Celebrating Half a Century of Excellence: American Ethnologist, 1974-2024

American Ethnological Society

Celebrating Half a Century of Excellence: American Ethnologist 1974-2024

American Ethnological Society

Society

The American Ethnological Society (AES) is dedicated to expanding the reach of ethnography. We promote ethnographic research through publications, awards, conferences, and networking opportunities.

Journal

American Ethnologist (AE) engages anthropological theory through ethnography. We encourage anthropologists from around the world to submit to AE.

Online Content

Our online digital content allows AES to participate in emergent debates through short essays, topical collections, and scholar interviews. Anthropologists are encouraged to submit essays for content to our Digital Content Editor.

Latest Online Content

  • Introducing: Yours Sincerely, An Uncertain Anthropologist

    Alexandra Dantzer and Paige Edmiston

    Published On: 05/30/2023

  • 21st Century Wanderers’ Club: The Online Rise of Maladaptive Daydreaming

    Elizabeth Durham

    Published On: 05/23/2023

  • The 25th Anniversary of “Body Paint, Feathers, and VCRs: Aesthetics and Authenticity in Amazonian Activism”

    Vinicius de Aguiar Furuie and Beth Conklin

    Published On: 04/18/2023

  • On Donors and Daughters: The Language of Queer Kinship

    Andrea Stevenson Allen and Tracy M. Lemos

    Published On: 03/28/2023

About AES

The American Ethnological Society was founded in 1842. At the time, all the anthropologists in the United States could fit into one room.

Journal

AES is now a large society with an exceptional journal as well as dynamic online collections.

Funding

AES supports students through funding, awards, and opportunities for mentorship and professionalization.

Events

AES has two book awards, organizes panels for the annual AAA meetings, and helps organize a spring conference for AES members.

Established

1842

The Relevance of Ethnography

“I hope to have encouraged others to view centers of power as lying within the horizon of ethnography, where they have been all along, latent in the very categories and experiences of difference which have traditionally inspired and informed ethnographic research.”

A Moment’s Notice: Time Politics across Cultures (1996), by Carol Greenhouse, AE Editor-in-Chief (1998–2002).

A Message from the President

I am passionate about anthropology and ethnography. What other discipline denaturalizes the values and categories of the researcher in order to understand how others organize their world?

Ethnography, which grounds theory and destabilizes what Clifford Geertz called our “commonsenseness,” is about as radical as a discipline can get. This love for our discipline drew me to AAA and AES.

We hope you will join us as members in order to continue to promote our discipline and methods.

Carolyn Rouse

Become a Member

If you are already an American Anthropological Association (AAA) member, just add an AES membership. If you are new to the AAA, please consider becoming a member of AAA and AES. You will be notified of AES news through AAA Communities.