This month we’ll take a look at the candidates.

Today’s feature are the candidates for undesignated seat #5 of the Committee for Human Rights (CfHR). Responsibilities of the committee members include:

Click here to learn more about the Committee for Human Rights.

K. Anne Pyburn

I am interested in serving on this committee because I have an academic interest in the relationship between heritage and human rights and would like to encourage more of my peers with an interest in heritage to move from postcolonial critique to political activism. As a student of research ethics, economic development and cultural property I am aware of the potential for good intentions to inspire neocolonialism and familiar with the often spectacular failures of top-down development programs. But it seems to me that the remedy for these errors as well as the impetus toward activism lies in anthropology and that it is unfortunate that our professional reticence has allowed programs and policies to be set without the benefit of anthropology. As a member of this committee I would work to raise awareness of human rights issues, which is the committee charge, but would emphasize reasoned consideration of strategies that have been or might be successful in addressing human rights violations. I would also promote discussion and debate through forums and workshops about the meaning of activism within the several subfields of anthropology and the responsibility entailed in the privilege of being an anthropologist.

Jeanne Simonelli

Working for human rights means working for the rights of all: women, men and communities in the broadest sense.  Civil rights, economic and environmental justice, rights to land and life are all part of this package.  There is little about anthropology, and of all of its subdiscipines that doesn’t touch on, provide evidence for, or help unravel the puzzle of human existence, contributing to the application of anthropological perspectives in active support of human rights issues.  As an applied cultural anthropologist, I have worked with this directly, in Chiapas, Mexico with the Zapatistas, where human rights violations are identifiable and vivid.  Closer to home, work in Canyon de Chelly has emphasized the right of the Dine (Navajo) to land and culture.  More recently, I am involved with the battle for ‘civil fracking rights,’ as New Yorkers and others fight for home rule and the ability to maintain their lives and environment.  As a member of the AAA Human Rights committee, I will work to make sure anthropological knowledge informs and influences policy surrounding all dimensions of the struggle for human rights.

Log-in to AnthroGateway to vote today!

This month we’ll take a look at the candidates.

Today’s feature are the candidates for undesignated seat #4 of the Committee for Human Rights (CfHR). Responsibilities of the committee members include:

Click here to learn more about the Committee for Human Rights.

Elijah Edelman

As a member of the committee for Human Rights, I feel I have a specific knowledge set that traditional Anthropology often ignores (that of US-based human right’s issues) as well as the skills to render this knowledge productive through modalities of education, community collaboration and communication across the discipline.

As a public anthropologist studying the impacts of transphobia, homophobia, classism, sexism and racism in Washington, DC, I have had the opportunity to engage structural human rights abuses as they are expressed through a multitude of contexts. This research, importantly, has been primarily conducted through community-based research methods.  I have utilized this material to conduct trainings for other social science researchers as well as community members. Finally, I have participated in number of trainings and information sharing sessions, as well as the creation of multiple ‘best practices’ documents, with government officials, non-governmental agencies and direct service providers. Finally, as a means to render this research and community work productive, I have met directly with agencies of the DC city government, including the Office of Human Rights, the Department of Corrections and the Office of the Attorney General to provide necessary trainings and education on the importance and specificity of gender-related issues.

Rebekah Park

I have been an AAA member since 2006 and am seeking a seat on the CfHR to promote critical dialogue and research on human rights within the AAA. Specifically, I am interested in facilitating conversations on the future of the human rights movement and the role anthropologists can play in the promotion of human rights. Recently, I organized two AAA panels on transitional justice, seeking to increase anthropological engagement with the legacies of human rights abuses.  Over the past decade, I have worked to fight poverty, hunger, and racism in the U.S., both as a grassroots organizer at Washington Citizen Action, and as a research associate at the Poverty & Race Research Council and the African American Policy Forum.  Previously, I worked with Amnesty International’s Medical Examination Group in the Netherlands to assist asylum seekers gain refuge there. My current research focuses on the Argentine human rights movement and former political prisoners. If nominated, I will focus on raising the visibility of anthropology as a discipline that engages with human rights challenges around the world.

