The Anthropological Association (AA) is a registered organization under the Karnataka Societies Act, 1960. It came into being in the year 1999. The AA seeks to enhance the understanding of human kind and their concerns without borders. It perceives Anthropology holistically, as the study of social, cultural, biological, linguistic dimensions of humanity, and its material and cognitive creations. It views the anthropological method as a particular kind of epistemology. The AA advocates anthropologically informed engagements in development work, while it acknowledges the human agency or capacity of the people to order their life-styles. The AA is for critical debate to complement the intensive ethnographic and ethnological studies on which Anthropology fundamentally depends, with a particular concern for the voiceless people. The formal inception of the AA was marked by the inaugural lecture delivered by Dr. Kalyan Kumar Chakravarti, former Director, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Manav Sangrahalaya (IGRMS), Bhopal, who spoke on Anthropological and New Museum Movement on 20^th March, 1999. Since then IGRMS have scaled stupendous achievements in not only giving a new meaning to museum but also very successfully and perceptibly documenting the fabulous diversity of the great and ancient country of India and exhibiting them in different parts of the country. Above all it has by recognizing the artisans and performers has given them dignity which they highly deserve. Ever since AA has been organizing lectures on topical themes periodically. It’s very first lecture series was how culture is perceived in different disciplines. Eminent scholars like Prof. R.P. Misra  (Geographer  and  Development  Planner), Dr. D.P Pattanaik (Linguist), Dr. B. Shashibhooshan (Architect), Dr.P.N. Dani (Biologist) to name only a few delivered lectures. The AA has been periodically organizing national seminars on different topics and has been publishing proceedings of the seminar. The prominent among them are Studies in Indian Anthropology (2004), M.N.Srinivas; The Man and His Work (2007),Tribe, State, and Empowerment: The Indian Experience (2011), Cultural Pluralism: The Indian Scenario (2012), Bio-Cultural Development of Scheduled Tribes (2012), and Anthropology of Traditional Indian Food (2017). The volumes that are under preparation are Forest Dweller’s Art of Living: Their Culture and World View, and Essence of India. The AA has become institutional member of Indian National Confederation and Academy of Anthropologists since 2004. In collaboration with INCAA the AA organized second Inter- Congress in Anthropology at Mysore, 2006. The AA has instituted an award in the name of the great scholar

Shri L.K.Ananthakrishna Iyer. The award is given to the scholars who have done outstanding work in the field of Anthropology.

In order to encourage young anthropologists to achieve excellence in their chosen field of specialization in Anthropology an award in the name of (late) Smt.Rajalakshmi Misra was instituted. The award is bestowed to the presenter of the best field based research paper in the seminar organized by AA.