National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
February 2009 Newsletter
• On Mary’s Mind (Mary Odell Butler)
• CFP AAA 2009: The End/s of Anthropology (Carol Hafford)
• AAA 2008 NAPA Meeting Notes (Mary Odell Butler)
• AAA Task Force Contacts
• AAA 2008: Professional Ethics (Mary Odell Butler)
• CFP Anthropology News: Work-Life Balance (Dinah Winnick)
• SfAA 2009: Global Challenge, Local Action
• Social Sciences Conference
• EPIC 2009 Preview
• CFP NAPA Student Paper Competition
NAPA’s e-Newsletter is edited by Elizabeth Nanas. Ideas & submissions may be addressed to:
Elizabeth Nanas
Wayne State University College of Engineering – IME
4815 Fourth Street, 2033
Detroit, MI 48202
313-205-8595
enanas@wayne.edu
On Mary’s Mind
This column is my opportunity to talk about what’s happening with NAPA, important actions that affect practitioners within the AAA, and upcoming opportunities for you to become more engaged in the activities that shape all of our careers as practitioners.
As is undoubtedly the case with all new Presidents, I have a vision of what I would like to see happen during my two years in this office. Most especially, I would like to see NAPA improve our service to you whatever you are doing professionally– whether you are practicing outside of the academy, teaching practitioners within the academy, are students curious about opportunities for practice, or any of the many, many ways in which our membership engages with the world. I would like to raise NAPA’s profile within AAA and in the communities of practitioners that make up our constituency by building partnerships with other sections and by becoming as visible as we can in the Anthropology Newsletter, in other publications and at AAA Annual meetings. I would like to see us reach out to new members not only to increase our numbers but to bring in the experience and understanding of an even wider range of practitioners. I would like to see more and better leadership development for our members.
Ambitious? You bet. Feasible? Perhaps. These things will happen because NAPA members mobilize to do them. We need you to help. Email me, email the committee chairs, cruise the NAPA web page. We’ll find a place for you to do what interests you. And stay tuned for the results.
Until next time,
Mary Odell Butler, NAPA President
AAA 2009: The End/s of Anthropology
Carol Hafford
Invited Sessions NAPA is inviting members to submit proposals for Invited Sessions at the 2009 AAA Meeting in Philadelphia. The theme for this year’s meeting is “The End/s of Anthropology” and the central question to be explored is the relevance of anthropology in today’s world. Practitioners are well- poised to address this question and explore issues of relativism and cultural criticism, identity and power, and engagement of various publics in the dissemination of anthropological knowledge. Please send your proposals to Carol Hafford, NAPA Program Coordinator, at hafford@jbassoc.com for consideration by NAPA. The submission deadline is March 1st.
Volunteered Papers: NAPA invites all members to submit individually volunteered proposals for papers and posters at the 2009 AAA meeting in Philadelphia. All proposals must be submitted online to the AAA by April 1st. When you submit your abstract, please check the option that allows for NAPA to review your session(s). NAPA has 225 invited minutes—about 2.25 (100 minute sessions).
For additional information, see the AAA Call for Papers at http://www.aaanet.org/meetings.
Important Dates – 2009 AAA Meeting
• January 1st: AAA CFP published in AN
• February 1st: Online Submission opens
• March 1st: Deadline for Public Policy Forums
• April 1st- 5PM EST : All proposals are due
• August 10: Program decisions emailed to participants
• August 15: Advance and workshop registration opens
• September: Preliminary program, which contains registration hotel information is published in
the AN and posted online
• October 15: Advance Registration closes, last day to request all refunds
AAA 2008: NAPA Meeting Notes
Mary Odell Butler
The 2008 meeting of the American Anthropological Association was a very productive one for NAPA. New NAPA officers were installed at the NAPA business meeting on November 22. Mary Odell Butler took over as NAPA President with Tim Wallace beginning his two-year term as President-elect. Other incoming officers include John Massad, Treasurer; Sabrina Scott, Member-at-Large; and Khalfani Ture, Student Representative.
The NAPA strategic plan for 2009-2011 was finalized at a planning meeting on November 20, 2008—the culmination of a year-long planning process guided by a group of NAPA members. The strategic plan focuses on three goal areas: to transform the way the discipline looks at itself so that issues of practice are part of the mainstream of anthropological discourse; to advance anthropology in practice to the wider world by highlighting the contributions of anthropology in practice to business, government and society; and, to enhance the careers of practicing anthropologists. Each of these goal areas has an action plan linked to the responsibilities of NAPA committees. After approval by the NAPA Governing Council, the final strategic plan will be forwarded to NAPA committee chairs for implementation and posted on the NAPA website.
AAA 2008 Business Meeting: Professional Ethics
Mary Odell Butler
I departed from San Francisco for a three-week sojourn in Australia. I dove the Great Barrier Reef, ate kangaroo and was overwhelmed by the magic of the Red Center. I came back ready to go and was immediately faced with several issues. Last January, the debate within AAA around professional ethics was the big one. At its 2007 meeting in Washington DC, the AAA Executive Board ruled that the language on the Find/Post Jobs web page of the NAPA website is out of line with AAA policies. We revised the language on the web page to be consistent with the language used by AAA on their jobs web page.
The issue of professional ethics affects practitioners profoundly since many of us work in contexts in which dissemination of our results is limited by the needs of our clients or by the very sensitive nature of some of the work that we undertake. A heated debate on this issue can be expected to continue through the next few years. It is critical that as many of us as possible are in the room when votes are being taken on this issue at the AAA annual Business Meetings. At the 2008 AAA Business Meeting, a motion that could adversely impact practitioners was very narrowly defeated. If we wish our positions to be part of deliberations of the wider community of anthropology, we must be there to inform them and to insist that they do so.
