American Anthropological Association

2026 UnEssay Competition
2026-02-19
Anthro Day Unessay Competition
Submissions for the 2026 Anthro Day Unessay Competition are now OPEN through Anthro Day, February 19, 2026.
This contest encourages students to think critically about an anthropological question, but unlike a traditional essay contest, students can be creative and respond to the prompt in a way that is meaningful to them.
Notification and Prize
Entries must be submitted before midnight on Anthropology Day, February 19th.
Due to the high volume of applications, the winners of the unessay contest will now be notified via email by February 27, 2026 to ensure that every submission is properly reviewed. The winning unessay(s) will have their content published by the American Anthropological Association in Anthropology News and will receive a $50.00 gift card.
Submit Your Entry
Submissions for the 2026 Unessay Competition should be sent to Marketing@AmericanAnthro.org with the subject line, “2026 UnEssay Submission”.

Anthropology Day
2026-02-19
Anthropology Day
February 19, 2026
Celebrate. Engage. Inspire.
Help us celebrate what anthropology is and what it can achieve by hosting an event in your community, on your campus, or in your workplace or by supporting the American Anthropological Association with a charitable gift today!

SAC Spring 2026 Conference "Fear and Loathing…in Las Vegas: A Journey of Fun and Folly in the Face of FOBO"
2026-03-29 - 2026-04-01
Get ready to experience the exhilarating spirit of Las Vegas as its iconic zest for life fuses with an engaging exploration of deeper themes at the 2026 annual conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness!
Beyond the Glitz
The “Las Vegas” themed meeting is not just about the glitz; it’s about exploring the underlying principles that make for a vibrant, thriving, and truly connected community. The Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness is dedicated to studying consciousness phenomena in cultures around the world. This electrifying event, made possible by the dedication and support of our community, aims to delve deeper into themes such as:

Artificial Intelligence (AI): The conference will examine the relationship between AI and consciousness, exploring how the development of AI challenges or deepens our understanding of ourselves. It will also consider the impact of AI on human learning and wisdom in this new era of AI knowledge.
The interplay of individual and collective consciousness in spaces designed for entertainment and spectacle.
The anthropological roots of play, celebration, and risk-taking across cultures, drawing on research into how different cultures engage with these elements of human experience.
How to build radical inclusiveness in diverse groups, drawing lessons from unexpected places.
Dealer’s Choice. After all, it’s Vegas and you can talk about what you want, whether it stays here or not!

Embrace the Unexpected
Come ready to embrace the unexpected, share unique perspectives, and discover how to cultivate both joy and meaningful connection in your life and work. Join us in 2026 for a conference that promises to be both intellectually stimulating and personally enriching.
This meeting description was brought to you in collaboration with AI.
Registration & Submission Instructions
Register for the conference Submit a proposal for a paper, panel, other presentation, or logo
Learn more about the conference
Book a reduced room rate at the Palazzo (you do NOT have to book a room for the entire duration of the meeting)
Submission Deadline
January 31, 2026 @ 8:00 PM Eastern Time
Acceptance Notifications
February 10, 2026
More Information
Please contact Stephanie Fox, Tiffany-Ashton Gatsby, or John Baker

2026 SEA 46th Annual Meeting
2026-04-09 - 2026-04-11 | Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States
Register Learn More

The Anthropology of Dwelling

2026 SACC Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting
2026-04-11 09:00 - 2026-04-12 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Engaging Communities and Collaborating Across Disciplines: Anthropology in the Community College and Beyond
Register Learn More

Society for American Archaeology 91st Annual Meeting
2026-04-29 - 2026-05-03 | Hilton San Francisco Union Square
Consistent with its mission to advance archaeology, preservation, and practices, the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) organizes the largest gathering of archaeologists in the Americas.
Join the community at the SAA 91st Annual Meeting, taking place April 29–May 3, 2026, at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square in San Francisco, California.
This premier event offers an unparalleled opportunity to

Share groundbreaking work
Engage in dynamic discussions
Build lasting professional connections
Get the latest research, newest ideas and best practices

What to expect:

Networking with archaeologists from across the United States and more than 45 countries worldwide
Hundreds of general sessions, symposia, forums, lightning rounds, and posters
Excursions, receptions, and career-development events like the CRM Expo and workshops
Nearly 100 exhibitors showcasing the latest publications, tools, and products

Whether a student, early-career professional, or seasoned scholar, the Annual Meeting is where the field comes together to learn, connect, and inspire the future of archaeology.
Join the SAA
Members receive a discounted meeting registration rate and can present on the program. Join today to participate in the robust conversations at the annual meeting, in publications, and among the SAA committees and task forces.
Questions? Email meetings@saa.org

2026 Spring Conference of the American Ethnological Society
2026-05-01 - 2026-05-03 | The University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Rd, Victoria, British Columbia, BC V8P 5C2, Canada
The 2026 Spring Conference of the American Ethnological Society,
will be held at the University of Victoria, in British Columbia from May 1-3, 2026 and is hosted by the Department of Anthropology and the Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives.

The 2026 conference will be hosted in person at the University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The conference will take place May 1-3. An interactive map of campus can be found HERE.

