ablineal relative A blood relative (e.g., a cousin) who is neither in ego's line of descent nor the brother or sister of one who is (cf. co-lineal relative, collateral relative).

action-centred approaches Approaches which emphasize social action over social structure, such as transactionalism.

affine, affinal relative A relative by marriage.

age-area hypothesis Wissler's notion that older culture traits tend to be those on the periphery of a culture area, rather than in the centre. His hypothesis is based on the idea that things are invented in the centre and diffuse outwards.

age set A category of people united by common age, often those initiated into adulthood at the same time.

agenda hopping D'Andrade's notion of researchers changing their interests when old paradigms yield fewer and fewer insights (cf. Kuhnian)

androcentric Male-centred.

animism A belief in a spiritual presence within things such as rocks and trees.

anthropogeography The nineteenth-century German university subject, roughly equivalent to human geography. It gave birth to diffusionism.

anthropology In its widest sense, the subject which includes social or cultural anthropology, anthropological linguistics, prehistoric archaeology, and biological or physical anthropology (cf. four fields). In a narrower sense, a short name for social anthropology.

Apollonian An aspect of drama or culture characterized by measure, restraint, and harmony (cf. Dionysian).

articulation of modes of production Interaction between different modes of production, for example as when colonial capitalist and lineage-based societies come into contact.