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| Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Human Relations Area Files |
| Formation | 1949 |
| Type | Research organization |
| Headquarters | New Haven, Connecticut |
| Leader title | President and CEO |
| Leader name | Henry McKee |
| Website | hraf.yale.edu |
Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) is an international nonprofit research institution and consortium based in New Haven, Connecticut, founded to promote comparative anthropological and cross-cultural study. It curates ethnographic, archaeological, and historical data to facilitate systematic comparison across societies, supporting scholarship in anthropology, archaeology, and related fields. HRAF provides structured databases, standardized coding schemes, and digital tools used by researchers, educators, and institutions worldwide.
HRAF was established in 1949 during a postwar expansion of social science research influenced by figures such as Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, and organizations like the Carnegie Corporation and Rockefeller Foundation. Early collaborators included scholars from Columbia University, Yale University, and the University of California, Berkeley, who sought to remedy fragmented ethnographic knowledge evident in comparative studies undertaken by authors such as George Peter Murdock and projects tied to the American Anthropological Association. Over ensuing decades HRAF expanded collections through partnerships with institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, and Royal Anthropological Institute, adapting to shifts marked by events like the rise of computing in the 1960s influenced by work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and policy interests associated with the National Science Foundation.
HRAF operates as a membership-based consortium collaborating with universities such as Harvard University, Princeton University, Stanford University, and University of Chicago and international partners like University College London and the University of Toronto. Its mission emphasizes cross-cultural comparison, encouraging standards compatible with methodological perspectives advanced by scholars affiliated with American Museum of Natural History, University of Pennsylvania, and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Governance has involved trustees and directors drawn from institutions including Yale School of Medicine, Columbia College, and research councils such as the Social Science Research Council. HRAF’s leadership has engaged with funding and policy actors including the Ford Foundation and national bodies like the National Endowment for the Humanities.
HRAF curates extensive ethnographic and archaeological corpora including the eHRAF World Cultures, eHRAF Archaeology, and related microform and paper archives. Collections draw on field reports and publications associated with ethnographers like Bronisław Malinowski, Alfred Russel Wallace, Edward Burnett Tylor, and Lewis Henry Morgan as well as entries from compendia used by scholars at University College London and museums including the Field Museum of Natural History. The databases employ subject classifications and codes influenced by comparative projects by George Peter Murdock and digital cataloging standards developed with assistance from institutions such as the Library of Congress and OCLC. Holdings feature materials from regions represented by studies of groups like the Inuit, Maori, Navajo Nation, Yanomami, and Zulu drawing on fieldwork histories connected to expeditions supported by entities such as the Royal Geographical Society and the American Philosophical Society.
Researchers use HRAF’s cross-cultural samples to test hypotheses in areas historically addressed by scholars including Claude Lévi-Strauss, Marshall Sahlins, Elman Service, and Leslie White. Methods range from comparative coding influenced by George Peter Murdock’s cross-cultural datasets to qualitative content analysis akin to approaches by Clifford Geertz and mixed-methods integrating statistical techniques used at Columbia University and University of Michigan. Applications include studies of kinship traced in works referencing Franz Boas, subsistence analyses in traditions discussed by V. Gordon Childe, and ritual and belief research resonant with research from Max Weber and Émile Durkheim-inspired frameworks. HRAF resources have been cited in publications appearing in journals associated with American Anthropologist, Current Anthropology, and the Journal of Archaeological Science.
HRAF provides curriculum materials and teaching modules adopted in courses at institutions like Yale College, University of California, Los Angeles, Brown University, and King’s College London. Outreach involves workshops, webinars, and summer institutes with contributions from scholars affiliated with University of Cambridge, Australian National University, and the University of Nairobi. Collaborative projects have included digitization partnerships with organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution and collaborative grants from organizations like the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and National Endowment for the Humanities.
HRAF distributes its primary products, including eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology, through subscription and institutional licensing used by universities such as Columbia University, University of Oxford, McGill University, and public libraries coordinated with aggregators like ProQuest and library systems linked to OCLC. Digital platforms support advanced search, subject indexing, and citation tools compatible with standards promoted by the Library of Congress and integration efforts with repositories like JSTOR and Google Scholar. Licensing models address rights for materials originating from archives including the British Library and transactional arrangements reflecting precedents set by entities such as Elsevier and Springer Nature.
HRAF has faced critique regarding representation and colonial legacies in collections originating from expeditions tied to institutions like the British Museum and fieldwork historically supported by the Carnegie Institution. Scholars associated with postcolonial critiques at SOAS University of London and decolonization advocates from University of Cape Town have challenged classification schemes reminiscent of earlier comparative work by George Peter Murdock and interpretive frames linked to analysts like Radcliffe-Brown. Debates have concerned consent, repatriation, and contextualization of materials similar to controversies involving the Smithsonian Institution, British Museum, and regional legal disputes such as those engaging UNESCO conventions and national cultural heritage laws.
Category:Anthropology organizations