Anthropology papers

Pofolia’s corpus holds 93 papers from Anthropology (2012–2026), each with a short summary. Below, the 20 most-cited, then the most recently added.

At a glance

• Most cited: The Institutional Logics Perspective (2012, 3,530 citations).
• The 20 papers listed have 36,858 citations between them.
• 4 of the 4 with a known journal quartile appeared in a Q1 journal.
• 1 have a free full text (open access).
• Most frequent journals: Science, Choice Reviews Online, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.
• Published between 2012 and 2021.

Most cited

Ranked by citation count. Because citations accumulate over time, this list naturally leans towards work published a few years ago; for where the field is now, see “recently added”. How to read the signals

• The Institutional Logics Perspective

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2012 · FWCI 208.57 · 3,530 citations

  This book introduces and elaborates on the institutional logics perspective, a framework that explains how institutions shape individual and organizational cognition and action, and vice versa.

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• Stone Age Economics

  2012 · FWCI 250.91 · 3,021 citations

  Marshall Sahlins's "Stone Age Economics" argues that hunter-gatherer societies were the original "affluent society," challenging traditional economic views.

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• Place: A Short Introduction

  Localities · 2012 · FWCI 1146.57 · 2,892 citations

  This abstract outlines a book that introduces the concept of 'place' by exploring its definitions, historical development, and practical applications across various disciplines.

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• On the Postcolony

  2019 · FWCI 264.64 · 2,694 citations

  Achille Mbembe's "On the Postcolony" offers a profound renewal of understanding power and subjectivity in Africa, challenging established Africanist, nativist, and postcolonial theories.

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• “Orientalism - Western Conceptions of the Orient”

  2012 · FWCI 749.89 · 2,678 citations

  Between 1815 and 1914, European colonial dominion expanded dramatically, driven by a conception of the 'Orient' as inherently inferior and ripe for Western control and ownership.

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• Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis: Elements of the Sociology of Corporate Life

  2021 · FWCI 310.15 · 2,234 citations

  This paper outlines a framework for analyzing organizations by categorizing sociological paradigms into four distinct types: functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist, and radical structuralist.

• Carnal Knowledge and Imperial Power

  2020 · FWCI 117.92 · 2,212 citations

  This work argues that managing sexual arrangements and affective attachments was crucial for establishing colonial categories and asserting European supremacy.

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• Expectations of Modernity

  2019 · FWCI 130.89 · 2,202 citations

  This ethnographic study explores how Zambian mineworkers in the Copperbelt region navigate social and cultural responses to a prolonged period of economic decline since the mid-1970s, challenging standard narratives of urbanization.

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• A High-Coverage Genome Sequence from an Archaic Denisovan Individual

  Science · 2012 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · FWCI 670.91 · 2,137 citations

  Researchers developed a new DNA library preparation method to sequence a Denisovan genome at 30x coverage, revealing extremely low genetic diversity in this extinct human relative.

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• The institutional logics perspective: a new approach to culture, structure, and process

  Choice Reviews Online · 2012 · 1,969 citations

  This paper introduces the institutional logics perspective as a novel framework for understanding how culture, structure, and process interact within organizations and fields.

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• Ethnography: Step-by-Step

  2020 · FWCI 38.32 · 1,859 citations

  This abstract outlines a structured, step-by-step approach to conducting ethnographic research, framing it as a practical guide for navigating fieldwork.

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• Affect and Emotion: A New Social Science Understanding

  2012 · FWCI 95.42 · 1,816 citations

  This work synthesizes research across disciplines to propose a unified agenda for understanding affect and emotion in social science.

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• Qualitative research: deductive and inductive approaches to data analysis

  Qualitative Research Journal · 2018 · Q1 · FWCI 129.43 · 1,241 citations

  This paper presents a model for systematically analyzing qualitative data using both deductive and inductive approaches, addressing a gap in methodological literature, especially for novice researchers.

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• Beyond the suffering subject: toward an anthropology of the good

  Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute · 2013 · Q1 · FWCI 192.14 · 1,210 citations

  Anthropology shifted focus from 'other' societies to the 'suffering subject' in the 1980s, potentially losing critical capacities. The paper proposes a new direction: an 'anthropology of the good' to regain critical force without past weaknesses.

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• Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition

  The AAG Review of Books · 2016 · FWCI 946.08 · 971 citations · Open access

  This book critiques the "politics of recognition" as a colonial tool that perpetuates Indigenous subjugation by focusing on symbolic gestures rather than substantive decolonization.

