American Ethnological Society

American Ethnological Society
Name	American Ethnological Society
Formation	1842
Headquarters	New York, New York
Type	Learned society
Region served	United States
Language	English

Contents

American Ethnological Society

History

The Society arose during a period of institutional expansion when organizations such as American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Boston Society of Natural History, and American Association for the Advancement of Science were shaping scholarly life in the United States. Early membership drew from collectors, missionaries, physicians, and naturalists associated with United States Exploring Expedition, Lewis and Clark Expedition, Hudson's Bay Company, and archives held by Library of Congress and New York Public Library. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the Society intersected with debates in which scholars like Edward Tylor, James Frazer, John Wesley Powell, and Alfred Kroeber contributed to comparative frameworks, while later alignments involved scholars from Boasian anthropology, Functionalism, and Structuralism networks connected to Columbia University and University of Chicago. Throughout the 20th century the Society adjusted to intellectual shifts prompted by scholars associated with Franz Boas, Ruth Benedict, Zora Neale Hurston, Alfred L. Kroeber, and institutions such as Smithsonian Institution and the American Anthropological Association. In recent decades it has engaged critically with decolonizing initiatives championed by figures working at University of British Columbia, University of California, Berkeley, New School for Social Research, and Rutgers University.

The Society's mission emphasizes comparative ethnology and the support of research connecting fieldwork traditions associated with Franz Boas and Bronisław Malinowski to contemporary theoretical debates articulated by scholars linked to Clifford Geertz, Marcel Mauss, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel Foucault, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Activities include promoting scholarship tied to museums such as the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the British Museum and fostering collaborations with universities including Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, University of Michigan, and Stanford University. The Society supports workshops, panels, and public lectures involving researchers connected to projects funded by National Science Foundation, Social Science Research Council, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Ford Foundation, and National Endowment for the Humanities. It also engages with policy forums and cultural institutions such as United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The Society publishes a flagship journal that has historically carried contributions by scholars associated with Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Clifford Geertz, Marshall Sahlins, and Annette Weiner. Its publishing program connects with university presses including University of California Press, University of Chicago Press, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and Routledge. The journal often features special issues on topics linked to fieldwork in places such as Amazon Rainforest, Borneo, Polynesia, Northeast Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa, and has hosted thematic clusters related to scholars tied to James Clifford, Paul Rabinow, Lila Abu-Lughod, Arjun Appadurai, and Nancy Scheper-Hughes. The Society also circulates newsletters and monograph series that collaborate with collections at institutions like the Peabody Museum and the British Museum.

Membership spans practitioner communities from departments at Columbia University, University of Chicago, Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and New York University to curators at Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Peabody Museum, and researchers affiliated with centers such as Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and Institute for Advanced Study. Governing structures have included officers, editorial boards, and committees linked to professional associations like the American Anthropological Association and funding agencies such as the National Science Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The roster historically lists scholars whose careers intersected with family names and works connected to Lewis Henry Morgan, Edward Tylor, Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, and later contributors influenced by Clifford Geertz, Pierre Bourdieu, and Michel Foucault.

The Society convenes annual meetings, regional symposia, and collaborative conferences with organizations such as the American Anthropological Association, Society for Applied Anthropology, Royal Anthropological Institute, and university departments at Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, and University of Chicago. Programs frequently include panels honoring scholars associated with Boasian anthropology, Functionalism, Structuralism, and contemporary critical theory epitomized by academics at Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley. Special sessions have been held in cities tied to scholarly life—New York City, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia—and in partnership with museums such as the Peabody Museum and British Museum.

The Society grants prizes and recognitions to monographs, articles, and early-career research linked to institutions like University of Chicago Press, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and funding bodies such as the National Science Foundation and Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Past awardees include scholars whose work engages conversations initiated by Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Clifford Geertz, James Clifford, Arjun Appadurai, Lila Abu-Lughod, and Marshall Sahlins. Awards have recognized contributions to topics ranging from indigenous rights movements associated with cases in Canada and Australia to linguistic revitalization projects involving communities connected to Hawaiʻi and Mesoamerica.

Category:Learned societies of the United States Category:Anthropology organizations