From:
[log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jon
Bialecki
Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 5:40 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [Sar] Call for Papers, 2008 AAA Meetings in San Francisco, CA
From: Melissa L. Caldwell, Section Program Editor, Society
for the Anthropology of Religion
Reply to: [log in to unmask]
Dear SAR Members:
The 2008 annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association will be
held in San Francisco, California (November 19-23, 2008). The theme of this
year’s meeting is “Inclusion, Collaboration & Engagement.” The full
description of this theme is pasted below. The submission deadline for panels,
papers, and posters to AAA is April 1st at 5 pm EST. SAR members
who are thinking about presenting a paper or poster or organizing a panel
should begin preparations as soon as possible. Paper/poster/panel proposals
should be submitted online beginning in early February through the AAA website
(go to: http://www.aaanet.org/).
Invited Sessions: If you are organizing a panel that connects well
with the theme of this year’s meeting and therefore deserves greater
visibility, I encourage you to submit the panel for consideration as an
“Invited Session.” Proposals to be considered for Invited Session status should
be sent to me, the SAR Section Program Editor, at [log in to unmask] by Friday, February 29,
2008. Proposals should be complete, with a full panel abstract and full
abstracts and affiliation information for all participants in the panel. If you
are also submitting the panel proposal to another section for Invited Session
status, please let me know, as we often co-sponsor panels with other sections.
The SAR Program Committee will read the proposals and select Invited Sessions
on the basis of the strength of the papers and the relevance of the panel to
the overall theme of the meeting. We will notify you of our decisions in
advance of the AAA submission deadline on April 1st.
Finally, I want to encourage all SAR members, and particularly student members,
to attend the 2008 conference in one capacity or another. SAR was extremely
well-represented at the 2007 meetings in DC with more than 20 panels! It will
be nice to see as many of you as possible in San Francisco!
All the best,
Lissa Caldwell
Section Program Editor, Society for the Anthropology of Religion
*************
“Inclusion,
Collaboration & Engagement”
The theme for the 2008 AAA Annual Meeting in San Francisco is “Inclusion,
Collaboration, and Engagement.” This theme provides us the opportunity to
critically examine anthropology's relationships: across subfields, with other
disciplines, with our many publics, and with contemporary social
problems. The Executive Program Committee envisions healthy debate as we
confront methodological, ethical, and epistemological concerns that unite and
divide us; as well as discuss the challenges, risks, and opportunities for
growth enabled by this dialog.
Inclusion, Collaboration, and Engagement are ideas that have been central to
anthropology throughout the discipline’s history and they are particularly
important today. Anthropologists, scholars in other disciplines, and the
general public have begun to recognize that anthropology has a great deal to
contribute in this era of globalization. Still, our discipline remains a
mystery to many and we are often not approached when social science information
is needed. Moreover, anthropologists are conflicted about whether and how
to participate in important public debates. Although there are the myriad
attempts to develop a public interest anthropology, we are also wary of
activism and public engagement, particularly as we recall government influence
on anthropology during times of war.
This theme deserves our scholarly exploration. Analysis of the processes
that promote inclusion, collaboration and engagement for positive human outcomes
is a common area of interest for both academic and applied/practicing
anthropologists, as is clear communication of anthropological perspectives to
the wider public.
Inclusion
Anthropology’s historic mission to study humanity through the natural sciences,
social sciences, and humanities by definition requires the inclusion of
multiple disciplines. For example, paleoanthropology and archaeology
depend on chemistry, zoology, botany, geology and other disciplines to date
sites and interpret data. Similarly, linguistic and sociocultural
anthropology regularly include perspectives from other disciplines, including
history, philosophy, psychology, and political science. Moreover, there
is much merit in an enhanced inclusive dialogue between the branches of
anthropology. Cultural and biological anthropology, for example, have
opportunities to work together in examining themes such as race, disease, and
the environment. Many applied and practicing anthropologists have joint roots
in anthropology and other professions such as public health, urban planning,
education, business, international development or social work. Their work
relies on and contributes to these other disciplines as well as anthropology.
Inclusive anthropology implies more than a holistic or interdisciplinary
approach. It suggests research problems and relationships that explicitly
address the knowledges and concerns of those who have been relegated to
peripheral zones of analysis and theory because of preconceptions about the
seemingly static division of intellectual labor. Bringing diverse voices
and epistemic perspectives onto the discipline's center stage and enlarging
that space according to a less hierarchical logic is consistent with
anthropology’s historic principle of inclusion.
Collaboration
Working together toward a common goal is a central characteristic of
anthropology, where collaboration may describe work done by teams of
anthropologists from diverse subfields or research done by a single
anthropologist working together with a subject. For example,
heterogeneous research teams in physical anthropology and archeology assemble
to address complex intellectual problems. Additionally, the relationship
between anthropologists and many Native American tribes might now be best described
as collaborative. Native American tribes often require that all anthropological
work conducted on reservations directly and actively involve tribal members in
the design, implementation, and dissemination of research that addresses
problems with contemporary relevance to their tribes. This reconceptualization
of the researcher-subject relationship both suggests new challenges and reveals
exciting opportunities to improve research and ensure it engages community
needs.
Anthropologists who use participatory action methods engage in a knowledge
production process that converts "informants" into research
consultants and collaborators. These methods can empower local people to
have a voice in government and corporate decision-making. Beyond invoking
notions of partnership and the sharing of ethnographic authority rhetorically,
many anthropologists work to build concrete collaborative relationships in
community settings. The benefits, challenges, and contradictory outcomes
of collaboration are worthy of examination and constructive
self-criticism.
Engagement
Engaged anthropology has many dimensions. Engagement is becoming a key
value in college and university settings where anthropologists recognize that
relationships with local publics and community organizations are essential to
higher education. From both within and outside of academia, engaged
anthropologists have examined public policy issues related to welfare reform,
immigration, and protection of indigenous knowledge and rights, and have joined
with local participants to instigate and sustain government and community
change.
In this area anthropology has much to offer, but the discipline has not yet
decisively stepped forward. This year’s theme provides an opportunity for
academic and applied/practicing anthropologists to engage in dialogue to set a
new agenda for making anthropology increasingly relevant to key issues in the
twenty-first century, including social identity, economic growth, cultural
preservation, peace-making, and environmental and social justice.