Department of Anthropology
Social and Cultural Anthropology is a discipline within the social sciences, grounded in a long-standing tradition of studying cultural diversity and processes of cultural change. Today, it is essential for analyzing issues such as inequality; social conflict; ethnic, class based, gendered, or age related identities; the dynamics of transnational organizations; and the contemporary transformations of popular and traditional cultures. These analyses are structured around diverse lines of research that incorporate contributions from related fields—including archaeology, history, sociology, and the environmental sciences. The Department’s firm commitment to ethnography—particularly participant observation as its defining method—combined with complementary qualitative and quantitative techniques, enables rigorous inquiry into any sphere of human social practice.
The Department approaches anthropological research from a broad, interdisciplinary perspective, fostering constant dialogue among its varied research lines. Its principal areas of study include socio environmental change; urban justice; the anthropology of science, with special attention to citizen science and technological sovereignty; tangible and intangible heritage, social memory, its public uses, and transnational circulation; transitional justice and reparation processes; transformations in religious cultures; educational policy and inequality; migration and the (re)production of social vulnerability; as well as the analysis of archaic societies.
The Department is widely recognized for its leadership in applying research to public policy. Its collective achievements, innovative approaches, and methodological experimentation position it as an important intellectual hub driving cutting edge, socially engaged, and globally relevant anthropological scholarship.
Members of the Department are editors of the journal Disparidades: Revista de Antropología, of the CSIC book series De Acá y de Allá. Fuentes Etnográficas. Department faculty also form part of the Laboratorio de Experimentación Etnográfica para la Transformación Social (Leetras) and the Laboratorio de Cronotopos, Humanidades Digitales y Ciencia Ciudadana of the Instituto de Lengua Literatura y Antropología (ILLA).
The Department has a strong and sustained record of scholarly productivity, with more than 115 publications in the past five years. Each year, it produces between three and five monographs or edited volumes and approximately fifteen peer reviewed journal articles, many of which are openly accessible through DIGITAL.CSIC. Output ranges from high impact monographs to collaboratively edited volumes, special issues, and reports oriented toward knowledge transfer and public engagement. Together, these publications reflect a dynamic and highly productive research environment with significant impact at local, national, and international levels.
Head of. Dept.: Alejandro Baer
Research Group
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