Sexuality & Anthropology :
a guide to library resources
Contents:
Starting points | Finding books |
|Finding journal articles | Web resources |
Related library guides which may be helpful:
Gender Studies
STARTING POINTS
When you need to define your topic and/or get some background reading try consulting a dictionary or encyclopedia on sexuality - those in electronic format are linked here
The guide to Anthropology dictionaries/encyclopedias will help if you need explanations of anthropological terminology or theory.
To find overviews on the subject try the following:
- Cross-cultural study of human sexuality (1987) [electronic]
[Review of cross-cultural human sexuality & anthropology. Published in vol.16 of the Annual Review of Anthropology. Also available in print format]
Bisexuality: a critical reader (1999) [print]
[Examines the essential primary texts on bisexuality and explores the concept of bisexuality from a range of perspectives. A book review is linked here]
Feminism and sexuality : a reader (1996) [print]
[Essays which provide a guide to the development of feminist debates on sexuality since the 1970's. A book review is linked here]
Gender/sexuality reader : culture, history, political economy (1997) [print]
[A survey of the best recent work on bodies and desires across cultures and through time. A book review is linked here]
Irregular connections: a history of anthropology and sexuality (2004) [print]
[Traces the anthropological study of sex from the 18th century to the present. A book review is linked here]
Lesbian and gay studies reader (1993) [print]
[Compilation of the most important English-language works in the field of lesbian/gay studies]
Same-sex cultures and sexualities: an anthropological reader (2005) [print]
[Demonstrates the centrality of sex, gender, and sexuality to theories of human behaviors and practices. A book review is linked here]
Transgender studies reader (2006) [print]
[Contains fifty influential texts that document the evolution of transgender studies in the English-speaking world]
Another starting point is the Cross-cultural CD-ROM which is a series of citations and full text files extracted from the Human Relations Area Files (HRAF). The library has available volume 1 which covers 'Human sexuality and marriage'. Note that this non-networked CD-ROM is only available for viewing in the library.
FINDING BOOKS USING THE LIBRARY CATALOGUE
Books can be found by searching the library catalogue. Keyword searching is probably the best way of identifying material, and your results will be maximised by using keyword searching techniques such as truncation and Boolean searching, and by incorporating subject headings into your search where appropriate. Here are some examples on how to construct searches:
- "Body image"
- Bisexual? and Identi?
Transsexual? or Transgender - Thailand and ("Sex workers" or Prostitut?)
- skey "Body human" and skey "social aspects" and sex?
- skey Sex? and skey Cultur? and (skey Gay? or skey Homosexual?)
FINDING JOURNAL ARTICLES USING DATABASES AND BIBLIOGRAPHIES
Journal articles can be found through databases listed in the Electronic Databases for Anthropology guide - Sociological Abstracts, Academic OneFile, Academic Search Premier and Anthropology Plus are probably the best starting points.
Other more specialised web-based sources are:
- The Men's Bibliography
[A bibliography of writing on men, masculinities, gender and sexualties]
SEXBIBLIO
[A bibliography of the history of Western sexuality]
TransBiblio
[A bibliography of resources pertaining to transgender issues]
In addition, there are bibliographies of books & journal articles in the library which are probably most useful for identifying earlier material - see for example Sexuality, AIDS, Homosexuality, Transgender topics
WEB RESOURCES
The following are some starting points for Anthropology & Sexuality resources on the Web
Archive for Sexology
[This archive provides full-text information relating to most aspects of sexuality including sexual health, courses in sexology, the history of sexology. Particularly noteworthy are the on-line versions of recent encyclopedias on sexuality as well as a critical dictionary of sexology. Additionally, the archive maintains an extensive worldwide directory of relevant organizations, resource centers, training programs, and journals]
Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender & Reproduction
[Centre for interdisciplinary research & scholarship. The site includes access to their Library catalogue & to a guide to Reference Sources for Sexology]
Queer Resources Directory
[The Queer Resources Directory contains thousands of files about everything queer. International in coverage]
Last update: 15 May 2007
This page is maintained by Helen Attar
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