Symposia include scholars who might not otherwise be in conversation. Coming from separate disciplines and different specialties within anthropology, they are able to work together and break new ground.
Seminars foster intergenerational engagement. These gatherings welcome accomplished junior and senior anthropologists who are working to transform the discipline or change the debate on emerging research questions or themes.
If you would like to propose a seminar or symposium, please contact Donna Auston (dauston@wennergren.org).
Publications
Articles and essays resulting from Wenner-Gren Symposia are published in open-access special issues of Current Anthropology.
Symposium and Seminar Archive
Racialized Bodies, Athletic Experiences
Organized by
- Tracie Canada
- Gabriel Torres-Colón
Grappling with the Legacies of Anthro-Cast: The Work of Bones in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Organized by
- Chip Colwell
- Danilyn Rutherford
Populism: Anthropological Approaches
Organized by
- William Mazzarella
- Robert Samet
- Kabir Tambar
A Workshop in Radically Humanist Praxis
Organized by
- Kamari Clarke
- Kelly Gillespie
- Deborah Thomas
The Price of Wealth: Scarcity and Abundance in an Unequal World
Organized by
- Teresa Ghilarducci
- Rick McGahey
- Gustav Peebles
2010 - 2019
Cultures of Fermentation
Organized by
- Mark Aldenderfer
- Christina Warinner
- Jessica Hendy
- Matthäus Rest
Toward an Anthropological Understanding of Masculinities, Maleness, and Violence
Organized by
- Agustin Fuentes
- Matthew Gutmann
- Robin Nelson
Atlantic Slavery and the Making of the Modern World
Organized by
- Ibrahima Thiaw
- Deborah L. Mack
Disability Worlds
Organized by
- Faye D. Ginsburg
- Rayna Rapp
Patchy Anthropocene: Frenzies and Afterlives of Violent Simplifications
Organized by
- Anna Tsing
- Nils Bubandt
- Andrew Matthews
Cultures of Militarism
Organized by
- Catherine Besteman
- Hugh Gusterson
The Anthropology of Corruption
Organized by
- Akhil Gupta
- Sarah Muir
Human Colonization of Asia in the Late Pleistocene
Organized by
- Christopher Bae
- Katerina Douka
- Michael Petraglia
Fire and the Genus Homo
Organized by
- Francesco Berna
- Dennis Sandgathe
New Media, New Publics?
Organized by
- Carlo Caduff
- Maria Jose de Abreu
- Charles Hirschkind
Integrating Anthropology: Niche Construction, Cultural Institutions, and History
Organized by
- Agustin Fuentes
- Polly Wiessner
The Death of the Secret: The Public and Private in Anthropology
Organized by
- Chip Colwell
- Mark Davis
- Lenore Manderson
Politics of the Urban Poor
Organized by
- Veena Das
- Shalini Randeria
The Anthropology of Christianity: Unity, Diversity, New Directions
Organized by
- Joel Robbins
Crisis, Value, and Hope: Rethinking the Economy
Organized by
- Niko Besnier
- Susana Narotzky
Alternative Pathways to Complexity: Evolutionary Trajectories in the Middle Paleolithic and Middle Stone Age
Organized by
- Erella Hovers
- Steven L. Kuhn
The Anthropology of Potentiality: Exploring the Productivity of the Undefined and Its Interplay with Notions of Humanness in New Medical Practices
Organized by
- Klaus Hoeyer
- Karen-Sue Taussig
Human Biology and the Origins of Homo
Organized by
- Leslie C. Aiello
- Susan Antón
The Biological Anthropology of Modern Human Populations: World Histories, National Styles, and International Networks
Organized by
- Susan Lindee
- Ricardo Ventura Santos
2000 - 2009
The Beginnings of Agriculture: New Data, New Ideas
Organized by
- Ofer Bar-Yosef
- T. Douglas Price
Corporate Lives: New Perspectives on the Social Life of the Corporate Form
Organized by
- Rebecca D. Hardin
- Damani Partridge
- Marina Welker
Working Memory and the Evolution of Modern Thinking
Organized by
- Frederick L. Coolidge
- Tom Wynn
The Anthropologist as Social Critic: Working Toward a More Engaged Anthropology
Organized by
- Setha Low
Evolutionary Anthropology at the Interface
Organized by
- Jane Phillips-Conroy
- Jeff Rogers
Plagues: Models and Metaphors in the Human “Struggle” with Disease
Organized by
- Ann Herring
- Alan Swedlund
Databases, Data Access and Data-Sharing in Paleoanthropology
Organized by
- Eric Delson
- Steve Frost
Ritual Communication
Organized by
- Ellen B. Basso
Wenner-Gren Young Researchers Conference
Organized by
- George Armelagos
Primate Life-History Databank: Setting the Agenda
Organized by
- Karen Strier
Anthropology Put to Work/Anthropology that Works?