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A work crew excavating the Nohmul site to be hauled away as road-fill.Photo courtesy of CTV3 Belize News.

The bulldozing and destruction of the ancient Maya site at Nohmul, in the Orange Walk district of northern Belize, has recently received widespread international attention. The largest structure of the ancient ceremonial center was reduced to rubble for use as road-fill by a local contracting company, a widely condemned act that will likely result in minimal consequences for the perpetrators.  This incident, and others like it, are examples of the vulnerability of major historical sites, demonstrates the importance of the archaeological landscape for communities, and brings up issues of cultural heritage and engaged anthropology.

Nohmul was a medium-sized city founded in the Middle Preclassic period (650 BC – 350 BC). Interestingly, its fortunes waned during the Early Classic period (AD 100 – 250), when it was all but abandoned, only to be re-occupied during the Terminal Classic (AD 900 – 1000), when ties to the Yucatan peninsula are evident in its architecture and ceramic assemblage. Nohmul is one example of Maya longevity, memory, and re-use of important sites. When they re-occupied it in the Terminal Classic is was already an ancient place – at least 1000 years old. Nohmul has been a marker of place, history, and ancestral heritage for more than 2,000 years (see Hammond et al.).

Though a small nation, the Belizean landscape is blanketed with ancestral remains of the ancient Maya, from densely populated cities like Caracol to villages such as Chan in the Belize River Valley, as well as countless unnamed hamlets throughout the country. As the Director of the Institute of Archaeology, Dr. Jaime Awe, pointed out in a recent interview with Belize’s Channel 7 News, the size of the Institute of Archaeology is miniscule compared with the archaeological resources they are tasked to manage, and Awe’s frustration over the events at Nohmul is palpable in the interviews he has given to the press. This is not to minimize their significant efforts  – last year archaeologists from the IA successfully and efficiently excavated late Preclassic period archaeological remains encountered during road construction in downtown San Ignacio. They also actively oversee and grant permits to numerous archaeological research projects taking place throughout the country.

This month we’ll take a look at the candidates.

Today’s feature are the candidates for undesignated seat #4 of the Committee on Gender Equality in Anthropology. Responsibilities of the committee members include:

• Monitor gender discrimination within the discipline
• Pursue greater parity for women in the discipline by means of:
  a. monitoring, including gathering information that illuminates issues that effect the diverse women in anthropology as well as efforts to obtain existing comparable survey data,
  b. advocating, including bringing findings before the Association’s members, in the form of resolutions, when appropriate and
  c. educating, including distributing brochures, meeting with department chairs, setting up an interactive presence on the internet/web and writing periodic updates for the AN.
• Identify forms of sexual harassment in all settings where anthropologists work and learn including the varieties of biases that complicate issues regarding race/ethnicity, gender stereotyping and preferences, class, and disabilities.
• Interact on an ongoing basis with the Association’s long range planning process on issues of gender parity.
  

Click here to learn more about the Committee on Gender Equality in Anthropology.

Rebecca Galemba

My research examines the ethics of extra-legal practices at the Mexico-Guatemala border in a context where the poor are excluded from the “legal” economy. My interest in this position, however, stems from coming from a family of women who advocated for gender equality in education. Discussions with fellow feminist academics have influenced me to examine how the economic downturn, corporatization of the university, and the increasing reliance on non-benefited and insecure positions affect gender equity in terms of attaining and retaining positions, and how this breaks down according to class, race/ethnicity, and citizenship. I am particularly concerned with how these structural changes affect women in their childbearing years, as they encounter inconsistent and often, insufficient, family policies. For example, Mary Ann Mason (2011) shows that women with children are twice as likely as their male counterparts to work in contingent positions. I will advocate for gender parity in the discipline by comparing university protocols for family support and gender equity to focus attention on our own institutional structures. I believe that the AAA can be a vital public voice in advancing gender equality within anthropology and beyond, including supporting comprehensive attention to gender and family issues at the policy level.

