HRAF News Vol. 2023-09
HRAF Research Anthropologist reflects
on experience as a Fulbright Scholar
This month we are pleased to feature the work of HRAF Research Anthropologist Dr. Teferi Abate Adem who recently returned from a yearlong visit to Ethiopia through the Fulbright Scholars Program. We are also previewing a forthcoming publication on Uniformity in Dress from the September issue of Human Nature co-authored by HRAF President Dr. Carol Ember and former interns Abbe McCarter and Erik Ringen. Our featured HRAF Global Scholar Vivian Scheinsohn is an an archaeologist working in Argentinian Patagonia who uses data from eHRAF Archaeology in both her research and teaching. HRAF is currently accepting applications for the HRAF Global Scholars Program 2024. The application deadline is October 1, 2023.
HRAF Research Anthropologist Dr. Teferi Abate Adem recently returned from a yearlong visit to Ethiopia through the Fulbright Scholars Program. In a post for the HRAF homepage, Tef shared his reflections on the experience.

Tef, who has been a member of the HRAF staff since 2005, conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in the Wollo area of Ethiopia. His host institution, Wollo University, offered much-needed support including access to libraries and archives.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Tef taught and supervised social anthropology graduate students, he helped Wollo University to organize an international conference, and he gave invited talks at other universities. In his homepage post, Tef describes his ethnographic research, teaching and advising duties, dissertation supervision, the conferences and on-campus workshops he attended, and his opportunities to network with colleagues in other universities.
Why do people in some societies dress in uniform or standardized ways, whereas in other societies individuals display considerable variability in dress? Tentative answers to this question will appear in the September issue of Human Nature authored by Carol R. Ember, Abbe McCarter, and Erik Ringen. The broader research question is: Why some societies have more within-group variation than others?

The researchers start with two main theoretical expectations. The first is that uniformity in dress reflects a broader cultural trait commonly referred to as "cultural tightness." The second is that dress might unconsciously reflect a society’s social structure. 

Hypotheses were tested on 80 societies drawn from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS). Two independent coders were asked to answer questions about dress based primarily on reading ethnography found in eHRAF World Cultures to find relevant paragraphs on dress.
HRAF is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications for the HRAF Global Scholars Program 2024. This program provides scholars around the world with one year of complimentary access to both of our databases, eHRAF World Cultures and eHRAF Archaeology.
Should further access be desired beyond the award year, memberships are available in our lowest dues category.

The application deadline is October 1, 2023. Awardees will be notified in December and access to the eHRAF databases will be granted for the 2024 calendar year.

HRAF Global Scholar Vivian Scheinsohn, an archaeologist working in Argentinian Patagonia,
uses eHRAF Archaeology data both in her research and teaching.

Her research is focused on hunter-gatherers, studying the transition from pedestrian mobility to horse incorporation, a process that took place centuries ago in Patagonia, after the Spanish conquest.

Vivian uses eHRAF data to analyze examples of certain processes (intensification, regionalization, plant and animal domestication, states constitution, among others) that occurred in Argentina, as well as in other parts of the world.
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