The Anthropology Division of the Institute of Civilizations at the Collège de France comprises the Laboratoire d'anthropologie sociale and the Claude-Lévi-Strauss Library.
Founded in 1960 by Claude Lévi-Strauss, then Professor of Social Anthropology at the Collège de France ( ), the Laboratoire d'anthropologie sociale has always had a generalist vocation, covering all the major themes of ethnology and social anthropology. Its research covers most regions of the globe, including Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, South and North America, Australia, Oceania and India.
The laboratory reports to three institutions: Collège de France, CNRS (UMR 7130) and École des hautes études en sciences sociales. It has around fifty permanent members, researchers and teacher-researchers, as well as around one hundred students preparing a thesis under their supervision.
The unit provides the scientific community with research and dissemination tools. It houses the editorial structures of two EHESS journals ( L'Homme and Études rurales), as well as a collection published by L'Herne entitled Cahiers d'anthropologie sociale. The Laboratoire d'anthropologie sociale offers its readers a documentation center comprising a research library specialized in ethnology and a comparative studies documentation center (Human Relations Area Files (HRAF)).
The laboratory is currently run by Andrea-Luz Gutierrez-Choquevilca, Julien Bonhomme and Florence Brunois. Collège de France professors Philippe Descola and Nathan Wachtel have also worked with the laboratory.
The Claude-Lévi-Strauss Library is a research library also under the auspices of the Collège de France, CNRS and EHESS. Specializing in ethnology and social anthropology, it was also founded in 1960 by Claude Lévi-Strauss.Its history is inseparable from that of the laboratory, and the creation of its collections is closely linked to the research themes of its teams.
