better understanding:

Anthropology Essay Pdf

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Anthropology Essay Examples for Students 

Writing an anthropology essay can be a daunting task, especially if you're not sure where to start. 

Let’s explore these anthropology essay examples for some captivating ideas.

Anthropology College Essay Examples

Anthropology Research Paper Example

Anthropology Essay Examples on Different Subjects

Anthropology is a vast field with many subfields and topics to explore. As a student, it can be challenging to navigate this diverse landscape and find a subject that interests you.

In this section, we've compiled a list of anthropology paper examples for different subjects to help you get started.

What Makes Us Human Anthropology Essay

Social Anthropology Essay

Cultural Anthropology Essay

What I Learned In Anthropology Essay

Social And Cultural Anthropology Extended Essay Example

Anthropology Essay Format 

The format of an anthropology essay can vary depending on the assignment requirements. But generally, it follows a standard structure. 

Learn how to write an anthropology essay here:

Introduction

A catchy introduction provides background information on your topic and presents your thesis statement.

Check out this introduction example to help you craft yours!

Anthropology Introduction Essay Example

Body paragraphs

Body paragraphs help you develop your argument in a series of paragraphs. Each focuses on a specific idea or argument. 

Make sure to support each argument with evidence from your research.

Learn to write a body paragraph with the help of this example:

Anthropology Body Paragraph Essay Example

The conclusion of an essay summarizes the main points and restates your thesis statement. Always end your essay with a thought-provoking statement or call to action.

Want an example of how to conclude your anthropology essay? Here is an example:

Anthropology Conclusion Essay Example

Anthropology Essay Topics

It's essential to select a topic that interests you and is relevant to the field. 

Here are some anthropology essay topics to consider:

• The cultural significance of rituals and ceremonies
• The impact of globalization on traditional societies
• The evolution of human communication and language
• The social and cultural implications of technology
• The role of gender and sexuality in different cultures
• The relationship between culture and power
• The impact of colonialism on indigenous cultures
• The cultural significance of food and cuisine
• The effects of climate change on human societies
• The ethics of anthropological research and representation.

All in all, anthropology essays require critical thinking , research, and an understanding of diverse cultures and societies. 

With the examples and the right AI essay writing tools , you can craft a compelling essay that showcases insights into the field of anthropology.

If you're feeling overwhelmed or need support, our anthropology essay writing service will ease the process for you. 

Don't let the challenges of writing an anthropology essay hold you back! Just ask us, “ write my college essay for me ” and we'll help you succeed!

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing an anthropology essay.

Common mistakes to avoid when writing an anthropology essay include:

• Using jargon without defining it
• Neglecting to engage with relevant literature
• Failing to provide sufficient evidence to support your claims

Are there any ethical considerations to keep in mind when conducting anthropological research?

Yes, ethical considerations are crucial in anthropological research. Researchers must obtain informed consent from participants and ensure that their research does not cause harm.

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Cultural anthropology.

Cultural Anthropology publishes ethnographic writing informed by a wide array of theoretical perspectives, innovative in form and content, and focused on both traditional and emerging topics. It also welcomes essays concerned with ethnographic methods and research design in historical perspective, and with ways cultural analysis can address broader public audiences and interests.

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Vol. 39 No. 1 (2024)

We present six original papers in this issue as well as the inaugural guest commentary.

When the Society for Cultural Anthropology selected our distributed, international editorial collective to lead Cultural Anthropology , they did so in part to support our commitment to opening channels of this crucial platform of our discipline beyond the scope of privileged, endowed higher educational institutions in the United States. As one step of this process, in this issue we provide space to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma to describe their work since the passage of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) in 1990. As Deanna L. Byrd, the NAGPRA Liaison-Coordinator and Research and Outreach Program Manager of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and Ian Thompson, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, writes, since that time, “Native American communities gained a measure of say in how ancestral burials are treated on federal lands. The law also established a mechanism to help Native American, Alaskan, and Native Hawaiian communities have open dialogue with institutions across the country about the return of their ancestors, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony.” 

In dialogue with critical disability studies, Eliza Williamson zooms in the everyday practices of Bahian mothers with children diagnosed with Congenital Zika Syndrome. Mothers, she shows, assert their children’s personhood by refusing their medically diagnosed lack of futurity through what she defines as habilitative care: “a bodymind potentializing set of practices” involving a myriad of “substances, technologies and techniques understood to encourage maximum potential development of embodied abilities in young disabled children.”