Experiment as test or as exploration: modes of agency in the face of subjection

The Chinese language distinguishes two types of experiment: 试验 (shìyàn) and 实验 (shíyàn). The first, 试验, is a controlled test that typically takes place in a laboratory. The second, 实验, refers to open-ended trial-and-error in the real world. The actor in 试 验 (experiment as test) has full control over the subject matter, but the actor in 实验 (experiment as exploration) is part of the trial and is ready to be transformed. Socialism, as the slogan goes, is a great 实验 in the real world. The two types of experiment represent distinct modes of agency. While tests demand discipline, vigilance and willpower, exploration requires attentiveness to the multiple, potential alternatives that already exist and an openness to adjust oneself to them.
Individual willingness to maximize economic benefits through hard work has been indispensable to China’s post-1980 economic development. However, this developmental model appears to have reached its endpoint. This has precipitated a widespread sense of subjection, especially among contemporary university students and young professionals (20- to 40-year-olds) who will shape China’s future. They are eager to free themselves from a life dominated by the single-minded pursuit of development yet find it difficult to imagine a meaningful life undefined by economic goals. They feel powerless because their desire for alternatives has yet to find an effective mode of agency that makes concrete changes. My ethnographic inquiry, facilitated through public conversations and social art activities, suggests that members of this cohort are embracing experiment-as-exploration in their lives. This may suggest an emerging counter movement to both neoliberal economy and authoritarian governance.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Xiang Biao

Xiang Biao is the Director of the Department of the Anthropology of Economic Experimentation at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Previously, he was a Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford. He has worked on migration and social change in China, India, and other parts of Asia. He is now exploring a “common concerns” approach in social research. His book Global Body Shopping was awarded the 2008 Anthony Leeds Prize by the Society for Urban, National, and Transnational Anthropology (SUNTA). Biao Xiang studied sociology at Beijing University and received his PhD in social anthropology from the University of Oxford, UK.

2026 Work and Family Researchers Network Conference
2026-06-17 - 2026-06-20 | Concordia University, 1450 Guy Street, Montreal, Quebec, H3H 0A1, Canada
Work and Family Researchers Network next conference will be June 17-20, 2026 at Concordia University in Montreal Canada. The WFRN will host preconference events on June 17, including Predoctoral Workshops and Early Career Fellowship Workshops. Information on applying to participate in preconference events is presented below. The main conference of presentations and plenaries will take place June 18-20.
Concordia University is located at 1450 Guy Street Montreal, Quebec Canada. Registration is in the John Molson School of Business (JMSB) also known as the “MB building”.
The 2026 conference theme is Centering Care Across the Life Course.
Care is foundational to human well-being and to the functioning of our workplaces, families, and societies, yet it remains chronically undervalued. The 2026 WFRN Conference theme “Centering Care across the Life Course,” will explore how we can place care at the core of work, family, and policy conversation, ensuring that care and caregiving responsibilities are supported equitably.
This theme emphasizes care not only as caregiving responsibilities (for children, elders, and others with needs across the life course), but also as relational labor that sustains healthy families, workplaces, and communities. Whether expressed through care work in families, professional care work, informal caregiving, or relationship-building at work, care deeply shapes individual trajectories and well-being, workplace experiences, and organizational cultures.
Achieving a care-centered society requires both structural reforms and cultural shifts, ensuring policies reflect the needs of diverse caregivers while also building public and political support for care as a shared societal responsibility. This conference invites scholars, practitioners, policymakers, journalists and other stakeholders to explore solutions that prioritize care, in all its forms.

2026 AAA Annual Meeting - On the Verge
2026-11-18 08:00 - 2026-11-22 15:00 (America/New_York)
We will convene the 2026 AAA Annual meeting November 18-22 in Saint Louis, MO with the theme “On the Verge,”
an intentionally capacious theme that speaks to this moment and its many problems—the climate crisis and its tipping points, encroaching authoritarianism, the transmutations of racial biopolitics, the fate of neoliberalism, the development and spread of artificial intelligence, teetering institutions, to name a few—while also provoking reflection on what is left behind and what is up ahead. “On the verge” draws attention to both endings and beginnings, while inhabiting the space in between.

A verge is a threshold between one thing and another that calls to mind edges, borders, brinks, and boundaries of all sorts and types: material, epistemological, moral, political, temporal, epochal, conceptual, structural, systemic and so on. But, more than that, to be on the verge is to be located somewhere specific within a transformational space. “On the verge” therefore has an energetic quality. It is an anticipatory—even suspenseful—state of heightened attunement, whether tied to reflection and diagnosis, or to action, engagement, and intervention.
“The verge” can be a generative place of invention, discovery, new ideas, new practices, new publics, new alliances, and new collectivities. Yet, when it comes to the new and emergent, “on the verge” suggests the tentative and preliminary more than the fully baked. It prompts us to look for nascent potential and to be courageously experimental.
“On the verge” speaks to some features of anthropology, too. That’s because anthropology, as a discipline, seems constitutionally “on the verge.” One of the lessons of interpretive anthropology is that cultural understanding is something to be striven towards in spite of the fact that it inevitably falls short. Thus, striving to understand the perspectives of others—their lived experiences and forms of life—or to glimpse possible futures is always an exercise in being on the verge, and anthropology has long been committed to the view that “the verge” is worth the effort. Similarly, practicing anthropologists make a profession of speaking from and across boundaries of all sorts, working on the verge of epistemic communities and institutions, with their practical demands for knowledge, while reflecting on the terms of response to urgent demands for justice. Anthropology is therefore perennially on the verge, inviting us to consider what it means when the verge turns out to be an enduring place.
Relatedly, “on the verge” directs attention towards critical junctures. But what if change comes without a decisive and identifiable inflection point? The sense of being on the verge can therefore be misleading, masking transformations that are well underway. Such a perspective therefore prompts us to scrutinize our own assessments, intuitions, and positioning, and ask, can the sense of being on the verge be illusory? In other words, are we still (or were we ever) on the verge?
Participants are encouraged to respond to this call with papers, panels, posters, and creative presentations that engage with “verges” of all sorts. Our hope is that participants will tinker with this theme and make it their own, bringing the full breadth of anthropological knowledge and research to share, and creating a dynamic conference. We look forward to seeing you in St. Louis!
