Anthropology is the study of humans, past and present. To understand the full sweep and complexity of cultures across all of human history, Anthropology draws upon knowledge from the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical sciences. Historically, in the US, anthropologists usually have been trained in one of four areas, socio-cultural anthropology, biological/physical anthropology, archaeology, and linguistics. Often, however, anthropologists integrate the perspectives of several of these areas into their work.

• Sociocultural Anthropology
  Sociocultural anthropologists examine patterns and processes of cultural change, with a special interest in how people live in particular places, how they organize, govern, and create meaning. Research in sociocultural anthropology is distinguished by its reliance on participant observation, which involves placing oneself in the research context for extended periods to gain a first-hand sense of how local knowledge is put to work in grappling with practical problems of everyday life and with basic philosophical problems of knowledge, truth, power, and justice.
• Biological (or Physical) Anthropology
  Biological (or physical) anthropologists are interested in human biological origins, evolution and variation. They primarily investigate questions having to do with evolutionary theory, our place in nature, adaptation and human biological variation. To understand these processes, biological anthropologists study other primates (primatology), the fossil record (paleoanthropology), prehistoric people (bioarchaeology), and the biology (health, growth and development) and genetics of living populations. Biological anthropologists want to understand how humans adapt to diverse environments, how biological and cultural processes work together to shape growth, development and behavior, and what causes disease and death.
• Archaeology
  Archaeologists study past peoples, from the deepest prehistory to the recent past, through the analysis of material remains, ranging from artifacts and evidence of past environments to architecture and landscapes. Material evidence, such as pottery, stone tools, animal bone, and remains of structures, is examined within the context of theoretical paradigms, to address such topics as the formation of social groupings, ideologies, subsistence patterns, and interaction with the environment. Archaeology is a comparative discipline; it assumes basic human continuities over time and place, but also recognizes that every society is the product of its own unique history and that within every society there are commonalities as well as variation.
• Linguistic Anthropology
  Linguistic anthropology is the comparative study of the ways in which language reflects and shapes social life. It explores the many ways in which practices of language use shape and reflect patterns of communication, formulate categories of social identity and group membership, organize large-scale cultural beliefs and ideologies, and, in conjunction with other semiotic practices, equip people with common cultural representations of their natural and social worlds. (From the Society for Linguistic Anthropology website)

Addressing complex questions, such as human origins, or the past and contemporary spread and treatment of infectious disease, or globalization, requires synthesizing information from all four subfields. Anthropologists are highly specialized in our research interests, yet we remain generalists in our observations of the human condition. Anthropologists collaborate closely with people whose cultural patterns and processes we seek to understand or whose conditions we seek to ameliorate. Understanding along with collaboration helps bridge social distances and gives wider voice to people and enables them to represent themselves in their own words. Because the study of people, past and present, requires respect for the diversity of cultures, societies, knowledge systems, and individuals that comprise humanity, the AAA adheres to a strong code of ethics.

Anthropologists are employed in a number of different sectors, from colleges and universities to government agencies, NGOs, businesses, and medicine. Within the university, they teach undergraduate and graduate anthropology, and anthropology in other schools and departments such as business, education, design, allied and public health. Applied anthropologists may work in government agencies, in private businesses, in community organizations, independent research institutes, service organizations, the media or as evaluators or independent consultants for agencies such as the World Bank. More than half of all anthropologists now work in organizations outside the university. Their interesting work may involve building research partnerships, assessing product markets, evaluating policies, developing new educational programs, and testing services to improve community health (read more).

As you will see from the extensive list of sections within the American Anthropological Association, anthropologists have research interests that cut across a number of different topical domains. The domains reflect the many social issues and questions that anthropologists address, the places they work, and the locations all over the world where they do research, and apply the results to improve lives. We invite you to explore the diversity of topics and approaches in this exciting field.