Anthropology and Culture

Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association is the world’s largest scholarly and professional organization of anthropologists. The Association is dedicated to advancing human understanding and applying this understanding to the world’s most pressing problems.

The mission of the American Association of Anthropological Genetics (AAAG) is to promote the study and training of anthropological genetics by facilitating communication and fostering cooperation between individuals engaged in this broadly defined field. As one of the youngest fields within Biological Anthropology, anthropological genetics is concerned with understanding the role of genetics/genomics underlying adaptation, evolution, and variability of human and non-human primates and their ancestors.

The American Association of Biological Anthropologists, or AABA, is the world’s leading professional organization for biological anthropologists. Formed by 83 charter members in 1930, the AABA now has an international membership of over 2,200. The Association’s annual meetings draw more than two thousand scientists and students from all over the world.

The American Ethnological Society is the oldest professional anthropological organization in the United States. Founded in 1842 to encourage emerging anthropological research on human cultures. Ethnology is the study and comparison of human cultures. Today the AES, a section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA), is a thriving group of over 1,000 anthropologists who organize an annual meeting, publish the journal American Ethnologist, and produce engaging web content to promote scholarship and bring anthropology to a wider audience.

The Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is the world's oldest and largest archaeological organization. The AIA is a nonprofit founded in 1879 and chartered by the United States Congress in 1906. We have members in more than 100 Local Societies in the United States, Canada, and overseas. These members include professional archaeologists, students, and enthusiasts, all united by their passion for archaeology and its role in furthering human knowledge.

The Human Biology Association is a vibrant nonprofit scientific organization dedicated to supporting and disseminating innovative research and teaching on human biological variation in evolutionary, social, historical, and environmental context worldwide. We are an interdisciplinary group of scientists including internationally-recognized leaders in the fields of anthropology, anatomy, public health, endocrinology, genetics, nutrition, and numerous other fields.

NAPA strives to promote the practice of anthropology, both within the discipline and among private, public, and nonprofit organizations.

The Northeastern Anthropological Association (NEAA) was founded in 1961. Since then, the organization has evolved into a vibrant community of scholars and professionals and students whose annual rite of conference is a wonderful chance to meet, talk, and exchange views.

The Paleoanthropology Society was founded in 1992. It recognizes that paleoanthropology is multidisciplinary in nature and the organization's central goal is to bring together physical anthropologists, archaeologists, paleontologists, geologists and a range of other researchers whose work has the potential to shed light on hominid behavioral and biological evolution.

The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is the world’s longest-established scholarly association dedicated to the furtherance of anthropology (the study of humankind) in its broadest and most inclusive sense.

The SAA is an international organization that, since its founding in 1934, has been dedicated to research about and interpretation and protection of the archaeological heritage of the Americas. With nearly 7,000 members, SAA represents professional and avocational archaeologists, archaeology students in colleges and universities, and archaeologists working at Tribal agencies, museums, government agencies, and the private sector. SAA has members throughout the U.S., as well as in many nations around the world.​

The Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) was founded in 1941 to promote the investigation of the principles of human behavior and the application of these principles to contemporary issues and problems. Since that time membership has expanded to over 2,000. The Society now sponsors two major journals (Human Organization and Practicing Anthropology) as well as a Monograph Series and occasional special publications. The Society has become the preeminent international organization in the field.

The Society for Cultural Anthropology, a section of the American Anthropological Association, constitutes a continuing effort to think expansively about the anthropological endeavor. That is, to explore how different people inhabit the imponderabilia of everyday life, to situate how they navigate conditions of both possibility and constraint, and to remain both ethnographically engaged and theoretically pioneering. Founded in the 1980s to highlight a concern for culture and to foster interdisciplinary connections, the Society is dedicated to interrogating and challenging the boundaries of the discipline. This includes experimental, multimedia, and engaged forms of scholarship, as well as the increasing recognition of a wider pluriverse of beings both human and nonhuman.

The Society for Economic Anthropology (SEA) was established with a mission to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and scholarship; SEA serves as a thriving community for anthropologists, archaeologists, economists, geographers, and other scholars interested in the dynamic intersections between economics and social life.

Formed in 1967, the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) is the largest scholarly group concerned with the archaeology of the modern world (A.D. 1400-present). The main focus of the society is the era since the beginning of European exploration. SHA promotes scholarly research and the dissemination of knowledge concerning historical archaeology. The society is specifically concerned with the identification, excavation, interpretation, and conservation of sites and materials on land and underwater.

The Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA), formed in 1967 and incorporated into the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in 1971, is dedicated to the profession and practice of medical anthropology, which uses concepts and methods from anthropology to produce new understandings of health, disease, illness, treatment, and care.

The Society for the Study of Human Biology promotes research on the biology of human populations in all its branches, including human variability and genetics, human adaptability and ecology, and human evolution.

The Society for Industrial Anthropology is made up of members, world-wide, who have a strong interest in preserving, interpreting and documenting our industrial past and heritage. With headquarters at the Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan, the SIA is the North American forum for those who share an interest in industrial archeology.

The WCAA is a network of national, regional and international associations that aims to promote worldwide communication and cooperation in anthropology. It serves to promote the discipline of anthropology in an international context, the cooperation and the sharing of information among world anthropologists, and jointly organized events of scientific debate, and co-operation in research activities and dissemination of anthropological knowled