Human Relations Area Files
From Free net encyclopedia
A not-for-profit organization, the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF) was founded in 1949 to provide ethnographic data from many societies for research. It is currently located near Yale University in New Haven, CT. Originally, the materials were on paper, but later the information was preserved on microfilm. Now many of the files are accessible on an electronic data base. Besides the ethnographic data, archaeological files are also available.
History
The project that would ultimately be organized into HRAF was begun by George Peter Murdock as the Cross-Cultural Survey project in 1937. At the time it was founded, it was highly controversial, because American anthropologists were strongly influenced by Franz Boas and his historical particularism. Boas believed that comparisons should not be made between cultures.
External links
References
- McGee, Jon R., 2004. Anthropological Theory: An Introductory History, 3rd Ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill) ISBN 0-07-284046-3
