LibGuides: Anthropology: Starting out

Welcome to your Anthropology Subject Guide!

The purpose of this guide is to help you with your study and research in the field of Anthropology by gathering all the resources that you will need (books, journals, databases, websites and a referencing guide) into one place.

What's happening...

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Marking 100 years of Anthropology at USyD. I was in conversation with the brilliant, Professor Alpha Saha. Check out her award winning book . Over 60 people attended. First of many events. @Usyd_ssps . Take a look at the progamme pic.twitter.com/D2GjXUvLig
— PrfAzrini Wahidin (@AzriniWahidin) May 23, 2025

From the archive. For many years, scholars believed oral history was no more accurate than mythology. It turns out they were wrong. https://t.co/fyJrdKxVap
— SAPIENS (@SAPIENS_org) May 22, 2025

From the archive. A paleoecologist explains what pollen in fossilized mammal urine can reveal about past ecosystems and environmental change. https://t.co/eIFA7WzyNj
— SAPIENS (@SAPIENS_org) May 20, 2025

Recently-arrived books

The Palgrave Handbook of Blue Heritage by Rosabelle Boswell (Editor); David O'Kane (Editor); Jeremy Hills (Editor)
Call Number: 333.9164 PAL

ISBN: 9783030993467

Publication Date: 2022-06-16

"This handbook is unique in its consideration of social and cultural contributions to sustainable oceans management. It is also unique in its deconstruction of the hegemonic value attached to the oceans and in its analysis of discourses regarding what national governments in the Global South should prioritise in their oceans management strategy.....
Decolonizing Methodologies by Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Call Number: 305.80072 SMI

ISBN: 9781786998132

Publication Date: 2021-06-03

To the colonized, the term 'research' is conflated with European colonialism; the ways in which academic research has been implicated in the throes of imperialism remains a painful memory
San elders speak : ancestral knowledge of the Kalahari San by Backwell, Lucinda; d'Errico, Francesco
Call Number: 305.8961 BAC

ISBN: 177614662X

Publication Date: 2021

This book is the first attempt to document indigenous knowledge through the voices of four San elders from the Kalahari. Over a period of seven days, the authors presented the four San elders, leaders in their community and custodians of ancient knowledge, with the collection of KhoiSan ethnographica collected by Dr Louis Fourie at the beginning of the 19th century.
Urban nature: enriching belonging, wellbeing and bioculture by Cocks, Michelle L and Shackleton, Charlie M (eds.)
Call Number: 307.76 URB

ISBN: 9780367427573

Publication Date: 2021

This book showcases the diversity of ways in which urban residents from varying cultural contexts view, interact, engage and give meaning to urban nature, aiming to counterbalance the dominance of western depictions and values of urban nature and design.
The Ethnographer's Magic by George W. Stocking
Call Number: 308.8 STO

ISBN: 9780299134143

Publication Date: 2018-10-31

George Stocking has been widely recognized as the premier historian of anthropology ever since the publication of his first volume of essays, Race, Culture, and Evolution, in 1968. As editor of several publications, including the highly acclaimed History of Anthropology series, he has led the movement to establish the history of anthropology as a recognized research specialization. In addition to the study Victorian Anthropology, his work includes numerous essays covering a wide range of anthropological topics....
Struggle and hope : reflections on the recent history of the Transkeian people by Mda Mda ; Allan Zinn (editor)
Call Number: 305.8963985 MDA/MDA

ISBN: 1928314546

Publication Date: 2019

Struggle and Hope is an absorbing memoir by a distinguished citizen of 'Phalo’s Land', in which the memoirist Mda Mda, traces the fractious events of Transkeien history over the period from roughly the late eighteen-hundreds to the present – that is, through the momentous epochs of colonialism, apartheid and liberal-democracy.
Eating and Being Eaten by Francis B. Nyamnjoh (Editor)
Call Number: 301.01 EAT

ISBN: 9789956550968

Publication Date: 2018-06-07

This innovative book is an open invitation to a rich and copious meal of imagination, senses and desires. It argues that cannibalism is practised by all and sundry. In love or in hate, fear or fascination, purposefulness or indifference, individuals, cultures and societies are actively cannibalising and being cannibalised. The underlying message of: 'Own up to your own cannibalism!' is convincingly argued and richly substantiated.