3/15/13 3:36 PM AAA Responds to Public Controversy Over Science in Anthropology

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AAA Responds to Public Controversy Over Science in Anthropology
Some recent media coverage, including an article in the New York Times, has portrayed anthropology as divided between those who practice it as a
science and those who do not, and has given the mistaken impression that the American Anthropological Association (AAA) Executive Board believes
that science no longer has a place in anthropology. On the contrary, the Executive Board recognizes and endorses the crucial place of the scientific
method in much anthropological research. To clarify its position the Executive Board is publicly releasing the document "What Is Anthropology?
that was, together with the new Long-Range Plan, approved at the AAA's annual meeting last month.
For the most recent press release regarding the AAA long-range plan, please click here.
The "What Is Anthropology?" statement says, "to understand the full sweep and complexity of cultures across all of human history, anthropology
draws and builds upon knowledge from the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical sciences. A central concern of
anthropologists is the application of knowledge to the solution of human problems." Anthropology is a holistic and expansive discipline that covers the
full breadth of human history and culture. As such, it draws on the theories and methods of both the humanities and sciences. The AAA sees this
pluralism as one of anthropologys great strengths.
Changes to the AAA's Long Range Plan have been taken out of context and blown out of proportion in recent media coverage. In approving the
changes, it was never the Boards intention to signal a break with the scientific foundations of anthropology as the "What is Anthropology?"
document approved at the same meeting demonstrates. Further, the long range plan constitutes a planning document which is pending comments
from the AAA membership before it is finalized.
Anthropologists have made some of their most powerful contributions to the public understanding of humankind when scientific and humanistic
perspectives are fused. A case in point in the AAA's $4.5 million exhibit, RACE: Are We So Different? The exhibit, and its associated website at
www.understandingRACE.org, was developed by a team of anthropologists drawing on knowledge from the social and biological sciences and
humanities. Science lays bare popular myths that races are distinct biological entities and that sickle cell, for example, is an African-American
disease. Knowledge derived from the humanities helps to explain why "race" became such a powerful social concept despite its lack of scientific
grounding. The widely acclaimed exhibit "shows the critical power of anthropology when its diverse traditions of knowledge are harnessed together,"
said Leith Mullings, AAAs President-Elect and the Chair of the newly constituted Long-Range Planning Committee.
"What is anthropology?" can be found on the AAA website at http://www.aaanet.org/about/WhatisAnthropology.cfm. For additional
information, please contact Damon Dozier, AAA Director of Public Affairs at (703) 528-1902 or ddozier@aaanet.org.
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Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association is the worlds largest professional organization of anthropologists and
others interested in anthropology, with an average annual membership of more than 10,000. The Arlington, VA based association
represents all specialties within anthropology cultural anthropology, biological (or physical) anthropology, archaeology, linguistics
and applied anthropology.