Christina Beard Moose

I am so pleased to be selected as a candidate for a seat on the Committee on Gender Equity in Anthropology.  Since I began my academic career, I have been interested in and working toward gender equity in both academia and society-at-large.  As a feminist anthropologist and a women’s studies professor at the community college level, I have the opportunity to introduce my mostly young, mostly naïve students to the world of women.  Because I am still disturbed with the fact that our discipline – along with most others – does not give serious thought and presence to women’s place, women’s roles, or what many largely consider “the war against women,” I find myself wanting to make an ever-greater effort toward equity.  Please consider viewing my personal website, http://drbeardmoose.com, for a look at how I work with my students, my further publishing, and my work in anthropology.  Thank-you.

Log-in to AnthroGateway to vote today!

This month we’ll take a look at the candidates.

Today’s feature are the candidates for undesignated seat #2 of the Committee on Gender Equality. Responsibilities of the committee members include:

• Monitor gender discrimination within the discipline
• Pursue greater parity for women in the discipline by means of:
  a. monitoring, including gathering information that illuminates issues that effect the diverse women in anthropology as well as efforts to obtain existing comparable survey data,
  b. advocating, including bringing findings before the Association’s members, in the form of resolutions, when appropriate and
  c. educating, including distributing brochures, meeting with department chairs, setting up an interactive presence on the internet/web and writing periodic updates for the AN.
• Identify forms of sexual harassment in all settings where anthropologists work and learn including the varieties of biases that complicate issues regarding race/ethnicity, gender stereotyping and preferences, class, and disabilities.
• Interact on an ongoing basis with the Association’s long range planning process on issues of gender parity.
  

Click here to learn more about the Committee on Gender Equality.

Cathy Costin

Gender and equity issues are at the center of my professional life, both in my research and in my service to my University and professional organizations.  For more than two decades, I have studied the gendered division of labor and its intersection with the political economy, power, and social stratification.  As Chair of the Department of Anthropology at CSUN, it is imperative that I maintain a discrimination- and harassment-free work environment.  I served on several personnel and search committees, each of which received training on equity issues.  On campus, I have served as the Equity and Diversity Officer for the Liberal Studies Program and on the Integrated Teacher Education Program Working Group on Diversity.  I served two terms on the Society for American Archaeology’s Committee on the Status of Women in Archaeology and Chaired that organization’s Women in Archaeology Interest Group.  Finally, as part of my general community service, I served on the Windward School (Los Angeles, CA) Task Force on Diversity.  While we have made great progress since the days I was a graduate student and was told by a senior member of the faculty that “women should not be archaeologists,” there is much work that remains, and I look forward to ensuring a more equitable future for the next generation of anthropologists.

Laura Miller

Laws about equity appear to ebb and flow over the years, but lived experiences of gender, race and class inequality have remained rather steady. Rather than be discouraged by the stories, the statistics and the reports, I would like to join the CoGEA committee in their continuing efforts to monitor and report on issues of gender, race and class in the discipline. What has changed in recent years is the degree to which the feminization of contingent non-tenure-track faculty has increased and has become normalized. Gender disparities also persist in rates of promotion and in leadership positions within departments. As a body that is charged with the role of raising awareness and motivating change, CoGEA must consistently reconsider the same issues and carry on monitoring of the discipline. Because the last large-scale online survey on the status of gender, race and class  parity in anthropology was conducted in 2005-6 (and published in 2008), it is time to consider constructing a new survey of the status of  anthropology’s academic climate, work environment, work-family issues, and  gender issues experienced by both female and male anthropologists.

Log-in to AnthroGateway to vote today!