The AAA Executive Board appointed a Task Force with strong practitioner representation to revisit the entire AAA Code of Ethics over the next two years. In the meantime, a ballot was sent to the AAA membership in mid-January calling for a vote to approve or disapprove an interim revision to the AAA Code of Ethics. The revision acknowledges some of the concerns that the NAPA Governing Council communicated to the AAA Executive Board in June 2008 stating that there are circumstances in which it is ethical to restrict disclosure of research results to protect communities and their cultural and intellectual property.
AAA Task Force Contact Information
The AAA seeks member opinions and suggestions during the AAA Code of Ethics review. Please feel welcome to contact any member of the taskforce with questions or concerns about (or suggestions for) this process. The AAA staff liason is Damon Dozier. You may contact him at Uddozier@aaanet.orgU. You may contact the AAA Task Force Members for the AAA Ethics Review at:
| Alec Barker | barkeraw@missouri.edu |
| Charles Briggs | clbriggs@berkeley.edu |
| Katie MacKinnon | mackinn@slu.edu sharing duties with Catherine Panter-Brick: catherine.panter-brick@durham.ac.uk |
| Laura McNamara | lamcnam@sandia.gov |
| Deborah Nichols | deborah.l.nichols@dartmouth.edu |
| Dena Plemmons (chair) | dplemmons@ucsd.edu |
David Price – dprice@stmartin.edu
Dhooleka Raj – dhooleka.raj@googlemail.com
Niel Tashima – ntashima@ltgassociates.com
AN Call for Proposals: Work-Life Balance
Dinah Winnick
Maintaining a balance between work and other aspects of life—including family, home, community and outside interests—can be challenging for both academic and practicing anthropologists. Some cite inflexible educational or professional infrastructures or the challenges of doing local anthropology as barriers to maintaining a healthy and comfortable work–life balance.
In September 2008 AAA introduced an ongoing commentary series addressing these challenges, as well as strategies developed to meet them. We welcome proposals for future commentaries on this topic.
To participate in this thematic series, email a 300 word proposal and 50-100 word author bio to Anthropology News editor Dinah Winnick at dwinnick@aaanet.org. Selected writers will be invited to contribute a 1000-1400 word commentary.
Society for Applied Anthropology 2009 Global Challenge, Local Action: Ethical Engagement, Partnerships, and Practice 69th Annual Meeting Santa Fe, New Mexico
March 17 – 21, 2009
The NAPA Governing Meeting will take place on Friday, March 20, 10:00am-2:00pm at Kiva (Hotel Santa Fe).
NAPA’s special interest group on Occupational Therapy will hold a workshop at SfAA on: Developing Cross-Cultural Anthropology, Occupational Therapy, and Disability Studies Field Schools, Friday, March 20, 10:00-11:50am.
All workshop registrations are due by March 10. Please visit www.sfaa.net for meeting and workshop registration as well as general meeting information.
International Conference on Interdisciplinary Social Sciences University of Athens, Greece
July 8 – 11, 2009
The Conference will address interdisciplinary practices across the social sciences, and between the social sciences and the natural sciences, applied sciences and the professions. Participants are welcome to submit a presentation proposal in several formats. For those unable to attend the Conference in person, virtual participation is also available. Please visit http://i09.cg-conference.com for more information.
Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference Chicago, IL USA
August 30 – September 2, 2009
The Conference theme is Taking Care of Business: Having an Impact and Staying Relevant. Further meeting details will be made available the middle of February at www.epic2009.com.
National Association for the Practice of Anthropology STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 2009
PURPOSE:
The National Association for the Practice of Anthropology offers the Annual Student Achievement Award to recognize student contributions in the area of practicing and applied anthropology. The Award recognizes students who have excelled in these fields and provides opportunities, particularly for students who have worked on team projects and in applied contexts, to be recognized during the AAA annual meeting and see their work published.
AWARDS:
(1) Three cash prizes—$300 1st Place, $100 1st Runner Up, and $50 Second Runner Up—will be awarded. (2) All three winning papers will go through peer review, and be considered for publication, by NAPA. (3) Students will be awarded a certificate of recognition and will be acknowledged at the NAPA Business Meeting during the annual AAA meetings.
ELIGIBILITY:
Students must be enrolled in a graduate or undergraduate degree program at the time they submit their paper. Submission must be original work of publishable quality. The work may be undertaken alone or in collaboration with others, but for papers with one or more co-authors, an enrolled student must be the paper’s first author.
REQUIREMENTS AND CRITERIA:
Papers must be no more than 25 pages in text and endnotes, but excluding bibliography and any supporting materials. Papers should conform to author guidelines of the American Anthropologist. Papers must be a product of work relevant to practicing and applied anthropology, including, but not limited to: examinations of community impact, contributions to identifying and improving local/service needs, or communicating anthropological theory and methods to non-anthropologists in collaborative research settings including non-profit agencies, communities and business and industrial organizations.
PAPERS WILL BE JUDGED ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
- Clearly state the problem or issue being investigated, while also acknowledging divergent or alternative views of the problem or issue.
- Clearly state the practical implications of the research for addressing or understanding real-world problems, resulting in recommendations, appropriate solutions or outcomes.
- Be mechanically sound, including strong grammatical writing, proper formatting, and appropriate citations and bibliography. Papers should be double-spaced 12 pt. font.
PAPER SUBMISSION PROCESS:
Deadline for submission is July 1. Papers must be received by this date and should be submitted by email to the NAPA Student Representative, Kalfani Ture, at ture_k@yahoo.com andd copy napastudentrep@gmail.com.