Organized by
- Les W. Field,
- Richard Fox
New Directions in the Anthropology of Markets
Organized by
- Koray Caliskan
Indigenous Experience Today
Organized by
- Marisol de la Cadena
- Orin Starn,
Wenner-Gren Grantees Conference
Organized by
- Richard Fox
Roots of Human Sociality: Culture, Cognition, and Human Interaction
Organized by
- Nicholas J. Enfield
- Stephen C. Levinson
Where the Wild Things Are Now
Organized by
- Rebecca Cassidy
Engaging All the Senses: Colonialism, Processes of Perception, and Material Objects
Organized by
- Elizabeth Edwards
- Chris Gosden
- Ruth B. Phillips
Workshop on Heritage and Politics
Organized by
- Howard Morphy
- Barbara Bender
World Anthropologies: Disciplinary Transformations within Systems of Power
Organized by
- Arturo Escobar
- Gustavo Lins Ribeiro
Workshop on Suffering and Recovery
Organized by
- Virginia R. Dominguez,
- Richard Fox,
Hearing Cultures: New Directions in the Anthropology of Sound
Organized by
- Veit Erlmann
Beyond Ethics: Anthropological Moralities on the Boundaries of the Public and the Professional
Organized by
- Lynn Meskell
- Peter Pels
Changing Property Relations at the Turn of the Millennium
Organized by
- Caroline Humphrey
- Katherine Verdery
Culture and the Cultural: New Tasks for an Old Concept?
Organized by
- Richard Fox
- Barbara King
- Sydel Silverman
Time and Temporalities in the Anthropological Record
Organized by
- Andre Gingrich
- Elinor Ochs
1990 - 1999
Anthropology at the End of the Century
Organized by
- Sydel Silverman
Anthropology in the Age of Genetics: Practice, Discourse, Critique
Organized by
- Alan Goodman
- Deborah Heath
Preserving the Anthropological Record: Workshop on Education and Outreach, Part II
Organized by
- Nancy Parezo
- Don Fowler
Preserving the Anthropological Record: Workshop on a National Guide to Anthropological Records
Organized by
- Nancy Parezo
- Don Fowler
New Directions in Kinship Study: A Core Concept Revisited
Organized by
- Sarah Franklin
- Susan McKinnon
Imperial Designs: Comparative Dynamics of Early Empires
Organized by
- Susan Alcock
- Terence D'Altroy
- Kathleen Morrison
- Carla Sinopoli,
Preserving the Anthropological Record: Workshop on the National Anthropological Archives
Organized by
- Nancy Parezo
- Don Fowler
Amazonia and Melanesia: Gender and Anthropological Comparison
Organized by
- Thomas Gregor
- Donald Tuzin
Changing Images of Primate Societies: The Role of Theory, Method and Gender
Organized by
- Linda Fedigan
- Shirley Strum
African Biogeography, Climate Change, and Early Hominid Evolution
Organized by
- Timothy G. Bromage
- Friedemann Schrenk
Funding and Funding Needs in Anthropology: Current Patterns, Future Prospects
Organized by
- Sydel Silverman
The Great Apes Revisited
Organized by
- William C. McGrew
- Toshisada Nishida
Transnationalism, Nation-State Building, and Culture
Organized by
- Linda Basch
- Nina Glick Schiller
- Cristina Szanton Blanc
Anthropological Perspectives on the Human Genome Diversity Project
Organized by
- John H. Moore
Preserving the Anthropological Record II: Toward a Discipline History Center
Organized by
- Don Fowler
- Nancy Parezo
Theorizing Sexuality: Evolution, Culture and Development
Organized by
- Gilbert Herdt,
Anthropological Priorities in the Next Decade and the Role of the AAA
Organized by
- James Peacock
- Annette Weiner
Political-Economic Perspectives in Biological Anthropology: Building a Biocultural Synthesis
Organized by
- Alan Goodman
- Thomas Leatherman
Preserving the Anthropological Record: Issues and Strategies
Organized by
- Sydel Silverman
- Nancy Parezo
The Politics of Reproduction
Organized by
- Faye Ginsburg
- Rayna Rapp
Rethinking Linguistic Relativity
Organized by
- John Gumperz
- Stephen Levinson
