Cultural Anthropology research paper suggestions

Cultural anthropology -- the study of human societies and cultures and their origins, history, variation and development . . . the comparative study of human culture in all aspects including social structure, language, law, politics, religion, magic, art, and technology.

Some suggested topics for your paper:

Note-- these instructions are for students taking the course during a regular semester, not the 5-week Bridge module course

See the course syllabus for detailed instructions on the research for and writing of this paper.

  1. A description of key points of a culture in which you are interested (a brief ethnography)
  2. An in-depth look at the concept of "worldview" or the comparison of the worldviews of two societies
  3. Religious beliefs or practices of a particular society
  4. Marriage/family in a particular group or comparison between societies
  5. Types of economic organization/systems
  6. Language acquisition
  7. The influence of language on culture
  8. Views about ancestors
  9. The role of women in a given society
  10. Doing fieldwork as an anthropologist
  11. The importance of cultural anthropology to the missionary . . . or to the business executive . . .or to the educator . . . or to the . . .
  12. Ethnocentrism and some tips on how to minimize it
  13. The idea of cultural baggage and how to minimize it
  14. Culture shock: What it is and how to best work through it

These topics are given to you as idea starters. You may use one of these or some adaptation of it or you may come up with a different topic that interests you more. Leafing through any introduction to cultural anthropology book may also stimulate your thinking in terms of a topic.

Ready for some cross-cultural humor?

NextMissionaries and other people working and living cross-culturally commit lots of little cultural errors that provide laughter for their hosts (and for themselves as well). [ more ]

    -- Howard Culbertson


Cultural Anthropology course resources:    Cultural bingo icebreaker     Bwanda Fusa game    Cultural anthropology case studies    Christianity and culture    Course home page     Culture shock (a.k.a. cultural adjustment)    Ethnocentrism and monoculturalism    Exam study guides    Iceberg and concentric circles models of culture     What do we think we see? Light bulb illustration    Missions and culture    My own culture shock     PowerPoint presentations used in class     Reentry: Coming home

10/40 Window explanation and map     Mission trip fundraising     Ten ways to ruin mission trips