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• Globalization and the Decolonial Option

  2013 · FWCI 39.33 · 860 citations

  This collection of essays explores the concept of 'coloniality' as a persistent structure of power and knowledge that extends beyond formal colonialism, arguing for a 'decolonial option' to dismantle these enduring systems.

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• From Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

  2019 · FWCI 688.81 · 856 citations

  This abstract is a personal reflection and does not contain research findings, data, or scientific claims.

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• Ethnography and the Historical Imagination

  2019 · FWCI 21.68 · 846 citations

  This volume presents essays by John and Jean Comaroff, offering a new approach to "imaginative sociology" that bridges ethnography and historical anthropology. It explores how human differences are constructed, power dynamics are shaped, and local cultures interact with global forms.

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• What Kinship Is-And Is Not

  2013 · FWCI 48.82 · 828 citations

  Kinship is defined as a symbolic, cultural notion of belonging where individuals are parts of one another, experiencing each other's joys and sorrows, rather than a biological connection by blood.

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• A high-coverage Neandertal genome from Vindija Cave in Croatia

  Science · 2017 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · FWCI 293.68 · 802 citations

  A ~50,000-year-old female Neandertal genome from Croatia, sequenced to ~30-fold coverage, shows fewer genetic differences within her genome than modern humans, suggesting small Neandertal population sizes.

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Recently added

• Horse mandible from Plotiště nad Labem, Czech Republic, reveals a mode of equine control in the Early Bronze Age

  Journal of Archaeological Science Reports · 2026 · Q1

  A horse mandible from the Early Bronze Age settlement of Plotiště nad Labem (Czech Republic) shows bone remodelling indicative of a loop tightened around the diastema for control, suggesting a control method distinct from bitting and potentially one of the earliest forms of horse management in Europe.

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• Colonial continuity and the African film industry: A comparative political economy of structural reproduction

  Media Culture & Society · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 1.00

  African film industries, despite global prestige, generate only $5 billion against a $20 billion potential due to colonial-era economic structures that persist through postcolonial institutions and digital platforms, serving global capital over local interests.

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• Temporal Systematics of the Early Agricultural Period in Southern Arizona and Northwest Mexico

  KIVA · 2026 · Q1

  A new radiocarbon-based chronology for the Tucson Basin's Early Agricultural Period (2100 BC–AD 50) has been modeled in OxCal, incorporating two site-specific studies.

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• Why Colonoware? Exploring Functional Variations in Hand-Built Coarse Earthenwares across the Historical Upper Southeast

  American Antiquity · 2026 · Q1

  Colonoware pottery in Virginia was primarily used for tableware, while in South Carolina, it served dual roles for cooking and serving, revealing regional functional differences in its production and use by marginalized communities.

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• Faunal Evidence and the Duration of Occupation: A Statistical Approach to Neanderthal Archaeological Sites

  Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory · 2026 · Q1 · SJR 1.00

  Neanderthal occupation duration at archaeological sites can be better estimated using anthropogenic modifications and the number of exploited taxa, which show the strongest correlation with duration, unlike the number of taxa or carnivore activity alone.

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• WARDING OFF A ROMAN INVASION IN AETHIOPIA (UPPER NUBIA) WITH TALL ELEPHANT TALES? REVISITING PLINY, NATURALIS HISTORIA 6.186

  The Classical Quarterly · 2026 · Q2

  This paper argues against the theory that Romans under Nero avoided invading Upper Nubia (Aethiopia) due to a belief in a large war elephant army, finding this interpretation of Pliny's Naturalis Historia 6.186 textually and contextually unsupported.

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• Flexible Late Mousterian lithic technological organisation at Riparo l’Oscurusciuto (Italy): A typo-technological and 3D-based approach

  Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences · 2026 · Q1 · Open access

  Lithic artifacts from Riparo l’Oscurusciuto (Italy) spanning 55-42 kya BP show a consistent technological tradition, suggesting a single, long-lasting Late Mousterian technocomplex occupation.

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• A high-resolution, multi-method palaeoenvironmental record from pan sediments at Maralaleng Pan, southern Kalahari basin

  PLoS ONE · 2026 · Q1

  Palaeoenvironmental analysis of Maralaleng Pan sediments reveals alternating wet (lake) and dry (evaporative) conditions, suggesting hominin presence during fluctuating lacustrine environments in MIS 5 and peak moisture in MIS 3.

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Journals in this field

The journals that publish most of this field’s papers. Quartile (Q1–Q4), SJR and h-index are from SCImago Journal Rank; “in this field” is how many of the journal’s pooled papers belong here. What is a Q1 journal? · What is the h-index?

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