(Getting Started) Anthropology Optional Strategy by UPSC Topper Geetanjali Sharma (AIR-32)

Geetanjali Sharma secured the coveted all India rank of 32 in her 3rd attempt in UPSC Civil Services 2019. In her first attempt in 2016, she was unable to clear the upsc prelims stage and in 2018, despite reaching the interviews phase, she failed to make it to the final list. She is a graduate of the Hindu College, Delhi in Zoology. In 2016 she took up Zoology as her optional. However, in 2018, she researched more and finally decided that Anthropology was her best bet. Here, we share her strategy on how to prepare for Anthropology as an optional for UPSC Civil Services.

Why Anthropology?

For anyone looking at Anthropology as your optional choice, remember it is one of the easiest optionals to gather resources for. Whether you look at online resources, or offline, or even books and toppers’ strategies, Anthropology will not fail you. However, the most important factor in choosing an optional should always be your interest in it because you end up having to go through the whole syllabus 6 to 7 times, and without sustained interests that is impossible to do.

Detailed Booklist And Sources for Anthropology

This is Geetanjali’s entire list of sources –

Physical Anthropology (Paper 1)
Title	Primary source	Additional sources
Human evolution and emergence of man	Internet	P. Nath, Braintree
Characteristics of primates	Internet	P. Nath, Braintree
Phylogenetic status, characteristics, and geographical distribution of hominins	Internet	P. Nath
The biological basis of life	Khan Academy videos	Biology NCERT class 11th/12th NCERT Books Notes
Human genetics	P. Nath	Internet, IGNOU pdfs
Mendelian genetics in man-family study etc	P. Nath	Internet, IGNOU pdf
Concept of genetic polymorphism etc	P. Nath	Internet, IGNOU pdfs
Chromosomes and chromosomal aberrations in man	P. Nath	Internet, IGNOU pdfs
Race and Racism	IGNOU Notes pdf	P. Nath, Internet
Age, sex and population variation as genetic marker	-	-
Concepts and methods of Ecological Anthropology	IGNOU Notes pdf	Kerala SCERT, P. Nath, Internet
Epidemiological Anthropology	Internet
Concept of human growth and development	P. Nath	Internet, IGNOU pdf
The relevance of menarche, menopause, etc	IGNOU pdf	Internet
Applications of anthropology	IGNOU Notes pdf	P. Nath, Kerala SCERT

P. Nath is one of the most popular books for UPSC Physical Anthropology

Socio-Cultural Anthropology (Paper 1)
Title	Primary Source	Additional Sources
Meaning, scope, and development of Anthropology	IGNOU pdf
Relationship with other disciplines	Braintree
Main branches of anthropology and relevance	IGNOU pdf
Nature of culture	Muniratnam notes	Braintree, Internet
Nature of society	Sociology IGNOU pdf	Sociology NCERT NCERT Books Notes PDF
Marriage	Muniratnam notes	IGNOU pdf, Kerala SCERT
Family	Muniratnam notes	IGNOU pdf, Kerala SCERT
Kinship	Muniratnam notes	IGNOU pdf, Kerala SCERT
Economic Organisation	Muniratnam notes	IGNOU pdf, Kerala SCERT
Political organization and social control	Muniratnam notes	IGNOU pdf (also Sociology pdfs)
Religion	Muniratnam notes	IGNOU pdf, Internet, Kerala SCERT
Anthropological theories	Internet and IGNOU pdfs	Himanshu Jain notes on theories
Culture, Language, and Communication	Ember and Ember	Internet
Research methods in Anthropology	IGNOU pdf	Kerala SCERT

Archaeological Anthropology (Paper 1 and Paper 2)

Title	Primary Source	Additional Sources
Principles of Prehistoric Archaeology	IGNOU pdf	Internet
Cultural Evolution	IGNOU pdf	Internet, Muniratnam Notes
Evolution of Indian Culture and Civilization	Muniratnam Notes	Sachin Gupta sir notes, IGNOU pdf, Internet
Palaeo Anthropological pieces of evidence from India	IGNOU pdf	Internet
Ethno-archaeology in India	Internet	Topper test copies for more examples

This is the topic that intrigued Geetanjali Enough To Pick Up Anthropology Optional

Indian Anthropology (Paper 2)
Title	Primary Source	Additional Sources
Demographic profile of Inida	Nadeem Hasnain	Braintree, IGNOU pdf
Structure and nature of traditional Indian social system	Braintree	Muniratnam notes
Caste System in India	IGNOU pdf	Muniratnam notes, Braintree, IGNOU Sociology pdfs, Internet, Topper answer copies, Nadeem Hasnain
Sacred Complex and Nature-Man-Spirit complex	IGNOU pdf	Internet, Muniratnam notes, Nadeem Hasnain
Impact of Buddhism etc on Indian society	Muniratnam notes	Nadeem Hasnain
Emergence, growth, and development in India	IGNOU pdf	Kerala SCERT, Various pdfs
Indian Village	IGNOU pdf	Internet
Linguistic and religious minorities and their status	Internet
Indigenous and exogenous processes of socio-cultural change in Indian society	IGNOU pdf	Nadeem Hasnain, Internet

Tribal Anthropology (Paper 2)
Title	Primary Source	Additional Sources
The tribal situation in India	IGNOU pdf	Nadeem Hasnain, Xaxa Committee report
Problems of tribal communities	Xaxa Committee report	Nadeem Hasnain, IGNOU pdf, Internet
Developmental projects and their impact	Xaxa Committee report	Nadeem Hasnain, IGNOU pdf, Internet
Problems of exploitation and deprivation	Xaxa Committee report	Nadeem Hasnain, IGNOU pdf, Internet
Social change and contemporary tribal societies	Xaxa Committee report	Nadeem Hasnain, IGNOU pdf, Internet
Concept of Ethnicity	IGNOU sociology pdfs	Various pdfs (google drive link)
Impact of Hinduism, Buddhism, etc on tribal societies	Nadeem Hasnain	Internet
Tribe and nation-state	IGNOU pdf
History of administration of tribal areas	Xaxa Committee report	Internet
Concept of PVTGs	Xaxa Committee report	Internet
Role of NGOs in tribal development	Internet
Role of anthropology in tribal and rural development	-	-
Contributions of anthropology to understanding regionalism etc	IGNOU pdf on ethnicity and ethnic movements	Internet, Xaxa committee

Geetanjali also has her internet sources such as PDFs and documents, etc. uploaded at this drive location.

Advice To UPSC Aspirants

A good way to keep your revision on schedule

Start with checking out topper strategies and sources. Once you know what to cover, break it down into daily and weekly goals. Revision is key. Try to recall everything you have read about a topic immediately after finishing it. Set one day every 2 weeks to revise what all you have covered till then. Practice previous years’ questions and you should be able to pull off the seemingly impossible task of adding your name to the final list of successful aspirants.

Best of luck.

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