The American Ethnological Society (AES) is the oldest professional anthropological association in the United States.
History of the American Ethnological Society Albert Gallatin and John Russell Bartlett founded the American Ethnological Society in New York City in 1842. Their goal was to promote research in ethnology and all inquiries involving humans. The early meetings of the AES took place in the homes of the members, where they discussed all aspects of human life, from history and geography to philology and anthropology. The AES was a scholarly institution, in which papers were presented that were later published.
In the late 19th century, the AES's focus changed from the evolutionary concerns of ethnology to the academic discipline of anthropology. The AES remained small, due to financial difficulties until the 1920s. In 1916, the AES became the American Ethnological Society, Inc. During this time, it also became associated with Columbia University and linked to the American Anthropological Association. In the 1930s, the AES and AAA jointly published the American Anthropologist, which concerned itself with all four fields of anthropology.
In 1950, the AES went nationwide and started having biannual meetings across North America. In 1972, the new American Ethnologist journal was created to focus on the expanding field of socio-cultural anthropology. In the early 1980s the American Ethnological Society became incorporated into the American Anthropological Association as a sub-section.
Since 2003, the American Ethnological Society has awarded three awards biennially. These are the Sharon Stephens Prize (for junior scholars) and the Senior Book Prize (for senior scholars), which are each awarded for a book "that speaks to contemporary social issues with relevance beyond the discipline and beyond the academy," and the Elsie Clews Parsons Prize, which is awarded to a graduate student for a stand-alone paper based on an ethnography.
American Ethnologist American Ethnologist is an international, quarterly journal concerned with social and cultural anthropology in the broadest sense of the term. The journal’s description states that its articles "combine ethnographic specificity with original theoretical thinking, conveying the relevance of the ethnographic imagination to the contemporary world." The Editor-in-Chief is Susanna Trnka (University of Auckland), the Associate Editors are Jesse Hession Grayman (University of Auckland) and L.L. Wynn (Macquarie University), and the Managing Editor is Pablo Morales. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2025 impact factor of 3.3. American Ethnologist is published in partnership with Wiley-Blackwell.
Presidents of AES +Current and Past Presidents of AESNameYears Carol McGranahan2026-2027Kenneth Guest2023-2025Carolyn Rouse2023-2023Jacqueline Solway2019-2021Marc Edelman2017-2019Hugh Gusterson2015-2017Carol GreenhouseSally MerryJane CollinsDavid NugentIda SusserCatherine LutzFred MyersSusan HardingEmily MartinMargery WolfRenato RosaladoEllen BassoStephen GudemanLouise LamphereSally Falk MooreEugene HammelKeith BassoJune HelmEdward BrunerDavid Mayberry-Lewis1981Richard F. Salisbury1980Harold C. Conklin1979Morton H. Fried1978William C Sturtevant1977Edward Norbeck1976
References
External links American Ethnological Society American Anthropological Association Register to the Records of the American Ethnological Society, National Anthropological Archives, Smithsonian Institution