In 1901 the AES and ASW sent members to attend the meeting of the AAAS anthropologists in Chicago in which discussions continued and there was general agreement that a national society should be formed.

"[1] In 2010, AAA Executive Board stripped the word "science" from a draft statement of its long-range plan, instead pledging to advance "the public understanding of humankind."

The AAA supported the passage of the Antiquities Act of 1906, protested the discontinuance of anthropological research in the Philippines (1915), urged the teaching of anthropology in high schools (1927), spoke out for the preservation of archaeological materials when dams were built by the Tennessee Valley Authority (1935), passed a pre-WWII resolution against racism (1938), and expressed the need to "guard against the dangers, and utilize the promise, inherent in the use of atomic energy" (1945).

It states: The results of more than a century of anthropological research on households, kinship relationships, and families, across cultures and through time, provide no support whatsoever for the view that either civilization or viable social orders depend upon marriage as an exclusively heterosexual institution.

[14]The Association also has adopted resolutions against the 2003 invasion of Iraq,[15] against the use of anthropological knowledge as an element for physical or psychological torture,[16] and against any covert or overt U.S. military action against Iran.

These include the dispute between Derek Freeman and defenders of Margaret Mead, as well as the controversy over the book Darkness in El Dorado.

In the latter case, Alice Dreger, an historian of medicine and science, and an outsider to the debate, concluded after a year of research that the American Anthropological Association was complicit and irresponsible in helping spread the falsehoods contained in the book, and not protecting "scholars from baseless and sensationalistic charges".

[24] This stance has gradually been abandoned by most anthropologists, many of whom today see universal human rights as an important way through which discrimination, oppression of cultural minorities can be reduced.

[citation needed] The Board stated that "The AAA has a long and rich history of supporting policies that prohibit discrimination based on ... national origin ..."[27] On September 19, 2016, the U.S. District Court in Arizona entered a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the remaining provisions.

[28] In March 1967, during the Vietnam War, the Council of the AAA adopted a "Statement on Problems of Anthropological Research and Ethics" that stated: ...

Except in the event of a declaration of war by Congress, academic institutions should not undertake activities or accept contracts in anthropology that are not related to their normal functions of teaching, research, and public service.

Proponents of the program argued that anthropologists were providing much-needed cultural knowledge about local populations and helping to decrease violence in their areas of operation.

However, the association does not adjudicate cases involving charges of unethical behavior or bar members from participating in the HTS program.

[32] In addition, the Association's Commission on the Engagement of Anthropology with US Security and Intelligence Communities (CEAUSSIC) issued a final report released during the AAA's 2007 annual meeting, based on over a year of work.

[34] During an event organized by the Network of Concerned Anthropologists, a graduate student who had recently been expelled from the HTS program spoke out about her experiences.