Human Relations Area Files

Part of a series on
Anthropology
Outline History
Types Archaeological Biological Cultural Linguistic Social
Archaeological Aerial Aviation Battlefield Biblical Bioarchaeological Environmental Ethnoarchaeological Experiential Feminist Forensic Maritime Paleoethnobotanical Zooarchaeological
Biological Anthrozoological Biocultural Evolutionary Forensic Molecular Neurological Nutritional Paleoanthropological Primatological
Social Cultural Applied Art Cognitive Cyborg Development Digital Ecological Environmental Economic Political economy Feminist Food Historical Institutional Kinship Legal Media Medical Museums Musical Political Psychological Public Religion Symbolic Transpersonal Urban Visual
Linguistic Anthropological Descriptive Ethnological Ethnopoetical Historical Semiotic Sociological
Research framework Anthropometry Ethnography cyber Ethnology Cross-cultural comparison Participant observation Holism Reflexivity Thick description Cultural relativism Ethnocentrism Emic and etic
Key concepts Culture Development Ethnicity Evolution sociocultural Gender Kinship and descent Meme Prehistory Race Society Value Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Key theories Actor–network theory Alliance theory Cross-cultural studies Cultural materialism Culture theory Diffusionism Feminism Historical particularism Boasian anthropology Functionalism Interpretive Performance studies Political economy Practice theory Structuralism Post-structuralism Systems theory
Lists Anthropologists by nationality Anthropology by year Bibliography Journals List of indigenous peoples Organizations
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The Human Relations Area Files, Inc. (HRAF), located in New Haven, Connecticut, US, is an international nonprofit membership organization with over 500 member institutions in more than 20 countries. A financially autonomous research agency based at Yale University since 1949, its mission is to promote understanding of cultural diversity and commonality in the past and present. To accomplish this mission, the Human Relations Area Files produces scholarly resources and infrastructure for research, teaching and learning, and supports and conducts original research on cross-cultural variation.

HRAF produces two flagship databases accessible by its members: eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology. HRAF also sponsors and edits the quarterly journal, Cross-Cultural Research: The Journal of Comparative Social Science. Expanded and updated annually, eHRAF World Cultures includes ethnographic materials on cultures, past and present, all over the world. Also expanding annually, eHRAF Archaeology covers major archaeological traditions and many more sub-traditions and sites around the world. Documents in both eHRAF databases are subject-indexed at the paragraph level by HRAF anthropologists.

In addition, HRAF offers several open-access resources. Explaining Human Culture is a database with standardized summaries that provides a searchable way for researchers to find out what has been learned from previous cross-cultural research about cultural universals and differences. Explaining Human Culture also features topical articles on cross-cultural insights (e.g., cross-cultural perspectives on childhood, dwellings, and sports). Introducing Cross-Cultural Research is a series of PDFs constituting a "crash course" in cross-cultural methods. Finally, Teaching eHRAF is a library of teaching exercises and syllabi (many designed by professors at member institutions) that use eHRAF to explore cultural diversity.