AIDS Research: Issues for Anthropological Theory, Method, and Practice
Organized by
- Gilbert Herdt
- Shirley Lindenbaum
Tools, Language and Intelligence: Evolutionary Implications
Organized by
- Kathleen Gibson
- Tim Ingold
1980 - 1989
Amazonian Synthesis: An Integration of Disciplines, Paradigms, and Methodologies
Organized by
- Anna C. Roosevelt
Critical Approaches in Archaeology: Material Life, Meaning, and Power
Organized by
- Robert Paynter
Tensions of Empire: Colonial Control and Visions of Rule
Organized by
- Frederick Cooper
- Ann L. Stoler
Analysis in Medical Anthropology
Organized by
- Shirley Lindenbaum
- Margaret Lock
The Role of Theory in Language Description
Primate Life History and Evolution
Organized by
- C. Jean DeRousseau
- Mary Ellen Morbeck,
Gender Hierarchies
Organized by
- Barbara D. Miller
The Living Museum: A Bridge from Past to Future
Organized by
- Philip Dark
- Nancy Lutkehaus
Daughters of the Desert: Women Anthropologists and Students of the Native American Southwest
Organized by
- Barbara Babcock
- Nancy Parezo
Sepik Culture History: Variation and Synthesis
Organized by
- Anthony Forge
Symbolism Through Time
Organized by
- Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney
Anthropological Perspectives on Women’s Collective Actions: An Assessment of the Decade, 1975-1985
Organized by
- Helen Safa
- Constance Sutton
Health and Disease of Populations in Transition
Organized by
- George Armelagos
- Alan Swedlund
Ethnohistorical Models of the Evolution of Law in Specific Societies
Organized by
- Jane Collier
- June Starr
Sepik Research Today: The Study of Sepik Cultures in and for Modern Papua New Guinea
Organized by
- Christian Kaufmann
- Nancy Lutkehaus
- William Mitchell
- Douglas Newton
- Lita Osmundsen
- Meinhard Schuster
Paleoanthropology: The Hard Evidence
Organized by
- Eric Delson,
- Ian Tattersall
- John A. Van Couvering
Food Preferences and Aversions
Organized by
- Marvin Harris
- Eric B. Ross
Cloth and the Organization of Human Experience
Organized by
- Jane Schneider
- Annette Weiner
National Culture and International Communication
Organized by
- Mary Catherine Bateson
An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Andean Ecological Complementarity
Organized by
- Shozo Masuda
- Craig Morris
- Izumi Shimada
Theater and Ritual
Organized by
- Willa Appel
- Richard Schechner
- Phillip Zarrilli
Infanticide in Animals and Man
Organized by
- Mildred Dickemann
- Glenn Hausfater
- Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
- Christian Vogel,
Feminism and Kinship Theory
Organized by
- Jane Collier
- Sylvia Yanagisako
Contemporary Japanese Theater: Wadeda Shogekiji
Organized by
- Richard Schechner
- Victor W. Turner
Yaqui Ritual and Performance
Organized by
- Richard Schechner
- Edward Spicer
- Victor W. Turner
Anthropology and American Pluralism: Working at the Cultural Grassroots
Organized by
- Conrad Arensberg
- Alan Lomax
Households: Changing Form and Function
Organized by
- Robert M. Netting
- Richard R. Wilk
Prehistoric Settlement Pattern Studies: Retrospect and Prospect
Organized by
- Evon Z. Vogt
The Sex Division of Labor, Development and Women’s Status
Organized by
- Eleanor Leacock
- Helen Safa
The Exercise of Power in Complex Organizations
Organized by
- Louis Wolf Goodman
- Larissa Lomnitz
1970 - 1979
Human Adjustment in Time and Space in Madagascar
Organized by
- Aidan Southall
- Conrad Kottak
- Pierre Verin
Anthropology of Food
Organized by
- Mary Douglas
- R.S. Khare
Paleoecology of the Arctic Steppe — Mammoth Biome
Organized by
- David M. Hopkins
- John V. Mathews
- Charles E. Schweger
- Steven B. Young
Social Inequality: Comparative and Developmental Approaches
Organized by
- Gerald D. Berreman
Human Ecology in Savanna Environments
Organized by
- David R. Harris
