Interested in presenting? Here is some information on how to get involved. This information will be updated shortly, so please check back soon. 

Travel subsidies:  for the first time, EAS will be offering $150 subsidies to EAS student members who present a paper/poster at the AAA in any session (whether-EAS sponsored or not).  We expect to be able to award this to all who qualify, but in case the demand exceeds the budgetary supply, we may have to limit the number of awards.  Further details will be announced by email to the membership.

Sponsored sessions: the EAS will host at least 3 sponsored sessions.  These will consist of 2 regular sessions (up to 7 talks each) and 1 poster session (up to 7 posters). The deadline for submitting proposals for sponsored sessions for review by the EAS Program Committee is March 1, 2008.  This deadline is designed to allow time for review and feedback to submitters well in advance of the AAA general submission deadline (March 31), as explained below.

Poster sessions: the EAS will sponsor a poster session. In past meetings, poster sessions have featured high quality papers by students and faculty. This is a great way for authors to meet their audience one-on-one, and is a good venue for papers that are not included in an organized sessions.  Posters are equally eligible for EAS awards for Best Student and Best New Investigator Papers, and have indeed won these awards.

Individual papers: individual papers can be submitted to the EAS, and if they are of high quality and if the EAS has decided to sponsor an session of individually-submitted papers, they may be accepted. The decision of whether to sponsor such a session will be made based on the quality of submissions and the reviewing committee’s strategy for the meetings. Because the EAS can sponsor so few sessions, papers that are part of an organized session tend to have a better chance of acceptance than individually submitted papers. We therefore suggest that anyone submitting a paper think about organizing a session of papers.

EAS reviewed sessions and papers: session organizers can submit proposals to the general AAA pool and request that the EAS serves as a reviewer. Sessions that are not accepted by the EAS as sponsored sessions can successfully be a part of the AAA meetings via this route, but you must be sure to indicate you want an EAS review in your submission..  Important:  if your paper or session is not accepted in an EAS-sponsored session, you must submit it directly to the main AAA submission site in order to have it considered by AAA.

In summary here are the steps that must be taken:

-- Read the AAA general guidelines for submission:(www.aaanet.org) Write an abstract for your paper (250 words max., plus short title) and send it as a Word or plain-text attachment to EAS 2008 Program Chair John Patton, no later than March 1st.

-- Include in your email: your name, institution, position (ABD, Assistant Prof., etc.), and whether you are currently an AAA member (not mandatory at this stage, but when you submit your abstract to AAA you must either be a member or apply for a membership waiver, plus pay the meeting registration fee).

--- If you have an organized session that you believe fits in the EAS domain, submit the session title and abstract (500 words max.) along with a list of the participants and paper titles (abstracts if available), and the other information listed above.

-- You will be notified if your paper or session is accepted by EAS by March 22. If accepted, you must then submit it online at the AAA site, and pay the meeting registration (and AAA membership, if not currently a member), using instructions we will give you. If it is not accepted, you can still submit it to AAA in the regular manner by the March 31st deadline.

The AAA organization has published their call for papers, which is reproduced below. After the call for papers, please scroll down and read our guide to how interested persons can participate in the upcoming meetings within sessions sponsored or reviewed by the EAS.

Inclusion, Collaboration & Engagement

Noel J Chrisman, 2008 Executive Program Chair

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.

Contact:

Communications about the program theme should be addressed to Executive Program Chair Noel J. Chrisman, School of Nursing, Box 357263, University of Washington, Seattle WA 98195-7263, anthromeeting08@comcast.net.

Please refer all other annual meeting questions to the AAA & Sections Meeting Department at kminter@aaanet.org or lhorn@aaanet.org.