Anthropology, ethnology

The anthropology and ethnology collections located at the François Mitterrand Library (Site François-Mitterrand) reflect major themes in contemporary research. The main fields covered by open-access materials are as follows:

• the methodology, epistemology, and history of the discipline
• the anthropology of families and relatives 
• political and economic anthropology 
• aesthetic anthropology 
• ethnomusicology 
• the ethnosciences (ethnomedicine, ethnobotany, and technology) 
• psychiatric anthropology and ethno-psychoanalysis 
• biological and physical anthropology
  

The Reference library mainly holds French language books and journals. Significant importance is placed on reference studies on the history of French ethnology, as well as research into ancient French colonies. A collection of museum and exhibition catalogs recounts the evolution of major museums and ethnology collections. Published works by the founding fathers of anthropology and ethnology are represented in
full in the Reference library.

Also available for consultation in the Reference library are leading French journals such as L’Homme, Journal de la Société des Africanistes, Journal de la Société des Américanistes, Journal de la Société des Océanistes, and Gradhiva.

The Research library’s collections cover a wide variety of geographical and linguistic areas. They are representative of the diversity of international research, and are not only in French and English, but also German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages.

Like the Reference library, the Research library holds all published works by the founding fathers of anthropology and ethnology. Examples include J.-J. Bachofen, Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski, Lewis Henry Morgan, and Marcel Mauss.
Collections of travel and discovery journals and missionary society manuscripts in microfiche form also constitute important sources for the discipline.

Also available is a wide range of international journals, including in particular American Ethnologist, Current Anthropology, Man, Anthropos, Terrain, and Paideuma.