I thought this would interest several HISTARCH readers.
Cheers,
Tim

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Carol McDavid <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: October 9, 2007 11:03:32 AM EDT
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Call for Abstracts: Global Justice and SfAA
> Reply-To: Carol McDavid <[log in to unmask]>
>
> MY apologies to the list...I hit "send" by mistake, before I  
> finished the message. Here is what should have been in the last  
> message
> Carol McDavid.
>
> ***************************
> Usual apologies for cross-posting….
> This is a Call for Papers for a proposed session at the 2007  
> meetings of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA). The  
> conference will be in Memphis, Tennessee, March 25-29, 2008. The  
> conference theme is:
>
> The Public Sphere and Engaged Scholarship: Challenges and  
> Opportunities for Applied Anthropology
>
> And the session title (abstract below) is
>
> Pathways to Justice: Exploring the intersections between the Global  
> Justice Movement and Anthropological Archaeology (A Continuing  
> Conversation)
>
> Background: We know that it is quite late to begin planning this  
> session (the deadline is October 15), and although we’ve been  
> mulling the session idea over for a while, the deadline just crept  
> up on us (whoops!). However, given recent newspaper articles about  
> “embedded anthropologists”, as well as discussion on some listservs  
> about the roles of anthropologists and archaeologists in wartime  
> settings, we decided to go ahead and try to put it together.  
> Fortunately, the SfAA allows online submissions, so it is possible  
> to do this – just!
>
> We should point out that we are co-chairing a very similar session  
> at the AAA meetings in November, but frequently the SfAA is a  
> somewhat different audience, and the structure of sessions can be a  
> bit more flexible. So, we hope that the SfAA session will have more  
> time for open discussion, and we will plan those specifics once we  
> have an idea of who might want to participate.  Besides, we would  
> hope to push whatever discussions we have at AAA farther at the  
> SfAA (and for that matter at WAC, if we propose something for  
> that). So if you participate in or attend the AAA session, please  
> don’t feel that your time will be wasted by participating in  
> another session – again, given the recent listserv activity (not to  
> mention the ongoing war) we feel that the ideas to be discussed  
> will remain current for some time. One paper in our AAA session,  
> for example, has to do with the roles of forensics archaeologists  
> in mass grave situations, and the ethical choices involved in this  
> sort of applied work.  Other papers have to do with activism with  
> regard to racism, the “culture wars”, Chinese slavery in the USA,  
> and other topics. Obviously we hope to get some additional  
> participants for SfAA, but we hope that at least some of our AAA  
> participants will join us in Memphis. The idea is for these  
> conversations to build on each other.
>
> Another wrinkle in all this is that the SAA is unfortunately the  
> same week, although it starts a day later. We need to attend SAA as  
> well, so we will be making a request to the SfAA to schedule this  
> session (if it is accepted) at the beginning of the conference, to  
> allow time to get to SAA by the evening of Thursday the 26th. The  
> only reason we are sharing this information is to suggest that  
> others might also be able to squeeze in participation in both  
> conferences. We have been given an indication by some of the SfAA  
> folks that they may be able to accommodate our special scheduling  
> request, although nothing is definite at this point.
>
> So, here is the abstract – we will be adjusting it for length as  
> needed when we submit it, so this is the long version.  If you are  
> interested, please respond off-list as soon as possible. The  
> deadline is – now!
>
>
> Pathways to Justice: Exploring the intersections between the Global  
> Justice Movement and Anthropological Archaeology (A Continuing  
> Conversation)
> Chairs: Carol McDavid and Patrice L. Jeppson
>
> Citizen archaeologists? Civically engaged archaeologists? Activist  
> archaeologists? Archaeologists for social justice? All of these  
> terms, and more, have been used to describe a growing movement in  
> archaeology to link our scholarly work to the concerns of the world  
> around us – and to do so in an explicit, critical fashion. Some of  
> this work has focused on examining how archaeology can inform  
> various forms of anti-racism (and anti-classism) activism. Some has  
> dealt with issues of (in)equality, war, genocide, education, the  
> “culture wars”, physical (dis)ability , and other social and  
> cultural concerns. Occasionally the focus has been more on an  
> “archaeology of activism”, rather than an “activist  
> archaeology” (or anthropology).
>
> This session aims to push the latter understanding farther, and to  
> examine both potential and actual intersections between social  
> scholars and the growing “Global Justice Movement”. This movement,  
> referred to by some as a “new paradigm”, or a “movement of  
> movements”, reflects growing cooperation between activists of  
> various stripes who share common concerns with social, economic,  
> environmental, peace and monetary justice. The emphasis in this  
> movement is not on finding solutions only through governments or  
> non-governmental agencies, but, rather, on problem solving through  
> individual human action.
>
> One characteristic of the movement is that its participants come  
> from diverse and sometimes opposing viewpoints about specific  
> issues, and its adherents tend to reject traditional left-wing/ 
> right-wing designations. Some have framed their work in terms of  
> five principles, as described in at one primary movement web site  
> (http://www.globaljusticemovement.org/) as “Global Justice for  
> All”, “Respect for the Earth”, “Abundance and Freedom are  
> Possible”, “Creativity at Work”, and “Economic Democracy”. Others,  
> however, are concerned about the tendency of some “movements” to  
> forget individual people in a fight against oppressive  
> institutions, and have instead attempted to forge task-based  
> alliances driven by the conviction that all humans have an  
> obligation to oppose those forces that are anti-humanitarian,  
> unsustainable or destructive of human life and society. Still  
> others do not consider their work in these terms at all, and  
> instead are simply making individual choices to use their work for  
> the larger good, defining what that “good” is by addressing  
> specific situations and human needs.
>
> Therefore, this session (a similar version of which was held at AAA  
> 2007) will not necessarily discuss work which is alreadyaffiliated  
> with this movement, although some will be. Instead, all  
> participants (some of whom have already identified themselves as  
> “activist archaeologists”) will be asked to familiarize themselves  
> with the Global Justice Movement, and to explore, critically and  
> reflexively, how (or indeed whether) their work might intersect  
> with its goals. Some participants may reject an alliance with this  
> movement; others may embrace it. Several may prefer to pursue goals  
> which are in sympathy withsome aspects of the movement, without  
> allying themselves with it in specific terms. In this session,  
> however, all will examine how their individual work can intersect  
> with the ideas of human justice and responsibility, using the  
> “Global Justice” movement as a framework for discussion.
>

Timothy Scarlett
Assistant Professor of Archaeology
Department of Social Sciences/AOB 209
Michigan Technological University
1400 Townsend Ave.
Houghton, MI 49931
[log in to unmask]
(906)487-2359 (office)
(906)487-2468 (fax)
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