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) ------------------------