This month we’ll take a look at the candidates.

Today’s feature are the candidates for the undesignated seat of the Committee on Ethics. The objective of the Committee on Ethics is a standing committee of the Association, which is responsible for the design and implementation of the Association’s ethics education and advisory program. The objectives of the ethics education program are (1) to increase the number of candidates for all degrees in anthropology receiving training in ethics before graduating; (2) to provide ongoing education in ethical issues for all AAA members; (3) to provide advice to AAA members facing/raising ethical dilemmas, and (4) to provide guidance to the Executive Board about AAA codes and guidelines.

Click here to learn more about the Committee on Ethics.

Scott Hutson

My ethical commitments roughly follow Anthony Appiah’s insistence on ethical principles that are both rooted and cosmopolitan. As a qualification for this position, I have served twice as a judge for the Ethics Bowl at the Society for American Archaeology meetings (2007, 2009). Insofar as anthropologists’ relations with indigenous people are an important part of anthropological ethics, a second qualification includes my having lived and worked in indigenous communities as part of my field research but also as a result of chance circumstances not related to research.  More specifically, I have worked with native Maya people in Mexico for the last 15 years, and have also spent months living in indigenous communities in Peru, the United States, and elsewhere. Finally, as a teacher, I have made ethical considerations a central part of my undergraduate and graduate courses.

Robert Trotter II

I see the future of anthropology as very bright, high impact, and high potential, based on my own career and those of my close friends and associates, and even or especially on the careers of others in what might be called the loyal theoretical opposition.  I have been the very fortunate recipient of more than 60 externally funded research projects from such diverse sources as NIH, NSF, CDC, WHO, and foundations. These projects have resulted in the publication of 10 books,  15 monographs,  45 chapters in books, over 75 referred articles, and some miscellaneous other publications (reviews, poems, films, etc.).  I have served on the Board of Directors for the Society for Medical Anthropology (SMA), The Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA), and the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology  (NAPA, President 1988-1990).  I have also twice served as chair of my anthropology department, through times of growth and challenge (which can also produce growth).  I have theoretical and pragmatic experience in forming and maintaining successful partnerships with institutions (governmental, academic, and corporate) and communities (domestic and international).  The American Anthropological Association is on an excellent trajectory to enhance anthropological science and humanistic endeavors.  I would like to be a positive part of that trajectory.

Log-in to AnthroGateway to vote today!

This month we’ll take a look at the candidates.

Today’s feature are the candidates for the linguistic seat of the Committee on Ethics. The objective of the Committee on Ethics is a standing committee of the Association, which is responsible for the design and implementation of the Association’s ethics education and advisory program. The objectives of the ethics education program are (1) to increase the number of candidates for all degrees in anthropology receiving training in ethics before graduating; (2) to provide ongoing education in ethical issues for all AAA members; (3) to provide advice to AAA members facing/raising ethical dilemmas, and (4) to provide guidance to the Executive Board about AAA codes and guidelines.

Click here to learn more about the Committee on Ethics.

Christopher Ball

The recent revision of the American Anthropological Association’s Ethics Code presents new opportunities for the Committee on Ethics’ education and advisory programs. I aim to contribute to implementation of ethics education within the discipline and beyond, as well as continuing development of ethical guidelines for professional conduct. In particular I bring to the committee expertise on the specific ethical issues raised by research involving language, including student research conducted with non-native speakers of English, professional member research in diverse sociolinguistic scenes, and the difficulties of informed consent and linguistic translation. I am a linguistic anthropologist who conducts field research with speakers of indigenous languages of Latin America and with Japanese speakers in rural Japan. My research experience has influenced my commitment to the construction of ethical models for the representation of language and other forms of expression within anthropology and in public discourse. This is reflected in my writing on endangerment of indigenous languages as well as social and political inequalities experienced by speakers of marginalized varieties of dominant state languages. I am also committed to building ethical awareness into undergraduate and graduate curriculum involving ethnographic and related research methodologies.

