Enciclopédia de Antropologia

The intention from the outset was for this encyclopaedia of anthropology to be used as a work tool. Initially resulting from a partnership between students and professors of the Department of Anthropology at the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, it was born in the classroom, fed by the exchanges and debates that took place on the regular graduate courses. The project expanded, overflowing its original spaces, although remaining faithful to the spirit that first guided it – a spirit marked by experimentation and mutual learning, which, day by day, defined the profile and content of the work. Reflecting the way it has grown and evolved, the name attributed to the project (‘Encyclopaedia’) should not give the illusion of totality or completeness. On the contrary, it is a work in continual formation whose developments and additions will be defined by the research and the combined reflections of staff and students. While it diverges from the idea of a totality that usually informs the encyclopaedic project, it retains the dimension of a collective collaboration, hence the decision to maintain the name.

The Enciclopédia de Antropologia contains individually authored and alphabetically organized entries covering biographies of authors and activists, publications (books, essays, edited volumes), concepts and debates, intellectual currents, subfields, and institutions. Deliberately synthetic and presented in an accessible language, the entries are designed to guide those interested in learning more about concepts, works, and authors central to anthropological reflection. A work and training tool for those who produced the texts, the EA is also intended as a research and learning tool for the reader, who, in addition to being able to browse through the published texts, will also have access to a bibliography, allowing them to explore new paths if they so wish.

Of our more than 100 entries in Portuguese, those specifically related to Brazil, such as Brazilian authors, institutions, and issues were translated into English. They are accompanied by editor's notes containing additional explanations and contextual information, written for our international readers.

Our objective is to disseminate knowledge produced in academia. Readers are therefore more than welcome to circulate the published texts as long as they are fully cited with the title of the entry, the name of the author(s), the website address, and the date when the entry was consulted. We offer examples of how to cite each entry at the end of them.

History of the encyclopedia.

ISSN: 2676-038X.