National Nonprofit Day (NND) is commemorated each year on August 17th to recognize the positive impacts that nonprofit organizations have on communities and the world. Show your support by donating and by sharing #NationalNonprofitDay on social media.

HRAF is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization and eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. Your generous contribution will support our funding priorities such as the HRAF Global Scholars program and the development of our open access resources (Explaining Human Culture, eHRAF Workbooks, Teaching eHRAF, and our online introductory course for comparative and cross-cultural research.)

Click here to donate to the Friends of HRAF

HRAF is pleased to announce that we are accepting applications for the HRAF Global Scholars Program 2025. 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. Our current cohort of HRAF Global Scholars includes four individuals representing Ethiopia, India, Morocco, and the Philippines.

The application deadline is October 1, 2024. Awardees will be notified in December and access to the eHRAF databases will be granted for the 2025 calendar year.

Click here to read about the HRAF Global Scholars Program

The second HRAF Academic Quarterly of 2024 by Dr. Francine Barone features 10 publications based on research using data from the eHRAF databases as well as open access resources including Explaining Human Culture (EHC) and Teaching eHRAF.

Topics featured this month include:

• Machine learning approach to HRAF data
• Teaching and leadership in hunter-gatherer societies
• Computational and cross-cultural analyses of knots
• Multi-Capital Leadership Theory (MCL)
• Large Language Models (LLMs) and anthropology
• CultureBank and culturally aware language technologies
• Gamification system for appreciation in museums
• Australian Message Stick Database (AMSD)
• Memorial to Indonesian anthropologist and HRAF researcher Koentjaraningrat

Click here to read the HRAF Academic Quarterly

In honor of our 75th anniversary, we are pleased to feature video recordings from members of the broader HRAF community. This month we are featuring a video from Zach Garfield, Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science at

Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique.

As he describes in his profile, Zach is an interdisciplinary behavioral scientist and evolutionary anthropologist.

His research explores the dynamics between individual behavioral strategies and group dynamics, particularly during cultural transitions. He explores leadership, social learning, conflict resolution, and economic strategies, analyzing their responses to group-level influences like network dynamics, political structures, and cultural norms. He draws on adaptationist, behavioral-ecological, and cultural-evolutionary frameworks.

Zach hopes to contribute to the development of robust theories rooted firmly in empirical evidence.

Click here to watch the video from Zach Garfield