Apologies for cross-posting...the email below is from Stephen Silliman, the AAA Archaeology Division Program Editor, and Anna Agbe-Davies, the Program Editor-Elect. They have asked me to post it to the listservs I'm a member of.  P)lease feel free to forward.

Included is some useful information -- archaeology can have a strong presence at AAA!

- the January 22 deadline for "executive sessions",
- the 2010 theme and how archaeologists might plan sessions around it,
- information about how the membership of the Archaeology Division affects the number of archaeology sessions at the AAA, and
- excellent tips for planning sessions.

AAA 2010 is in New Orleans...should be fun!

Carol McDavid

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Dear colleagues and friends:

 

As the Program Editor for the Archaeology Division of the American Anthropological Association, I wanted to provide you with information about the 2010 conference.  The annual meeting will take place in New Orleans, November 17-21, with the overall meeting theme of "Circulation"  (http://www.aaanet.org/meetings/upload/2010-Annual-Meeting-CFP.pdf).  Anna Agbe-Davies (the new Program Editor-Elect) and I would like to encourage your participation.  Here are some thoughts, helpful tips, and deadlines to keep in mind.

 

First, come on, it's New Orleans!  In addition to the venue, the theme of circulation is perfectly aligned with what archaeologists do.   Here is some of the text of that theme.  "The idea of circulation invites us to consider what triggers,  facilitates, constrains, disrupts or stops flows, what is at stake for  whom in these processes, and what their consequences might be, for  humans and for the environment. It opens up questions about what  exactly circulates: signs? objects? bodies? Do different things  circulate in different ways? Do they change or remain constant? What  new phenomena, new arrangements and new inequalities, does circulation  produce? How are resources, and ways of understanding them,  identified, made sense of, produced and distributed in the process?   How (and why) do rates and types of circulation vary across time and  space? What crystallizes and what continues to flow and re-shape?  'Circulation' also invites us to think across boundaries, whether  those are boundaries organizing phenomena we seek to describe and explain, boundaries within and across disciplines, or boundaries among  anthropologists or other social groups, and along various kinds of  organizing principles. It turns our attention to zones of encounter,  conjunctions and liminal passages."  

 

Second, membership in the Archaeology Division remains at a 20-year low.  Many archaeologists may have decided that other organizations, such as the Society for American Archaeology, seem to better suit their needs, and we all know how costly multiple memberships and multiple annual meetings can be.  However, we have a problematic downward spiral in the American Anthropological Association.  The spiraling happens because of a self-defeating perspective - not going to the AAA meetings because one anticipates not much archaeology in the program fulfills the prophecy.  With decreasing membership, we have lost valuable time slots for "sponsored sessions" because they are a function of division membership, not of the number of submitted archaeology papers for the annual meeting.   The good news is that despite the numerical decline, the quality of contributions and conversations at the annual meetings has remained excellent, with very active exchange around a number of longstanding themes as well as new ones.  The annual Distinguished Lecture also stands out as a highlight of the meetings.  As always, the AAA meetings provide the opportunity for extended discourse without the busy, fast-paced atmosphere that prevails in the SAA.  Considering all of this along with their timing on the opposite side of the annual calendar, the AAAs remain a high-value complement to the SAA meetings.  And to refer back to the 2010 meeting them, we need to keep our perspectives, our datasets, and our contributions in circulation in the broader circles of anthropology.  

 

Anna and I encourage you to think about participating in the 2010 annual meeting.  Some things to keep in mind:

(1)   Join the AAA now - that is, well before the submission is due - and select Archaeology Division membership.  This would help boost our section membership and perhaps secure us additional sponsored-session slots for the 2010 meeting. I especially encourage students to consider joining at this time.  

(2)   Consider an "Executive Session" for your symposium.  The deadline for this competition is early: January 22.  Proposals should be provided to the Executive Program Chair at [log in to unmask], and should include a session abstract, names of the proposed panelists, and contact information for the organizers.  I am happy to provide some feedback, if you would like any.  Keep in mind that they will choose proposals - and fewer than in previous years, so competition is high - that have global, multidisciplinary, international, and universal content that might draw wide attention in the program and that address the overall meeting theme.  Do not neglect the latter to be as competitive as possible.  

(3)   Seek Archaeology Division sponsorship if you think your session represents cutting-edge research of wide appeal.  Sponsorship requests should be forwarded directly to me at this email address by March 1.  I am happy to provide any guidance or thoughts, but remember that these are competitively awarded depending on the level of invited-session allotment we receive.  This allotment is heavily membership dependent..

(4)   Consider jointly sponsored sessions.  By splitting sponsorship, sessions about or with archaeology can receive more attention in the program without relying solely on the limited Archaeology Division slots.  I can try to coordinate these with relevant section editors, so please communicate directly with me about these options.  Possible section cosponsors might be: Anthropology & Environment Section, Association for Africanist Anthropology, Association of Black Anthropologists, Association for Feminist Anthropology, Association of Indigenous Anthropologists, Council for Museum Anthropology, Evolutionary Anthropology Society, Middle East Section, National Association for the Practice Anthropology, National Association of Student Anthropologists, Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition, Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists, or several others.  See a full list here: http://www.aaanet.org/sections/.   

(5)   Think about being part of an organized session rather than just submitting an individual paper.  If you have a great idea, try to rally some presenters around you and submit your own session.  These always have a competitive edge in scheduling by the larger AAA Program Committee.  Feel free to contact Anna or me about your paper idea, if you want us to shop it around or try to link you with others who might be submitting papers that could cohere nicely with yours.

(6)   Remember to submit your session and abstracts on the AAA website by the due date: April 1.  Even if you submit your sponsored session idea to me by March 1, you must still go through with the full online submission yourself by April 1. These will be reviewed by the Archaeology Division a month or so thereafter, and final decisions will be made by the general meeting program chairs.  

(7)   Money for students is available!  Up to 20 students can receive "Student Membership Awards" if they present at the 2010 New Orleans meeting.  The prize is a free year of membership in the AAA for those winners.  Also,  the Archaeology Division offers "Student Diversity Travel Awards" that support meeting attendance by students from historically-underrepresented groups, with priority given to those who are actually presenting a paper or poster.  Find more details here: http://www.aaanet.org/sections/ad/awards.html.  

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and to consider participating in the 2010 meeting.  Regardless of your own decision about these possibilities, please forward this announcement to your colleagues and students.  Anna or I would be happy to talk with any of you about the process, hear your thoughts on session ideas, and help you find session participants.  You can reply to either of us at this email address ([log in to unmask]), which is a designated email address for the Program Editor and Program Editor-Elect in the Archaeology Division.  Or our personal contacts are below.

 

Happy new year, and I look forward to seeing you in New Orleans!

 

Best wishes,

 

Steve Silliman



-- 
Stephen Silliman
Archaeology Division Program Editor ('08-'10)
Department of Anthropology
University of Massachusetts Boston
[log in to unmask]


Anna Agbe-Davies
Program Editor-Elect ('09-'10)
Department of Anthropology
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
[log in to unmask]