The Royal Anthropological Institute is one of the oldest anthropological institutions in the world, having taken its modern shape in 1871. Today, it operates from a pleasant London town house which is owned by the institute, and pursues an active programme of publication, seminars, book launches, one-day meetings and major conferences. The library of the institute, which is world-class, is administered from the British Museum, and open to readers. Fellowship of the institute is available to those interested in anthropology in all its forms. Much of the specific work of the institute is led through its specialist committees, whose work in turn feeds into our busy programme.

 

The institute receives no public grant, and is therefore dependent on membership dues, on income from publications, and from donations. Historically, too, many of our programmes and new initiatives have been built on legacies and we welcome this possibility should any donor wish to make contact to discuss this.

 

Recent years have seen a great expansion in our activities, building on what has gone on before. To name only some of these: we have added to our publications, so that we now run an open access journal Teaching Anthropology alongside the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, and Anthropology Today. We also publish open access pamphlet series in art, and in photography. Our major conference series is proving immensely popular – the latest was on Anthropology and Education and took place at Senate House, University of London. Our film festival takes place in odd years at the Watershed in Bristol  (the next is in 2025), and has in addition a virtual conference on visual anthropology running alongside. We also, having been awarded a Royal Charter in 2016, offer a chartership qualification in Forensic Anthropology for those who would like to appear before the courts as expert witnesses in a professional capacity. Last year, we launched our Teaching and Learning Platform, which offers general remote courses in anthropology, as well as specialist courses aimed at those who wish to become expert witnesses in Forensic and Expert Social Anthropology. Additionally, we can welcome visiting researchers to our library or to our archives

 

Please do feel to make contact if you would like to take part in any of these activities and events, or to join our community!

More information can be found on: www.therai.org.uk, or (for queries about events) to info@theraiorg.uk.