Leniqueca Welcome delves into unaccounted forms of violence on and in those “who occupy the category of poor black woman in Trinidad” to develop a “capacious, relational and historically layered” approach to entangled forms of gender-based violence and life searching. In so doing, a sharp critique of the masculinist state and legacies of colonial extraction emerges.

By spending time with loggers, timber industrialists, and state technocrats across Peru’s Amazonian region of Loreto, Eduardo Romero Dianderas tracks technical maneuvers and political controversies around timber volumetric calculation. Far from a mathematical abstraction, his ethnography invites us to think that the practice of volume-making—scaling, standardizing, and accounting for timber—is a contact zone in which “power, history and bodily experience” saturate a crucial operation for global environmental governance.

Focusing on demonstrations held outside Yangon, Myanmar, in favor of a plan to build a New Yangon City, Courtney Wittekind’s article intervenes in the binaries of “truth” versus “falsity” and “genuine” versus “fake” to advance an anthropological theorization of demonstration, speculation, and spectacle.

For centuries, the Curse of Ham, the originary anti-Black myth of the Abrahamic faiths, functioned as the foundational and legitimating narrative of white supremacist ideology across the African continent. To Justin Haruyama’s disconcertment, this was also the narrative invoked by some of his Zambian informants to explain the predicament of Black people today. In his paper for this issue, Haruyama stages a conversation with Black liberation theology to suggest that these narratives articulated, however, a profound refutation of liberal egalitarianism and, from the situated premises of a transnational Zambian perspective, put forward an alternative vision for a decolonial abolitionist anthropology.

In his article, Ramy Aly interrogates the anthropology of ethics and revolution in dialogue with a phenomenological and situated account of the 2011 January Egyptian Revolution. He does it through the experiences and narratives of those that were too young to take part in street protests and political movements but for whom the revolution still takes precedent in everyday practices of self-making.

Cover and table-of-contents image by Eduardo Romero Dianderas.

Guest Commentary

No stone unturned.

Habilitating Bodyminds, Caring for Potential: Disability Therapeutics after Zika in Bahia, Brazil

On and in their bodies: masculinist violence, criminalization, and black womanhood in trinidad, volumes: the politics of calculation in contemporary peruvian amazonia, “take our land” : fronts, fraud, and fake farmers in a city-to-come, anti-blackness and moral repair: the curse of ham, biblical kinship, and the limits of liberalism, the ordinariness of ethics and the extraordinariness of revolution: ethical selves and the egyptian january revolution at home and school, curated collections.

War on Palestine

Sovereignty

Reclaiming Hope

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Anthropology Extended Essay Topic Ideas for IBDP

Table of contents

• Writing Metier

Hey there, fellow explorers of human culture and society! As a co-founder of Writing Metier, I’m here to introduce you to a world of IB Anthropology Extended Essay topics that promise to ignite your curiosity and passion for understanding the diverse tapestry of humanity. Our IB experts have worked on this list of topic ideas during the last week, and I’m here to share it with yall today.

Anthropology stands at the crossroads of the sciences and humanities, offering a unique perspective on the intricacies of human behavior, traditions, and social structures. 

We aim to inspire you to investigate the wide variety of human experiences, from the rituals that unite communities to the economic systems that sustain them. If you’re drawn to studying kinship networks or the environmental challenges different cultures face, this guide is crafted to spark your interest and research process. 

Each topic presents an opportunity to explore the depth of human interactions and contribute to our collective understanding of what it means to be human in this ever-changing world.

List of IB Anthropology EE Topics

Here are three unique and manageable extended essay topics on Anthropology with corresponding research questions for each subcategory, designed to meet the Extended essay rubrics and IB criteria. Ready? Okay, let’s go!

Cultural Anthropology

Here, we will examine the rich tapestry of human cultures, exploring rituals, traditions, and languages that define our diverse societies.

It’s a journey through the fascinating spectrum of human experience, where each cultural expression tells its own unique story.

Rituals and Ceremonies

• Research Question: How do rituals contribute to social cohesion and community identity in indigenous communities?
• Research Question: How has globalization influenced the evolution of traditional wedding ceremonies in Japan?
• Research Question: How do death rituals vary across cultures, and what do they reveal about societal attitudes towards death and the afterlife?

Gender Roles

• Research Question: How does religion shape gender roles and expectations in Middle Eastern societies?
• Research Question: How have gender roles evolved in post-colonial African societies, and what factors have driven these changes?
• Research Question: How has economic development affected gender equality and women’s roles in rural Indian communities?

Language and Culture

• Research Question: How does the preservation of indigenous languages contribute to maintaining cultural identity?
• Research Question: How does language shift in immigrant communities impact cultural assimilation and identity?
• Research Question: What role does slang play in shaping the identity and cohesion of youth subcultures?

