[URBANTH-L]CFP: AAA Student Activism Panel

[Angela Jancius]

From:  Chadmorris1 at aol.com 
Subject: Call for Papers for 2005 AAA
  Student Activism Panel

  **Please consider responding to this call, then pass
  this message along to all appropriate local lists,
  with my apologies for cross-posting.**

  2005 AAA Proposed Session Panelists are being sought
  for the following proposed session on student
  activism (variously defined -- see abstract below)
  at the November, 2005 AAA annual meeting in
  Washington, D.C. The panel has been submitted to the
  NASA Program Committee for possible Invited Session
  status. All students of anthropology who have
  experience with student activism, as variously
  defined in the abstract, are urged to apply.
  Particular attention will be given to proposed
  papers on the work of local anthropology student
  organizations, work in seeking unionization or fair
  labor practices for graduate students, the process
  of designing thesis
  projects with activism in mind, and activism done at
  the undergraduate level.

  This panel represents an excellent opportunity to
  increase understanding of student views across
  the discipline, and is an important academic
  component of a larger push towards greater student
  representation in AAA affairs. Depending on
  interest, this session may generate
  additional product such as written guidance for
  student activism in anthropology and a possible
  journal article. If you've never presented at AAA
  before, this panel represents an excellent
  opportunity to present for the first time in a
  particularly student-friendly panel environment.

  Potential panelists should submit their planned
  paper with a title, abstract (not to exceed 250
  words), and any supporting information that would
  allow for added insight into your proposed topic of
  discussion. Chosen panelists will be asked to limit
  their presentations to no more
  than 10 minutes so that the session will have ample
  discussion time. Please plan your abstract
  accordingly. Minor revisions of the initial abstract
  will be permitted until March 31st. Please
  submit abstracts (and any questions) for this
  session to Chad Morris at <chadmorris1 at aol.com>.

  Abstracts will be accepted on a rolling basis (first
  come, first considered), and the panel will be
  finalized by Wednesday, March 23rd. If there is a
  surplus of additional papers, the session
  organizer will make every effort to assist would-be
  presenters in putting together a second, related,
  session. (In other words, give it a shot -- we can't
  hear student voices if no one
  speaks!)

  Examining Student Activism in Anthropology: Defining
  Student Voices Anthropologists are frequently faced
  with difficult decisions as activist tendencies
  collide with disciplinary politics and the
  anthropological tenet of fully understanding
  multiple stakeholders before acting. Such
  conundrums are particularly daunting for students of
  anthropology, who are aware of the power of student
  action through examples of student activism going
  back to the 4th Century A.D., yet feel compelled to
  balance this awareness with mindfulness of their
  place in the discipline. Students comprise over
  one-third of the membership of the American
  Anthropological
  Association, representing the diversity of the
  discipline's present and future. Out of this
  diversity arise some common themes: local concerns
  about progress toward degrees, relationships with
  faculty mentors, and student labor issues in
  teaching and research; disciplinary concerns about
  student representation, employment opportunities,
  and the representation of the field to those outside
  of anthropology; and an array of broader concerns
  about global issues such as health, war, and labor.
  For many students, it is precisely these concerns --
  and the sense that something could be done to
  alleviate them -- that drew them to anthropology in
  the first place. This panel
  examines student activism in anthropology by taking
  a reflexive look at the discipline's own stances
  toward activism. Panelists will present brief
  ethnographic, theoretically-grounded perspectives on
  their own involvement in student activism.
  Specifically, panelists will explore varied
  definitions and expectations regarding student
  activism and its place in anthropology today. The
  panelists have been involved in student activism at
  local, disciplinary, and global levels of analysis.
  Ample discussion time will be provided. It is hoped
  that a greater understanding of the definitions of
  student activism will lead to more fruitful
  discussion of ways that students of anthropology
  might gain voice in our present and future
  discipline and world, a topic to be taken up in a
  companion to this session, the CAE Student Forum,
  Examining Student Activism in Anthropology:
  Strategies for Student Involvement.

  Chad Morris, M.A. Ph.D. Candidate Department of
  Anthropology
  University of Kentucky chadmorris1 at aol.com
  (301)877-3064