The Anthropology of the U.S.: Cited Not Nearly Enough and Still Earning Respect

Abstract

This article provides an overview of some significant trends and developments in the anthropology of the U.S. The author, a young North Americanist, highlights the ongoing need to acknowledge and cite the extensive body of work that seems to get lost with each new cohort of anthropologists seeking to do ethnography “at home” in the U.S. Tracing the origins of American anthropology to its “Indianology” roots, the author sketches changes that came with World War II and the post‐war generation of anthropologists calling for new, U.S.‐based research. The role of black anthropologists in developing an activist anthropology located in the U.S. is often overlooked and underrated. The work of AAA sections such as SANA and ABA have helped provide a corrective to the erasure of pioneering scholarship based on U.S. research and of the pioneers and those who followed them. As more anthropologists engage in U.S. fieldwork, we must build on the scholarship of our anthropological forebears, especially those who may not have received prominence in their own time, but whose works have proven to be visionary.