As we transition from the colorful mosaic of cultural anthropology, we delve deeper into the structures and dynamics that shape human interactions and communities in the realm of Social Anthropology.

Social Anthropology

In Social Anthropology, we investigate the complex web of human relationships, from kinship bonds to societal hierarchies. It’s an intriguing look at how individuals connect, cooperate, and sometimes conflict within their social groups.

Kinship and Family Structures

• Research Question: How have family structures evolved in urban China, and what factors have influenced these changes?
• Research Question: How do matrilineal kinship systems impact socio-economic structures and gender dynamics in societies where they are practiced?
• Research Question: How do adoption practices vary across cultures, and what impact do they have on kinship ties and social integration?

Social Stratification

• Research Question: How have caste systems persisted in modern Indian society, and what are their implications for social mobility and inequality?
• Research Question: How do class and ethnicity intersect to shape social stratification in Brazil?
• Research Question: What role does education play in facilitating social mobility in rural communities?

Migration and Diaspora

• Research Question: How do Syrian refugees in Europe navigate cultural adaptation and maintain their cultural identity?
• Research Question: How do diaspora communities contribute to development in their countries of origin?
• Research Question: How do transnational families maintain kinship ties and cultural connections across borders?

Leaving the realm of social constructs , we continue to the biological roots of our species in Biological Anthropology, uncovering the evolutionary stories that have shaped us.

Biological Anthropology

Biological Anthropology takes us through time, exploring human evolution and our primate relatives. It’s a voyage into our biological past, where fossils and DNA unravel the story of our origins.

By the way, we also have a fantastic list of IB Biology extended essay topics ; make sure to check them out after this read.

Human Evolution

• Research Question: How did bipedalism influence the evolutionary trajectory of early hominins?
• Research Question: What does evidence of Neanderthal and modern human interbreeding reveal about human evolutionary history?
• Research Question: How have changes in diet influenced the evolution of human physiological and anatomical traits?

Forensic Anthropology

• Research Question: How does forensic anthropology contribute to the identification of victims in mass disaster scenarios?
• Research Question: What methods are used for age estimation in forensic anthropology, and how accurate are they?
• Research Question: How does forensic anthropology assist in human rights investigations and the identification of victims of political violence?

Primatology

• Research Question: How do social hierarchy and conflict resolution mechanisms operate in chimpanzee communities?
• Research Question: How do orangutans use tools, and what does this reveal about cultural transmission in non-human primates?
• Research Question: How does habitat loss affect the behavior and social structures of primates in affected areas?

From the biological narratives of our past, we shift our focus to the material remnants of ancient societies in Archaeological Anthropology, piecing together the puzzle of human history.

Archaeological Anthropology

In Archaeological Anthropology, we become detectives of the past, exploring ancient civilizations and uncovering secrets buried in time. It’s a thrilling quest to reconstruct the history of the lives and cultures of our ancestors.

Ancient Civilizations

• Research Question: What can archaeological evidence reveal about the social and political organization of the Maya civilization?
• Research Question: How did urbanization contribute to state formation in ancient Mesopotamia?
• Research Question: What role did trade networks play in cultural exchange and economic development in the Indus Valley Civilization?

Artifact Analysis

• Research Question: What can the analysis of pottery designs reveal about the symbolic systems and cultural values of ancient cultures?
• Research Question: How did technological innovations in tool-making during the Bronze Age reflect and drive social change?
• Research Question: What can the study of textiles tell us about the social, economic, and religious aspects of ancient Andean societies?

Historical Archaeology

• Research Question: How did colonialism impact cultural change and adaptation in New World settlements?
• Research Question: What can archaeological remains of industrial sites reveal about the socio-economic impact of the Industrial Revolution?
• Research Question: What can the study of shipwrecks and maritime artifacts reveal about seafaring and trade in the ancient Mediterranean?

From the ancient artifacts collected by our history essay writers , we now turn our attention to the intersection of culture and health in Medical Anthropology, examining diverse approaches to illness and well-being.

Medical Anthropology

Medical Anthropology invites us to explore the myriad ways cultures understand and address health, illness, and healing. It’s an enlightening expedition into the cultural dimensions of medicine and global health challenges.

Traditional Medicine

• Research Question: How are traditional medicine and Western healthcare practices integrated, and what are the implications for health outcomes?
• Research Question: What role do plants play in the traditional medicinal practices of indigenous cultures, and how is this knowledge preserved?
• Research Question: How do shamanistic healing practices in Amazonian tribes reflect their cosmology and cultural beliefs?