Steven Black

My scholarship, based on ethnographic research with marginalized Zulu speaking South Africans living with HIV/AIDS amid stigma, includes a focus on ethical practice in data analysis, publication, and fieldwork. In my work I have become familiar with how South Africans face stigma through language and music. These communicative processes are inherently ethical. In my scholarship I address questions of how morality and ethics are constituted in everyday lives and how neoliberal discourses shape understandings of ethical action. In addition to shared anthropological concerns about research participant anonymity, in publications I am cognizant of the problem of showing faces of people who might be stigmatized as a result. This is a difficult issue given the central use of visual materials in my data analysis. During fieldwork, I face issues such as how to truthfully represent my work to South Africans who might stigmatize research participants and questions about how the mantra “do no harm” should be interpreted in this context. I also work to contribute to the lives of the marginalized, stigmatized individuals with whom I work. I feel that linguistic anthropology offers unique viewpoints on ethics, and I would welcome the opportunity to represent these perspectives on the ethics committee.

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Guidelines for Photographers

• Entries may be submitted online May 1 through June 30.
• Each participant may submit up to two high resolution photos.
• Participants will be asked to select one of four categories for each photo:
  • People photos feature the “who” of anthropology. They may include portraits, small groups, crowds, researchers and more.
  • Place photos focus on the “where” of anthropology. Emphasis is on the location more than anything else.
  • Practice photos show the “what” of anthropology. They may focus on a specific area of study, but they may also show what anthropologists do in the course of their work.
  • Process photos demonstrate the “how” of anthropology. These photos are likely to show an in-depth aspect of anthropological work.
• Include a title and brief caption that emphasizes the photo’s connection to anthropology.
• Qualifying photos must be from January 2011 or later. Previous submissions do not qualify.
• Participation is open only to AAA members.

AN staff will ensure photos meet qualifying standards:

• Photo is in focus (don’t worry – we recognize the creative use of depth of field)
• Caption connects the photo with anthropology
• Resolution is high enough to print up to 14″ on the longest side
• The entrant is both the photographer and a current AAA member

Ready to submit your photos? Click here.

All qualifying photos will move onto the next phase…

Voting by AAA Members

All AAA members will have the opportunity to vote on their favorite photos in each category in September. Then, the top photos in each category will be displayed during the AAA Annual Meeting in Chicago and appear in Anthropology News.

Online Submission Only

Due to the high volume of entries and the large file size of high resolution photos, all entries must be submitted via the online form at http://projects.aaanet.org/photo_contest/form.cfm.

Questions?

Curious about past selected photos? Check out the 2012, 2011, 2009 and 2008 photo contest results.

If you have any questions or comments, you contact Amy Goldenberg at photos@aaanet.org.

This month we’ll take a look at the candidates.

Today’s feature are the candidates for theundesignated seat of the Nominations Committee. Responsibilities of the Nomination Committee include:

• To organize information regarding candidates that have been nominated for any AAA elected position (nominees can be self-nominated or by an individual or group of members of the AAA)
• To make sure that all necessary information has been received by the committee in time for the meeting (especially proof that the nominee has agreed to run and, should s/he win, accept the position)
• To meet annually to discuss nominations
• To make recommendations to the Executive Board regarding the candidates for each position
• To utilize the specific guidelines established by the Executive Board when making recommendation

Click here to learn more about the Nominations Committee.

