All Explainers
27 so far, newest first
Browse by area: Kinship & Family Structures (13) · Models in Anthropology (7) · Network Analysis (3) · Cultural Evolution (3) · Methods & Tools (6) · Books & Teaching (4) · Science & Society (5)
Systems thinking books for people who study societies
Systems thinking and complexity books by level for readers of anthropology: Meadows on feedback, Mitchell on complexity, Schelling on social models.
The best anthropology books, from a first read to the field's classics
Anthropology books for beginners and beyond: three to start with, then kinship, evolution, methods and the fieldwork classics courses still assign.
Second cousin once removed and twice removed, explained with a chart
A second cousin once removed is your parent's second cousin or your second cousin's child; twice removed adds one more generation. A chart and DNA figures.
The Iroquois kinship system, with a chart of who is called what
The Iroquois kinship system explained: a chart of bifurcate merging terms, parallel and cross cousins, the generation below, and how Dravidian systems differ.
Descent rules on one family tree, from patrilineal to bilateral
Patrilineal, matrilineal, double, bilateral and ambilineal descent worked on one family tree, with lineages, clans and kindreds defined and residence rules.
AncestryDNA vs 23andMe for finding relatives: which match list does more
AncestryDNA vs 23andMe for finding relatives: database size, how matches and shared cM are shown, trees, segment tools, privacy and when to test both.
Genetic genealogy books by level, from a first DNA test to written proof
A reading guide to genetic genealogy and DNA genealogy books grouped by level: starting out, working with DNA matches, and going deeper into proof and cases.
Phylogenetic methods for cultural traits: reading history off a language tree
How language trees let researchers reconstruct ancestral customs and test links between traits, with a hand-worked example, cattle and descent, and borrowing.
How many ancestors do I have? Counts for 10, 12 and 20 generations
You have 2^n ancestors n generations back and 2^(n+1) - 2 in all: 1,024 at 10 generations, 4,096 at 12, over a million at 20. Why fewer real people fill them.
The Eskimo kinship system explained with a diagram and examples
The Eskimo or lineal kinship system explained: a diagram of who is called what, examples from English and Europe, and how it differs from the other five types.
Kinship terms in sociology: primary, secondary and tertiary relatives with examples
Primary, secondary and tertiary relatives, terms of address and reference, and descriptive vs classificatory terms, with a table of examples and the arithmetic.
First cousin once removed vs second cousin: the difference, with a chart
A first cousin once removed is your parent's first cousin or your first cousin's child. A second cousin shares your great-grandparents. Chart, DNA, degrees.