Indigenous Anthropology in Non-Western Countries
Organized by
- Hussein M. Fahim
Baboon Field Research: Retrospect and Prospect
Organized by
- Shirley C. Strumm
Dilemmas of Focus in Linguistics
Organized by
- Eric Hamp
- Michael Silverstein
- Carl Voegelin
Cultural Frames and Reflections: Ritual, Drama and Spectacle
Organized by
- Barbara A. Babcock
- Barbara Myerhoff
- Victor W. Turner
Ecological Influences on Social Organization: Evolution and Adaptation
Organized by
- Irwin S. Bernstein
Fundamentals of Symbolism
Organized by
- Mary LeCron Foster
Shanty Towns in Developing Nations
Organized by
- Peter Lloyd
Origins and Affinities of the First Americans
Organized by
- W.L. Laughlin
Relationships between Anatomy and Behavior in Fossil and Contemporary Primates
Organized by
- Mary Ellen Morbeck
- Holger Preuschoft
The Place of Anthropology Amongst the Sciences: The Soviet and Western View
Organized by
- Ernest Gellner
Taphonomy and Vertebrate Paleoecology: With Special Reference to the Late Cenozoic of Sub-Saharan Africa
Organized by
- A. Kay Behrensmeyer
- C.K. Brain
- Andrew Hill
- Alan Walker
International Aspects of Anthropological Publication
Organized by
- Cyril S. Belshaw,
The Theoretical and Methodological Implications of Long-Term Field Research in Social Anthropology
Organized by
- Elizabeth Colson
- George M. Foster
- Thayer Scudder
Semiotics of Culture and Language
Organized by
- M.A.K. Halliday
- Sydney Lamb
- John Owen Regan
Progress in Molecular Anthropology
Organized by
- Morris Goodman
- Richard Tashian
Secular Rituals Considered: Prolegomena Toward a Theory of Ritual, Ceremony and Formality
Organized by
- Max Gluckman
- Sally Moore
- Victor Turner
The Behavior of Great Apes
Organized by
- Jane Goodall
- David Hamburg
The Role of Natural Selection in Human Evolution
Organized by
- Francisco Salzano
Phylogeny of the Primates: An Interdisciplinary Approach
Organized by
- Frederick Szalay
- W. Patrick Luckett
Stratigraphy, Palaeonotology, and Evolution in the Lake Rudolf Basin
Organized by
- Yves Coppens
- F. Clarke Howell
- Glynn Ll. Isaac
- Richard E.F. Leakey
Physical Anthropology and Nutritional Status
Organized by
- Alexander Roche
- Frank Falkner
Ritual: Reconciliation in Change
Organized by
- Margaret Mead
- Mary Catherine Bateson
Stratigraphy and Patterns of Cultural Change in the Middle Pleistocene
Organized by
- Karl Butzer
- Glynn Isaac
Cultural and Social Influences in Infancy and Early Childhood
Organized by
- P. Herbert Leiderman
- Steven R. Tulkin
Origin of African Plant Domesticates
Organized by
- Jack R. Harlan
Scale and Social Organization
Organized by
- Fredrik Barth
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Planned Social Change
Organized by
- Gerard L. Rosenfeld
- Colin M. Turnbull
Toward the Comparative Study of Asian Medical Systems
Organized by
- Charles Leslie
Calibration of Hominoid Evolution: Recent Advances in Isotopic and Other Dating Methods as Applicable to the Origin of Man
Organized by
- W.W. Bishop
- J.A. Miller
Ethnic Identity: Cultural Continuity and Change
Organized by
- George DeVos
- Theodore Schwartz
Demography and the Biological and Social Structure of Human Populations
Organized by
- G. Ainsworth Harrison
Toward the Description of the Languages of the World
Organized by
- John Lotz
Functional and Evolutionary Biology of Primates: Methods of Study and Recent Advances
Organized by
- Russell H. Tuttle
Emergent Civilization in Mesoamerica as Compared to Parallel Developments in the Old World
Organized by
- John A. Graham
- Robert F. Heizer
1960 - 1969
Kinship and Locality
Organized by
- Louis Dumont
- David Schneider
The Ongoing Evolution of Latin American Populations
Organized by
- Francisco Salzano
The Moral and Aesthetic Structure of Human Adaptation
