I don't know about making your "inner anthropologist go 'squee!'", but:
- "In the Ocean of Night" and "Across the Sea of Suns" by Gregory Benford
- "Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card. You should read "Ender's Game" first, but this and the next books are the ones for your "inner anthropologist".
- "Footfall" and "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
- "Childhood’s End" by Arthur C. Clarke
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