Health and Illness

• Research Question: How do cultural perceptions of mental illness influence treatment approaches and stigma in different societies?
• Research Question: What are the social determinants of health in urban slums, and how do they affect health outcomes?
• Research Question: How do cultural factors contribute to the prevalence and manifestation of eating disorders in different societies?

Global Health

• Research Question: How do global health initiatives impact local healthcare systems and access to care in developing countries?
• Research Question: What are the challenges of achieving cultural competence in global health, and what strategies can be employed to address them?
• Research Question: What is the role of traditional healers in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment in sub-Saharan Africa?

From health and healing, we explore the economic structures that sustain societies in Economic Anthropology, examining production, exchange, and consumption.

Economic Anthropology

In Economic Anthropology, we examine the economic practices and principles underpinning human societies.

It’s a fascinating exploration of the diverse ways people sustain themselves and interact economically.

Subsistence Strategies

• Research Question: How did the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture impact cultural and economic structures in early human societies?
• Research Question: How do pastoralist and nomadic communities adapt to environmental challenges and maintain sustainable livelihoods?
• Research Question: How is climate change affecting subsistence farming communities, and what strategies are they employing to adapt?

Trade and Exchange Systems

• Research Question: How does the practice of gift exchange establish social bonds and economic networks in traditional societies?
• Research Question: How do barter systems and alternative economies function in contemporary societies, and what are their implications for sustainability and community cohesion?
• Research Question: How did colonialism impact indigenous trade and exchange systems, and what were the long-term effects on economic and social structures?

Impact of Globalization

• Research Question: How has globalization affected the cultural and economic autonomy of indigenous communities?
• Research Question: What are the environmental and social consequences of the globalization of fast fashion, and how are they being addressed?
• Research Question: How do transnational corporations contribute to economic inequality in developing countries, and what are the potential solutions?

Leaving the economic landscapes, we explore the intricate relationship between humans and their environment in Environmental Anthropology, examining adaptation, sustainability, and climate change challenges.

Environmental Anthropology

Environmental Anthropology explores the dynamic interaction between humans and the environment. It’s a way to understand how cultures adapt to and shape their natural habitats and confront sustainability and climate change challenges.

Human-Environment Interaction

• Research Question: How does indigenous knowledge contribute to environmental stewardship and sustainable resource management?
• Research Question: How does urbanization impact local ecosystems and biodiversity, and what are the strategies for mitigating negative effects?
• Research Question: What is the cultural significance of sacred natural sites, and how are they being conserved in the face of environmental threats?

Conservation and Sustainability

• Research Question: How effective are community-based conservation initiatives in protecting biodiversity in hotspot regions?
• Research Question: How is traditional ecological knowledge being utilized in climate change adaptation strategies?
• Research Question: How do sustainable agriculture practices contribute to food security and environmental sustainability in rural communities?

Climate Change and Culture

• Research Question: How are small island developing states culturally responding to the threats posed by climate change?
• Research Question: How is climate change impacting traditional livelihoods, and how are communities adapting?
• Research Question: How are indigenous perspectives on climate change being incorporated into environmental policy and action?

All of these IB Anthropology EE topics and research questions are designed to inspire IB students on a deep and nuanced exploration of the various facets of anthropology, offering a blend of cultural, social, biological, and environmental perspectives . 

Every topic encourages a unique approach to understanding the complexities of human societies and their interactions with the world around them, making them suitable for an insightful and engaging Extended Essay in Anthropology.

Wrapping Up

As we conclude this overview of IB Anthropology EE topics , I hope you’re feeling motivated and ready to start your own research adventure. Anthropology is more than just the study of other cultures; it’s a lens through which we can examine our own lives and the world we inhabit. 

At Writing Metier, we’re here to support you as you explore the complexities of your chosen topic. Our team of experienced extended essay writers is dedicated to providing you with the guidance, feedback, and encouragement you need to navigate your research and writing process successfully. 

As you select your topic and begin your exploration, remember that you’re undertaking a path that has the potential to expand your horizons and deepen your understanding of the human condition. 

With Writing Metier by your side, your journey into the fascinating world of anthropology is not just a requirement for your IB diploma; it’s an opportunity to engage with the world in a meaningful and insightful way. 

Free topic suggestions

Vasy kafidoff.

Vasyl Kafidoff is a co-founder and CEO at WritingMetier. He is interested in education and how modern technology makes it more accessible. He wants to bring awareness about new learning possibilities as an educational specialist. When Vasy is not working, he’s found behind a drum kit.

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