Wenner-Gren FoundationW-G Foundation

Wenner-Gren Foundation Supporting Anthropology Worldwide

The Wenner-Gren Foundation is committed to playing a leadership role in anthropology. We help anthropologists advance anthropological knowledge, build sustainable careers, and amplify the impact of anthropology within the wider world.

A woman with a bob haircut wearing a wool coat and a purse, holding what looks like a notebook, standing in a junkyard surrounded by the frames of old smashed up cars.
A group of people standing in motor boat holding polls used to push the boat through the swampy body of water that they're in.
A high angle photo looking down at a smiling woman, (Anna Whittemore), with two braided pigtails, and a baseball hat, standing in what appears to be a hole or a cave. She's looking up at the person taking the photo.
An aerial photo looking down at a pedestrian street lined with buildings with corrugated metal roofs on either side of the street in India.
A photo of a smiling woman, (Tracie Canada), with her hair pulled back, wearing hoop earrings, an unzipped light jacket, standing in between two shelves of books, seemingly in a library.
A man wearing a wide brimmed trailsmith hat, button down shirt, cargo pants and a mini-hip pack around his waist, holding/using a laptop computer while standing in a jungle/forest in Malaysia.
A woman with a bob haircut wearing a wool coat and a purse, holding what looks like a notebook, standing in a junkyard surrounded by the frames of old smashed up cars.
A group of people standing in motor boat holding polls used to push the boat through the swampy body of water that they're in.
A high angle photo looking down at a smiling woman, (Anna Whittemore), with two braided pigtails, and a baseball hat, standing in what appears to be a hole or a cave. She's looking up at the person taking the photo.
An aerial photo looking down at a pedestrian street lined with buildings with corrugated metal roofs on either side of the street in India.
A photo of a smiling woman, (Tracie Canada), with her hair pulled back, wearing hoop earrings, an unzipped light jacket, standing in between two shelves of books, seemingly in a library.
A man wearing a wide brimmed trailsmith hat, button down shirt, cargo pants and a mini-hip pack around his waist, holding/using a laptop computer while standing in a jungle/forest in Malaysia.

We support anthropology worldwide through grants and fellowships for research, writing, convenings, media production, capacity building, and public engagement.

Explore

Learn About Our Grantees

All Featured Grantees

Lei Chang (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Conservation in Practice: Wild Elephants, Rural Lives, and Infrastructure in Xishuangbanna, China

Learn more
A photo of a smiling woman (Lei Change), with straight shoulder length hair wearing a sleeveless top, standing indoors against a flat plain background.

Lei Chang (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) Conservation in Practice: Wild Elephants, Rural Lives, and Infrastructure in Xishuangbanna, China

Learn more
A photo of a smiling woman with a long ponytail draped on her left shoulder, wearing glasses, two neckless's a t-shirt, and what appears to be a linen blazer standing outside in front of a leafy backdrop.

Daniela de Matos (University of Lisbon) The Early Middle Stone Age in the Northern Namib Desert

Learn more

Daniela de Matos (University of Lisbon) The Early Middle Stone Age in the Northern Namib Desert

Learn more

From the Field

All
A photo of a grassy field in the evening with the moon visible on the horizon.

Film

Fejos Postdoctoral Fellow: Hanne Bess Boelsbjerg

When Death Draws Near

Learn More

Announcements

AllAnnouncements

Important Updates on Eligibility Changes and New Programs in Public Anthropology

Read more

Wenner-Gren Foundation Launches Search for Its Next President

Read more

Commonly Visited

Current Anthropology

The cover of the magazine Current Anthropology that shows a snow leopard photographed near Manang village in Nepal, standing on a rocky peak with snow covered mountains in the background.

In 1959, the Foundation created Current Anthropology as an editorially independent forum where anthropologists from around the world could share their work. Through articles, commentaries, photo-essays, interviews, and reviews, Current Anthropology, which is published by the University of Chicago Press, provides a peer-reviewed venue for vibrant and inclusive conversations in anthropology.

Volume 67, Issue 4
June 2026
Go to Current Anthropology Latest Issue
The cover of the magazine Current Anthropology that shows a snow leopard photographed near Manang village in Nepal, standing on a rocky peak with snow covered mountains in the background.

Symposium Series

The cover the supplemental issue of Current Anthropology, which includes the name of the Wenner-Gren Symposium, "Populism: Anthropological Approaches" and the contents of the articles found within the issue.

Since the 1950s, the Foundation has convened Wenner-Gren Symposia as intensive research-centered gatherings on questions of broad importance to anthropology. Bringing together invited scholars from across the discipline and beyond, the symposia foster conversation, debate, and collaboration that open new directions for anthropological thinking. Papers from the symposia are published as open-access supplements to Current Anthropology.

Volume 67, Issue S28
April 2026
Go to Symposium Series Latest Issue

Transforming Anthropology

A photo of a small dilapidated building from the 1800's, the Marshalltown School in Mannington, New Jersey. Several leafless trees are visible behind the building.

Launched in 1990, Transforming Anthropology is the flagship peer-reviewed journal of the Association of Black Anthropologists. The journal publishes rigorous, transformative scholarship on race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, nationality, and other forms of social difference and inequality. Supported through a partnership with the Wenner-Gren Foundation and published by the University of Chicago Press, Transforming Anthropology is expanding its reach as a vital voice in global anthropology.

A photo of a small dilapidated building from the 1800's, the Marshalltown School in Mannington, New Jersey. Several leafless trees are visible behind the building.

Forums: Essays on the Future of Anthropology

AllForums

On the Future of Public Anthropology

Read more

Funding Equity

Read more

Pathways to Anthropological Futures

Read more

The Future of Anthropological Research: Ethics, Questions, and Methods in the Age of COVID-19: Part 2

Read more

SAPIENS

Between 2015 and 2025, the Foundation published SAPIENS, a digital magazine about everything human, told through the stories of anthropologists. The website remains free and open as a living archive—featuring 1,500 essays, videos, podcasts, poems, teaching resources, writing trainings, and much more.

A photo of four silhouetted people looking towards the ocean as the sun sets on the horizon.
Go to Sapiens