Approved June 1998

UPDATE: The Executive Board of the AAA, after consideration of several motions passed at the November 2007 annual meeting following the release of a report from the Ad Hoc Commission on Engagement of Anthropology in US Security and Intelligence Communities (“Commission”), has asked that the Committee on Ethics propose revisions to the AAA Code of Ethics pursuant to several recommendations regarding the involvement of anthropologists with the military and intelligence communities highlighted by the report. The Committee on Ethics is now working with a special group of experts to bring forward draft changes.

Anthropological researchers, teachers and practitioners are members of many different communities, each with its own moral rules or codes of ethics. Anthropologists have moral obligations as members of other groups, such as the family, religion, and community, as well as the profession. They also have obligations to the scholarly discipline, to the wider society and culture, and to the human species, other species, and the environment. Furthermore, fieldworkers may develop close relationships with persons or animals with whom they work, generating an additional level of ethical considerations. In a field of such complex involvements and obligations, it is inevitable that misunderstandings, conflicts, and the need to make choices among apparently incompatible values will arise. Anthropologists are responsible for grappling with such difficulties and struggling to resolve them in ways compatible with the principles stated here. The purpose of this Code is to foster discussion and education. The American Anthropological Association (AAA) does not adjudicate claims for unethical behavior. The principles and guidelines in this Code provide the anthropologist with tools to engage in developing and maintaining an ethical framework for all anthropological work.

Download the Code of Ethics (PDF)