HRAF News Vol. 2021-10
HRAF to exhibit at 2021 AAA Annual Meeting in Baltimore
HRAF invites you to visit our booth at the 2021 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting next month in Baltimore, Maryland. This will be a hybrid meeting and our first opportunity in two years to reconnect in person. Virtual attendees may visit our online booth throughout the event. After a remarkable 30-year career, HRAF announces the retirement of our IT Team Leader, Doug Black. Please join us in congratulating Doug on his retirement. Is romantic kissing a cultural universal? Anthropology students from the University of Connecticut draw on cross-cultural research to explore this question in their class projects. Your generous contribution to our Friends of HRAF program will support us in continuing to promote the development of our open access resources for comparative and cross-cultural research. Learn about joining Friends of HRAF below, or find out more by visiting our AAA booth in Baltimore.
The 2021 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting will be a hybrid meeting. Join HRAF either in person in Baltimore, Maryland from November 17-21, 2021, or virtually over those same dates. The in-person meeting will take place at the Baltimore Convention Center, Level 300, in the Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor Hotel.

This year's theme is "Truth and Responsibility". According to the AAA, the goal is to "reimagine anthropology to meet the demands of the present moment". Anthropology is "a holistic social science dedicated to cross-cultural understanding as a way to reduce bigotry and more fully comprehend 'what it means to be human'".

This theme resonates with HRAF's mission to promote understanding of cultural diversity and commonality in the past and present. We look forward to seeing you at the 2021 AAA Annual Meeting.

HRAF announces the retirement of Douglas Black, our longtime IT Team Leader and Software Application Developer. After an incredible tenure spanning over three decades, Doug will be greatly missed by all. His contributions have shaped, and will continue to shape, the development of HRAF as an organization well into the future.

Doug has witnessed many HRAF milestones, including the transition from paper files and microfiche to digital collections. His role has involved establishing document structures, production processes, and conversion specifications underlying the eHRAF databases. He has been the lead database engineer, as well as maintaining the classification systems at the foundation of our indexed collections.

HRAF wishes Doug all the very best for the future and a well-deserved, happy, and healthy retirement.

As a global organization, HRAF strives to makes a difference in the world. This critical work is made possible by our loyal members, and also by contributions from individuals and institutions who believe in our mission. 
 
Joining the Friends of HRAF and donating to our organization will help us to continue developing open access resources, as well as support the HRAF Global Scholars.
 
For over 70 years, HRAF has been fulfilling our mission to promote understanding of cultural diversity and commonality in the past and present. To accomplish this mission, HRAF produces scholarly resources and infrastructure for research, teaching, and learning, and supports and conducts original research on cross-cultural variation.

HRAF is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Donations to support our efforts are tax-deductible.
 
Is romantic kissing a cultural universal? Students at the University of Connecticut presented class projects which explored this question. The projects examined findings from a well-known study by cross-cultural researchers, which included data from eHRAF World Cultures and have been featured by National Public Radio (NPR). A student interview with anthropologist William Jankowiak from UNLV is featured in an article on the HRAF homepage.

HRAF's member services manager, Matthew Longcore, teaches anthropology and archaeology at UConn, a HRAF member institution. In ANTH 1000, student teams make presentations on anthropological topics covered by NPR and based on findings from eHRAF Workbook activities designed to complement introductory courses in cultural anthropology. If you teach with the eHRAF databases, we would like to hear from you. Please contact us at hraf@yale.edu.

HRAF at Yale University|hraf.yale.edu