Anthropos is the international journal of anthropology and linguistics, founded in 1906 by Wilhelm Schmidt, missonary and member of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD). Its main purpose is the study of human societies in their cultural dimension. In honor of Wilhelm Schmidt‘s legacy, the cultivation of anthropology, ethnology, linguistics, and religious studies remain an essential component oft he Anthropos Institute – the organizational carrier of the journal.
Letting the St. George of the medieval legend stand for the Self (G) and the Dragon (D) for the Other (human and nonhuman), then a priori their relationship lends itself to three main models: the first, g < D, where the Other gives all and receives...
The thinkers who founded anthropology and prehistory in the nineteenth century were almost entirely untrained in the subject, and indeed had often distinguished themselves in other professions altogether. Their efforts, along with the development of...
The article presents the concept of totemism as a prototype (as understood by Eleanor Rosch) of the phenomena characteristic of traditional thinking, i.e., as an idealised scheme structured by attributes of phenomena central to a given category. The...
The idea that the borders between different natural species can be easily bridged by metamorphoses was central to the ancient worldview. Humans were believed to be able to undress their human appearance and to transform into any beast whichever, or,...
This is the first published account of kin classification of Mego, a district in the extreme eastern part of the Lio region of Flores Island. Despite recent changes affecting marriage practices, the terminology survives as a classification of...
The ethnographic study tends to explore female perception concerning diverse skin colors and different connotations associated with it in Pakistan’s society. It is intended to highlight preferable and judgmental cognitions attached with gender...
In recent years, the Palestinian city of Nablus has experienced great suffering due to attacks by the Israeli forces. Strict curfews imposed on the city did not only affect daily life and lead to deteriorating economic conditions, but also had an...
Based on an ethnographic survey on cannabis cultivation in Morocco, this article examines the emergence of economic, political, and associative elites in a marginalized space strongly marked by illegalism. The article also analyzes the relationships...
In the North-Tunisian town of Testour one can observe the role of the saint most respected in Testour society: Sidi Ali el Arian. People visit his shrine to make individual offerings and for collective celebrations, especially the annual festival...
This article concerns administrative and cultural mechanisms that the colonial government and the Catholic Steyler missionaries (SVD) in German Togo were using in the process of transforming the traditional social fabric of local ethnic groups ‒...
In this article we address the ways in which the land struggles in the Andean province of Jujuy, Argentina, were interpreted, since the end of the 19th century, in terms of a “communist threat.” The accusation of being a “communist” was...
The text is part of a series of publications (Palma 2018a, 2018b, 2019) of the unpublished travel diaries of the German Catholic missionary priest and researcher that are preserved in the archive of the Anthropos Institute in Sankt Augustin,...
At the beginnings of the 20th century, the German anthropologist Konrad Theodor Preuss (1869-1938) studied different literary traditions from Amerindian cultures. During his investigations in Mexico among the Cora, Huichol, and Mexicanero, he...
The article presents beliefs and rituals related to All Souls’ Day typical for folk Catholicism in Poland. It is based on the results of the ethnographic fieldwork conducted by the author in Radom and Opoczno regions (central Poland), in the years...