Barbara LeMaster

I would like the opportunity to serve on the nominations committee. My broad interests include a professional AAA membership, and membership in various AAA sections and interest groups (American Ethnological Society, Council on Anthropology and Education, Society for Linguistic Anthropology, Society for the Anthropology of Europe, Society for Visual Anthropology, Anthropology of Children and Childhood Interest Group, Human Sexuality and Anthropology Interest Group, Interest Group for the Anthropology of Public Policy, and Interest Group on NGOs and Nonprofits). My training is in the four-fields (undergraduate and M.A.), with specialization in linguistic anthropology for the PhD, and a post-doctoral fellowship in medical anthropology. I have held several leadership positions, including CSULB Anthropology Department Chair. Previously I served on the COSWA committee, was one of the authors of the “Academic Climate Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in Anthropology” (2008), and on the advisory committee to the 2010 report, “The Changing Face of Anthropology: Anthropology Masters Reflect on Education, Careers, and Professional Organizations”. I have received federal (NSF) and private funding (e.g., Spencer Foundation), and secured an endowment for our department. In short, I have broad-based academic and non-academy anthropology-related work experiences that may serve well in this position.

Tulasi Srinivas

From 2007-2011 I was on the board of the New England Maritimes region of the American Academy of Religion, ending as its President, and I realized that true leadership is crucial. Its capacity must be cultivated if an organization is to grow dynamically. My experiences as an AAA member has led me to understand that identifying, assessing and recommending strong, emergent and experienced candidates with character, while giving full consideration to the scholarly diversity, the planning goals, and the leadership needs of the Association is pivotal to the growth and welfare of the organization. I am deeply committed to understanding the solutions, the effective discussions, and workings of the various committees while encouraging diverse voices and skills to best serve on them. I see building an excellent slate of candidates as a subtle exercise in finding harmony of experienced solutions and challenging new ideas simultaneously. Attending to best processes towards the balance of skills, experience, independence and knowledge to support the Nominations Committee towards fulfillment of its goals is fundamental. If elected  I will bring this perspective to the Nominations Committee, and I hope to fulfill all my duties and obligations with trust, confidentiality and humour.

Log-in to AnthroGateway to vote today!

This month we’ll take a look at the candidates.

Today’s feature are the candidates for the archaeology seat of the Nominations Committee. Responsibilities of the Nomination Committee include:

• To organize information regarding candidates that have been nominated for any AAA elected position (nominees can be self-nominated or by an individual or group of members of the AAA)
• To make sure that all necessary information has been received by the committee in time for the meeting (especially proof that the nominee has agreed to run and, should s/he win, accept the position)
• To meet annually to discuss nominations
• To make recommendations to the Executive Board regarding the candidates for each position
• To utilize the specific guidelines established by the Executive Board when making recommendation

Click here to learn more about the Nominations Committee.

Rani Alexander

As a Mesoamerican archaeologist and ethnohistorian, I welcome the opportunity to serve as the Archaeology Seat of the AAA Nominations Committee. I am deeply committed to equitable representation of the diverse subdisciplines, research specializations, and practical applications within anthropology. I will strive for greater balance within the leadership of the association among anthropologists who work in academic, applied, and international contexts. From 2006-2008 I served as Archaeology Division (AD) Secretary and worked with members of the AD nominations committee to recommend candidates for the AD and the AAA Executive Board electoral slates. I also served as the contributing editor for the AD to Anthropology News. Currently I am a member of the AD Nominations Committee. I am also a member of the Committee on the Americas/Comité de las Américas, charged to make recommendations to the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) Executive Board concerning ways to enhance the society’s effectiveness in its international engagement throughout the Americas. In addition, I have served as program committee member for both the SAA and the American Society for Ethnohistory. I look forward to working closely with the members of the AAA Executive Board and the AAA staff to maintain strong leadership within the organization.

Helen Pollard

I have previously served the Archaeology Division, AAA, as as member of the Nominations Committee, 2003-2007, and as member and then Chair, Kidder Award Committee 2007-2008. Following this I have served as a member on the Committee on the Americas, 2008-2013, of the Society for American Archaeology. Professional societies can function only by service and the process of nominations is critical to representing the membership at all levels. For archaeology within the AAA this has never been more crucial.

Log-in to AnthroGateway to vote today!