The AAA supported the passage of the
Antiquities Act of 1906, protested the discontinuance of anthropological research in the Philippines (1915), urged the teaching of anthropology in high schools (1927), spoke out for the preservation of archaeological materials when dams were built by the
Tennessee Valley Authority (1935), passed a pre-WWII resolution against racism (1938), and expressed the need to "guard against the dangers, and utilize the promise, inherent in the use of atomic energy" (1945). In the 1960s and early 1970s, the association examined the issues of government-sponsored classified research, use of anthropologists by the military in Vietnam, secret research in Thailand, and the general problem of a code of ethics for anthropological research, particularly for the protection of the rights of those studied. Other issues addressed from the 1970s through the 1980s included illegal
antiquities trade, the insertion of religious beliefs into social science texts, the preservation of endangered nonhuman primates, and the religious significance of
peyote to
Native Americans. In 2004, in response to President
George W. Bush's call for a
constitutional amendment banning
same-sex marriage, the Association issued a statement on marriage and the family. It states: The Association also has adopted resolutions against the
2003 invasion of Iraq, against the use of anthropological knowledge as an element for physical or psychological torture, and against any covert or overt U.S. military action against
Iran. Following a referendum in 2023, the Association endorsed a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, joining the
BDS movement. A number of ideologically polarized debates within the discipline of anthropology have prompted the association to conduct investigations. These include the dispute between
Derek Freeman and defenders of
Margaret Mead, as well as the controversy over the book
Darkness in El Dorado. In the latter case,
Alice Dreger, an historian of medicine and science, and an outsider to the debate, concluded after a year of research that the American Anthropological Association was complicit and irresponsible in helping spread the falsehoods contained in the book, and not protecting "scholars from baseless and sensationalistic charges".
Race The AAA has issued a number of statements on the topic of
race, and since the 1950s has argued publicly that race is best understood as a cultural or bio-cultural rather than mostly biological construction. In the 1990s, in response to what it felt was public confusion about the meaning of "
race," particularly perceived public misconceptions about
race and intelligence, the AAA Executive Board commissioned the
American Anthropological Association Statement on Race, and said that race is a constructed
social mechanism "...
race as it is understood in the United States of America was a social mechanism invented..." The statement clarified: "With the vast expansion of scientific knowledge in this century, however, it has become clear that human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated, biologically distinct groups." In 2006, the association developed and continues to manage a public education program titled "RACE: Are We So Different?" The program includes a traveling museum exhibit, an interactive website, and educational materials.
Human rights Initially, AAA was highly skeptical of the concept of universal
human rights, with some anthropologists arguing that because of
cultural relativism there are no principles that can be universally valid for humans of all cultures. IN 1947 the AAA issued a statement on Human rights, noting that value judgments are culturally contextual and arguing that a declaration about universal human rights ought to take into consideration and encompass all the different human value systems. This stance has gradually been abandoned by most anthropologists, many of whom today see universal human rights as an important way through which discrimination and oppression of cultural minorities can be reduced.
Immigration policy Arizona On May 22, 2010, the AAA Executive Board issued a resolution that declared
Arizona's SB1070, a law which empowers state law enforcement to assist with the enforcement of federal law, to be "
unconstitutional." The Board claimed it would boycott Arizona, but would not boycott "
Indian Reservations"
within the state, until the law "is either repealed or struck down as constitutionally invalid." The Board did not state what it will do if the courts uphold SB1070 as constitutionally valid. The Board stated that "The AAA has a long and rich history of supporting policies that prohibit discrimination based on ... national origin..." On September 19, 2016, the U.S. District Court in Arizona entered a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the remaining provisions. With the law's repeal, AAA's ban on considering AAA conferences in Arizona was lifted.
Engaging with the military Vietnam War In March 1967, during the
Vietnam War, the Council of the AAA adopted a "Statement on Problems of Anthropological Research and Ethics" that stated:
Human Terrain System Through 2007 and 2008, debates surrounding anthropologists and the military resurfaced in response to the
Pentagon's
Human Terrain System (HTS) project. Following a number of national news articles on the project, anthropologists began to debate the project and related ethical issues. Proponents of the program argued that anthropologists were providing much-needed cultural knowledge about local populations and helping to decrease violence in their areas of operation. Critics, however, argued that HTS anthropologists could not receive
informed consent from their research subjects in a war zone and that information provided by anthropologists might put populations in danger. To address these issues, the Association's Executive Board released a statement on 31 October 2007. It cited "sufficiently troubling and urgent ethical issues" raised by the project, including the difficulties for HTS anthropologists to receive informed consent without coercion from their research subjects and to uphold their ethical mandate to "do no harm" to those they study. The AAA urged members to adhere to its code of ethics, which outlines principles and guidelines for ethical behavior. However, the association does not adjudicate cases involving charges of unethical behavior or bar members from participating in the HTS program. In addition, the Association's Commission on the Engagement of Anthropology with US Security and Intelligence Communities (CEAUSSIC) issued a final report released during the AAA's 2007 annual meeting, based on over a year of work. It neither endorsed nor condemned anthropological work with military, intelligence and security organizations, but instead outlined the opportunities and challenges of working in these sectors. Opposition to military cooperation was evident during that meeting. Some critics of the HTS program have suggested that scholars who perform classified work with the military be expelled from the organization. During an event organized by the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, a graduate student who had recently been expelled from the HTS program spoke out about her experiences. She argued that the program was poorly run but was doing positive work in helping military officers with "
nation-building" activities. ==AnthroSource==