Organized by
- Gregory Bateson
Systematics of Old World Monkeys
Organized by
- John R. Napier
Social Organization and Subsistence in Primate Societies
Organized by
- John Ellefson
World Views: Their Nature and Their Role in Culture
Organized by
- W. T. Jones
The Effects of Conscious Purpose on Human Adaptation
Organized by
- Gregory Bateson
Theory and Method in American Indian Ethnological and Ethnohistorical Research
Organized by
- Eleanor Leacock
- Nancy Lurie
Reunion para la Enseñanza con las Investigaciones Antropológicas
Organized by
- Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán
- John Murra
Primitive Art and Society
Organized by
- Raymond Firth
- Anthony Forge
- Robert Goldwater
World Association for the Study of Primate Variability (Human and Non-Human): Constitutional Session
Organized by
- Paul T. Bake
- Santiago Genoves
Kinship and Culture
Organized by
- Francis Hsu
Ethnography of Law
Organized by
- Laura Nader
The Inter-Relation of Biological and Cultural Adaptation
Organized by
- Paul Baker
- Joseph Weiner
Local-Level Politics
Organized by
- Marc J. Swartz
Man the Hunter
Primate Social Behavior
Organized by
- Phyllis Jay
The Evolutionist Interpretation of Culture
Organized by
- Eric Wolf
Systematic Investigation of the African Later Tertiary and Quarternary
Organized by
- W. W. Bishop
- J. Desmond Clark
Animal Communication
Organized by
- Thomas A. Sebeok
Cross-Cultural Similarities in the Urbanization Process
Organized by
- Edward Bruner
- Aidan Southall
- Oscar Lewis
Behavioral Consequences of Genetic Differences in Man
Organized by
- J.N. Spuhler
Revolution vs. Continuity in the Study of Language
Organized by
- Dell Hymes
Pastoral Nomadism
Organized by
- Gordon Bowles
- Lawrence Krader
- Robert Murphy
The Biology of Populations of Anthropological Significance
Organized by
- Joseph Weiner
The Determination of the Philosophy of a Culture
Organized by
- F.S.C. Northrop
The Cultural Development of the Maya
Organized by
- Evon Vogt
Salvage Archaeology
Organized by
- Fred Wendorf
Classification and Human Evolution
Organized by
- Sherwood Washburn
The Use of Computers in Anthropology
Organized by
- Dell Hymes
- Sydney Lamb
- A. Kimball Romney
- Thomas Sebeok
Ceramics and Man
Organized by
- Frederick R. Matson
Anthropology and the Conditions of Individual and Social Freedom
African Ecology and Human Evolution
Organized by
- Francois Bourliere
- F. Clark Howell
Anthropological Horizons
Organized by
- Alfred L. Kroeber
- Clyde Cluckhohn
Comparative Aspects of Human Communication
Organized by
- Godfrey E. Arnold
- John Lotz
Economics and Anthropology: Capital, Saving and Credit in Peasant Societies
Organized by
- Raymond Firth
- Bert F. Hoselitz
Teaching of Anthropology
Organized by
- David Mandelbaum
The Chronology of Western Mediterranean and Saharan Prehistoric Cave and Rock Shelter Art
Organized by
- Alberto C. Blanc
- Luis Pericot
Early Man and Pleistocene Stratigraphy in the Circum-Mediterranean Regions
Organized by
- Alberto Blanc
- F. Clark Howell
From 15,000 BC to the Thresholds of Urban Civilization
Organized by
- Robert J. Braidwood
- Gordon R. Willey
1950 - 1959
Stability and Change in Thai Culture
Organized by
- Lauriston Sharp
Rural Peoples of the Mediterranean
Organized by
- Julian Pitt-Rivers
The Application of Quanititative Methods in Archaeology
Organized by
- Robert F. Heizer
Social Life of Early Man
Organized by
- Sherwood Washburn
Second Austrian Symposium
Organized by
- Emil Breitinger
- Richard Pittioni
- Joseph Haekel
International Symposium on Current Anthropology
Organized by
- Sol Tax
Man’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth
Organized by
- Marston Bates
- Lewis Mumford
- Carl O. Sauer
- William L. Thomas, Jr.
International Symposium on Anthropology