Anthropological Quarterly

Anthropological Quarterly is a peer-reviewed academic journal publishing scholarship in cultural anthropology, ethnography, and related fields. Founded in 1928, it has been associated with institutions and figures prominent in 20th- and 21st-century social science circles, attracting contributions from scholars connected to Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Chicago, Oxford University, and University of California, Berkeley. The journal has engaged debates surrounding topics explored at venues such as the American Anthropological Association annual meetings, dialogues invoked by texts like The Interpretation of Cultures and Orientalism, and controversies connected to cases such as the Kennewick Man and the NAGPRA implementation.

History

The journal’s origins trace to the late interwar period, contemporaneous with publications such as American Anthropologist, Man (journal), and Current Anthropology. Early editors corresponded with figures active at the Smithsonian Institution, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. During the mid-20th century, contributors engaged with theoretical currents exemplified by scholars from Columbia School (sociology), interlocutors of Franz Boas, and colleagues connected to Radcliffe-Brown and Bronisław Malinowski debates. In the Cold War era the journal intersected with discussions influenced by institutions like the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Ford Foundation, and responded to postwar methodological shifts highlighted in works by authors linked to Cambridge School (anthropology). From the 1970s onward, special issues addressed topics resonant with Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War protest movements, and policy disputes in venues such as United Nations forums and panels involving UNESCO.

Scope and Content

The journal publishes articles, essays, and book reviews on ethnography, political ecology, legal pluralism, migration, indigeneity, and urban studies, alongside reflections connecting to works by Clifford Geertz, Edward Said, James Scott, Pierre Bourdieu, and Michel Foucault. Its comparative articles have treated case studies from regions including Sub-Saharan Africa (e.g., Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa), South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh), Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand), Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru), and the Arctic (Greenland, Alaska). Interdisciplinary engagements link to works and institutions such as Journal of Asian Studies, Latin American Research Review, Law & Society Association, and projects funded by the National Science Foundation and the Social Science Research Council. The journal addresses policy-relevant episodes like disputes over land reform in Bolivia and Zapatista uprising, controversies over cultural heritage exemplified by the Ishi narrative, and methodological debates found in texts such as Writing Culture.

Editorial Structure and Publication Details

The editorial board has historically included scholars affiliated with George Washington University, Smith College, New York University, Yale University, Princeton University, and Rutgers University. Production and distribution have involved partnerships with university presses and repositories like JSTOR and indexing in services including Scopus and Web of Science. The journal follows peer review practices similar to those of American Antiquity and Comparative Studies in Society and History, and it has published themed issues in coordination with conferences hosted by organizations such as the Social Science History Association and the Association for Asian Studies. Funding and support have come from bodies including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Influence and Reception

Commentary on the journal appears in bibliographies and historiographies alongside classics by Claude Lévi-Strauss, Marshall Sahlins, Sidney Mintz, and David Graeber. Its articles have been cited in policy reports produced by World Bank teams, in legal briefs connected to tribal sovereignty cases before courts like the United States Supreme Court, and in curricular lists for programs at London School of Economics, Australian National University, and University of Toronto. Reviews and critiques have appeared in venues such as Times Higher Education, The New Yorker long-form essays on anthropology, and specialist outlets like Ethnography and Cultural Anthropology. The journal has influenced museum exhibitions at institutions like the National Museum of Natural History and collaborative projects with Smithsonian Folklife Festival panels.

Notable Contributors and Special Issues

Contributors have included scholars linked to influential works by figures such as Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Zora Neale Hurston, Laura Nader, Paul Farmer, Annette Weiner, Marcel Mauss, Victor Turner, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Arjun Appadurai, Ulf Hannerz, Eric Wolf, Homi K. Bhabha, Lila Abu-Lughod, Michael F. Brown, Nancy Munn, Keith Hart, Joan Scott, Katherine Verdery, and Philippe Bourgois. Special issues have addressed themes tied to events like the Haiti earthquake (2010), the Arab Spring, the Berlin Wall’s fall, indigenous rights discussions around Standing Rock, and pandemics comparable to HIV/AIDS epidemic case studies. The journal has also featured symposia responding to books such as The Gift, Imagined Communities, and Weapons of the Weak, and to legal-cultural intersections exemplified by Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe-era jurisprudence.

Category:Anthropology journals