Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland
Encyclopedia
The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is the world's longest established anthropological organization, with a global membership. Since 1843, it has been at the forefront of new developments in anthropology and new means of communicating them to a broad audience. Its remit includes all the component fields of anthropology
, such as biological anthropology
, evolutionary anthropology
, social anthropology
, cultural anthropology
, visual anthropology
and medical anthropology
, as well as sub-specialisms within these, and interests shared with neighbouring disciplines such as human genetics
, archaeology
and linguistics
. It seeks to combine a distinguished tradition of scholarship with up-to-the-minute services to anthropology
and to all anthropologists, including students. It has a particular commitment to promoting the public understanding of anthropology
, as well as the contribution anthropology
can make to public affairs and social issues. It includes within its 'constituency' not only University-based academic anthropologists, but also those with a generalist interest in the subject, and those trained in anthropology
who work in other, practical or applied, fields.
, who in February 1843 formed a breakaway group of the Aborigines' Protection Society
, which had been founded in 1837, in the aftermath of the early 19th century Quaker campaign against the African slave trade
.
The new society was to be 'a centre and depository for the collection and systematization of all observations made on human races'.
Almost from the start, the membership found itself divided over racialist issues concerning the difference between monogenism and polygenism
, and between 1863 and 1870 there were two organizations, the Ethnological Society and the Anthropological Society.
The Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1871) was the result of a merger between these two rival bodies.
Permission to add the word 'Royal' was granted in 1907.
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, formerly Man
, is a quarterly journal with articles on all aspects of anthropology, as well as correspondence and a section of book reviews. The Journal provides an important forum for 'anthropology
as a whole', embracing social anthropology
, archaeology
, biological anthropology
and the study of material culture. A Special (fifth) issue was inaugurated in 2006. The Special Issue appears annually, is guest-edited or single-authored, and addresses different themes in anthropology
from year to year.
Anthropology Today is a bimonthly publication which aims to provide a forum for the application of anthropological analysis to public and topical issues, while reflecting the breadth of interests within the discipline of anthropology
. It is committed to promoting debate at the interface between anthropology
and areas of applied knowledge such as education, medicine and development; as well as that between anthropology
and other academic disciplines.
Anthropological Index Online
was launched in 1997. The Index is an online bibliographic service for researchers, teachers and students of anthropology
worldwide. Access is free to individual users; institutional users (except those in developing countries) pay an annual subscription. Major European and other languages of scholarship are covered, and new material is added on a continuing basis.
The photographic library consists of over 75,000 historic prints, negatives, lantern-slides and other images, the earliest dating from the 1860s. The photo library illustrates the great diversity and vitality of the world's cultures as well as the history of photographic image-making itself.
The RAI is actively involved in developing ethnographic film and video, as a mode of anthropological enquiry and as an educational resource. It has an extensive collectionn of videos, copies of which are available for sale for educational and academic purposes. Films can be studied and previewed onsite.
The archive and manuscript collection spans a period of over 150 years, providing a unique historical record of the discipline and of the Institute itself. Much unpublished textual and visual material entrusted to the RAI over the years is held in the manuscript collection, which is being conserved and catalogued on a continuing basis.
Access to the RAI Collection is free to all RAI Fellows, Members, Student Associates and all undergraduate students by prior appointment. Others may visit the Collection on payment of an access fee.
The RAI has a close association with the British Museum
's Anthropology Library, which incorporates the former RAI Library given to the Museum in 1976. The Library is located within the Centre for Anthropology at the British Museum
, and is effectively Britain's national anthropological library. All may use the Library on site; RAI Fellows may borrow books acquired by the RAI.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, such as biological anthropology
Biological anthropology
Biological anthropology is that branch of anthropology that studies the physical development of the human species. It plays an important part in paleoanthropology and in forensic anthropology...
, evolutionary anthropology
Evolutionary anthropology
Evolutionary anthropology is the interdisciplinary study of evolution of human physiology and human behaviour and the relation between hominids and non-hominid primates. Evolutionary anthropology is based in natural science and social science...
, social anthropology
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
, cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
, visual anthropology
Visual anthropology
Visual anthropology is a subfield of cultural anthropology that is concerned, in part, with the study and production of ethnographic photography, film and, since the mid-1990s, new media...
and medical anthropology
Medical anthropology
Medical anthropology is an interdisciplinary field which studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives...
, as well as sub-specialisms within these, and interests shared with neighbouring disciplines such as human genetics
Human genetics
Human genetics describes the study of inheritance as it occurs in human beings. Human genetics encompasses a variety of overlapping fields including: classical genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, biochemical genetics, genomics, population genetics, developmental genetics, clinical genetics,...
, archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
. It seeks to combine a distinguished tradition of scholarship with up-to-the-minute services to anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and to all anthropologists, including students. It has a particular commitment to promoting the public understanding of anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
, as well as the contribution anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
can make to public affairs and social issues. It includes within its 'constituency' not only University-based academic anthropologists, but also those with a generalist interest in the subject, and those trained in anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
who work in other, practical or applied, fields.
History
The Institute's members are lineal successors to the founding members of the Ethnological Society of LondonEthnological Society of London
The Ethnological Society of London was founded in 1843 by a breakaway faction of the Aborigines' Protection Society . It quickly became one of England's leading scientific societies, and a meeting-place not only for students of ethnology but also for archaeologists interested in prehistoric...
, who in February 1843 formed a breakaway group of the Aborigines' Protection Society
Aborigines' Protection Society
The Aborigines' Protection Society was an international human rights organisation, founded in 1837, to protect the health and well-being and the sovereign, legal and religious rights of the indigenous peoples subjected by colonial powers. The Society published tracts, pamphlets, Annual Reports and...
, which had been founded in 1837, in the aftermath of the early 19th century Quaker campaign against the African slave trade
African slave trade
Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient world. In some African societies, the enslaved people were also indentured servants and fully integrated; in others, they were treated much worse...
.
The new society was to be 'a centre and depository for the collection and systematization of all observations made on human races'.
Almost from the start, the membership found itself divided over racialist issues concerning the difference between monogenism and polygenism
Polygenism
Polygenism is a theory of human origins positing that the human races are of different lineages . This is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity.- Origins :...
, and between 1863 and 1870 there were two organizations, the Ethnological Society and the Anthropological Society.
The Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1871) was the result of a merger between these two rival bodies.
Permission to add the word 'Royal' was granted in 1907.
Publications
The Institute publishes three journals.Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, formerly Man
Man
The term man is used for an adult human male . However, man is sometimes used to refer to humanity as a whole...
, is a quarterly journal with articles on all aspects of anthropology, as well as correspondence and a section of book reviews. The Journal provides an important forum for 'anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
as a whole', embracing social anthropology
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
, archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, biological anthropology
Biological anthropology
Biological anthropology is that branch of anthropology that studies the physical development of the human species. It plays an important part in paleoanthropology and in forensic anthropology...
and the study of material culture. A Special (fifth) issue was inaugurated in 2006. The Special Issue appears annually, is guest-edited or single-authored, and addresses different themes in anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
from year to year.
Anthropology Today is a bimonthly publication which aims to provide a forum for the application of anthropological analysis to public and topical issues, while reflecting the breadth of interests within the discipline of anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
. It is committed to promoting debate at the interface between anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and areas of applied knowledge such as education, medicine and development; as well as that between anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and other academic disciplines.
Anthropological Index Online
Anthropological Index Online
The Anthropological Index Online is an international journal indexing service for anthropology.The service indexes the journals received by The Anthropology Library at The British Museum which receives periodicals in all branches of anthropology, from academic institutions and publishers around...
was launched in 1997. The Index is an online bibliographic service for researchers, teachers and students of anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
worldwide. Access is free to individual users; institutional users (except those in developing countries) pay an annual subscription. Major European and other languages of scholarship are covered, and new material is added on a continuing basis.
The RAI Collection
The RAI has a unique reference and research collection comprising photos, films, archives and manuscripts.The photographic library consists of over 75,000 historic prints, negatives, lantern-slides and other images, the earliest dating from the 1860s. The photo library illustrates the great diversity and vitality of the world's cultures as well as the history of photographic image-making itself.
The RAI is actively involved in developing ethnographic film and video, as a mode of anthropological enquiry and as an educational resource. It has an extensive collectionn of videos, copies of which are available for sale for educational and academic purposes. Films can be studied and previewed onsite.
The archive and manuscript collection spans a period of over 150 years, providing a unique historical record of the discipline and of the Institute itself. Much unpublished textual and visual material entrusted to the RAI over the years is held in the manuscript collection, which is being conserved and catalogued on a continuing basis.
Access to the RAI Collection is free to all RAI Fellows, Members, Student Associates and all undergraduate students by prior appointment. Others may visit the Collection on payment of an access fee.
The RAI has a close association with the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
's Anthropology Library, which incorporates the former RAI Library given to the Museum in 1976. The Library is located within the Centre for Anthropology at the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, and is effectively Britain's national anthropological library. All may use the Library on site; RAI Fellows may borrow books acquired by the RAI.
Huxley Memorial Medal
The Huxley Memorial Medal was established in 1900 in memory of Thomas Henry Huxley to identify and acknowledge the work of scientists, British or foreign, distinguished in any field of anthropological research. It is the highest honour awarded by the Royal Anthropological Institute. It is awarded annually, by ballot of the Council. Recipients include:
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