New Zealand Association of Social Anthropologists records.

The Association was founded in August 1975 as the New Zealand Association of Social Anthropologists (NZASA), and held its first annual conference in August 1976. In 1997 the name of the Association changed to Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa/New Zealand (ASAA/NZ). The Association published a newsletter from 1980 to provide news and reports to members, much of which pertained to the annual conferences. The newsletter was issued at least once a year, with the exception of 1996-1997, when none appeared. Jeff Sluka, Chairman of ASAA/NZ in 1998, revitalised it. The Association also recognised that papers presented at its conferences should be published and, during the 1990s, the multidisciplinary journal Sites became a platform for this. In 2000 ASAA/NZ took over its publication. Volumes of conference papers, sometimes termed working papers, were also published and are available in libraries.

The organisation and administration of the Association took place as prescribed in its constitution, which allowed for elected officers, namely, the Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. Occasionally a President is named in the papers, the first being Hugh Kawharu in 1976. However, it is unclear if there was always a President. The office of Chairperson is more commonly referred to. The Secretary and Treasurer were key positions and, in some years, one person held both offices. From 1983 to 1985 the Association was administered by a President and Secretariat of three. In subsequent years, however, the former offices were re-established. Holders of these particular offices since 1976 include Joan Metge, Max Rimoldi, Eleanor Rimoldi, Henry Barnard, Nancy Bowers, Bob Mahuta, Michael Goldsmith, Ian Frazer, P. J. Wilson, Cathy Wylie, Elizabeth Sammons, Theresa Sawika, Keith Ridler, Cheleen Mahar, Patricia Laing, Hal Levine, Jeff Sluka, Terry Weblemoe, Julie Park, Wendy Cowling, Susan Joffe, Annette Beasley, and John Waldmann.

The Executive Committee consisted of the officers and at least four other members. These members had specific roles that developed over time to reflect affiliations with other institutions and organisations and included representatives of the regional universities, the Royal Society of New Zealand, the Humanities Society of New Zealand (HUMANZ), and the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES). Other roles were the result of the special focuses of ASAA/NZ and included co-ordinators of the Kakano Fund, which offered financial assistance to graduate social anthropology students, and the Ethics Committee, which was established in 1990, produced a code of ethics, and provided peer review in academic research. In 1988 the role of Archivist was established with Eleanor Rimoldi appointed to the position. She oversaw the gathering together of the diverse extant papers of the Association and deposited them with the University of Auckland Library in 1990, 1996 and 2002.