[URBANTH-L]ANN: SUNTA Poverty Working Group

[Angela Jancius]

Dear SUNTA,

Karen Curtis and I have organized a meeting/reception at AAA to bring
the SUNTA poverty working group back.  I have pasted in some
information about it.  I hope that those whose research, scholarly,
and political interests include these topics will be able to attend.
Refreshments (not anything fancy; this is about poverty after all)
will be provided.

Susan Greenbaum


                                SUNTA Working Group on Poverty

                                    Resuscitation Reception

                               Thursday, November 16, 2006

                                                 8-9 PM

                              Meeting Room B-1, Concourse
                          San Jose McEnery Convention Center

                              Refreshments will be served.

Poverty and homelessness are fundamental and growing concerns in urban
settings and the global economy.  SUNTA previously sponsored a working
group on these issues which lapsed several years ago.  The purpose of
this meeting is to reactivate this entity, and to reexamine the role
of SUNTA and AAA in addressing the theoretical, political, and policy
issues entailed in research and practice related to poverty.

 If you are engaged in research about poverty, homelessness, welfare,
or related topics, please attend this reception.   This will be a
semi-formal discussion of ideas about how to instigate more interest
and awareness of Anthropologists and fellow travelers, especially
those who might have influence on policy and practice.

Some obvious actions of a work group like this would include
organizing panels at AAA and allied professional meetings; developing
special issues of City & Society, North American Dialogue,
Transforming Anthropology, and other section journals; sponsoring
informational events for media at annual meetings; developing
collections of syllabi and bibliographies.

Other topics we might explore include:

1. Changing the public discourse and perceptions about the causes of poverty

2. Linking housing, health, and economic polices to recent increases
in rates of poverty.

3. Production of white papers and other documents intended to marshal
evidence and narratives about the implications of poverty, potential
solutions for these problems, and identities of the real culprits in
the intensifying war on the poor.

For information contact Susan Greenbaum (greenbau at cas.usf.edu) or
Karen Curtis (kacurtis at udel.edu)