Although it seems much longer, it was only a year or so ago that the federal government started wiping out grants, employment and positions, long-standing policies and agreements, committees, groups, and entire agencies. Those who read beforehand the Project 2025 report would have had some inkling of what was to come, but the speed and scale of the demolition has been breathtakingly tragic.

Anthropologists of all stripes were caught in the upheaval. If you survived unscathed, you likely know someone who was very much scathed. Outside of academia, the federal government has long been considered one of the main employers of PhD-level anthropologists. That likely extends to many masters and bachelor degrees as well.

So, what to do? First, do not suffer alone. By our very nature, many of us are accustomed to working at some level of separation or isolation, looking out at the world and trying to figure out how social and cultural systems work. I often hear colleagues say they are the only anthropologist at their agency, private company, or nonprofit group. But now we need to come out of the woodwork and stick together. Seek out colleagues and share information, and be proactive about it.

Professional meetings offer a perfect forum for connection, even if your participation is virtual. At the March SfAA meeting in Albuquerque, there is a planned President’s Invited Session: “Crisis for Public Sector Anthropology.” Led by Shirley Fiske and Robert Winthrop, this session is part of an ongoing effort to explore and support the needs of those who have lost jobs or funding due to the federal changes.

At a December 2025 roundtable discussion, the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists (WAPA) brought together three former federal employees to share their experiences and the steps they have taken to move on. A recording of this insightful Zoom session can be found on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_1QA1hjxWM. Participants noted both their professional and personal experiences as they sorted out this new reality.

To help pull these and related sources together, WAPA has created a webpage on its site to serve as a central repository for any materials and resources related to the federal cuts. Look through the page to see if any materials are useful for you. If you know of materials that should be included, please reach out. None of us is alone. The webpage is found at https://wapadc.org/fedanthro. You will find recordings of several relevant ACRN webinars there as well.

Second, tell your story. It is important to record, share, and archive the stories of those who have been impacted by these unprecedented events. To that end, WAPA has launched a questionnaire for any anthropologist who has been affected at any level by the changes made not just at federal levels, but across all governmental levels, or in any sector or specialization experiencing the ripple effects from these public-sector changes. The survey primarily comprises several questions covering professional, financial, and emotional impacts. A report will be generated from the results and distributed through anthropology channels. In addition, respondents can opt in to self-identify and have their particular story highlighted through supplemental channels.

The survey takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete (although feel free to go into greater detail about your story); it needs to be completed in one sitting. For more information, and to take the survey, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MQ6M3QK.

Finally, do the anthropology. We study humanity: how it evolves, how we relate to each other across cultures and history. We understand how and why cultures adapt. In that sense, we are actually much better prepared to pivot than some other disciplines. However, anthropology has a double-edged sword: there is no career roadmap that designates a particular career pathway for us to follow. It is more like a huge tree: anthropology represents the base, but then we all go off through a number of increasingly distinct and diverse branches. Nonetheless, throughout our careers, many of us work ourselves back to the main trunk and take a different branch while still applying the same general toolkit of knowledge, skills, and experiences. This time, unfortunately, we may not be doing it by choice, but involuntarily.

For students and new professionals who were considering hitching their career wagons to USAID, EPA, the Department of Education or HHS, do not give up. Colleagues are reestablishing their career tracks with non-faculty university positions, nonprofits and foundations, and private sector employers.

If we are lucky, these traumatic times will pass. We survived the riots, tumult, and divisions of the 1960s. Yes, these days we are dealing with quite a different beast, which threatens the core of our democracy. A best-case scenario is that we start rebuilding a new system in a few years, different than the old one, but perhaps stronger.

Anthropologists should be ready to make good things happen, opening up many new career opportunities.

The post The federal ax slices anthropology too, so what now? appeared first on The Anthropology Career Readiness Network.