Anthropology and Humanism

Society Information

The Society for Humanistic Anthropology (SHA) was founded in 1974 to open a dialogue on the means by which anthropologists might evoke, represent, or give account of the human subject both visually and in writing. Humanistic anthropology involves the recognition that professional inquiry takes place in a context of human value. The humanistic orientation is particularly concerned with the personal, ethical, and political choices facing humans. Members of the Society receive Anthropology and Humanism, which publishes essays, narratives, dramas, poems, translations, drawings, and photographs twice a year.

The Society gives three annual awards in writing:   The Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing, and a poetry and fiction competition. The Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing is given for published books in various genres including ethnographic monographs, narratives, essays, biographies, memoirs, poetry, and drama.

The American Anthropological Association (AAA), the primary professional society of anthropologists in the United States since its founding in 1902, is the world's largest professional organization of individuals interested in anthropology.