NEW EVENT: American Anthropological Association 112th Annual Meeting

The 112th AAA Annual meeting will be held at the Chicago Hilton November 20-24, 2013 in Chicago IL. The 2013 annual meeting theme is Future Publics, Current Engagements. The annual meeting starts on Wednesday November 20 at noon and continues through Sunday November 24.

Join the AAA to present your work, exchange ideas and network with colleagues from around the globe. Historically the AAA Annual Meeting has approximately 800 scholarly sessions, 200 special events, and 60 exhibitors.

The 2013 annual meeting theme Future Publics, Current Engagements invites discussions about how anthropological theory and method can provide insight into the human past and emerging future. Anthropologists have long been engaged with diverse publics and with other social sciences. The influence of anthropological methods, concepts and research is growing, as witnessed by the fact that over half of us are now employed outside the academy. Our journals are experimenting with new formats to link research to contemporary concerns. We engage with rapidly changing media technologies to reach diverse audiences and explore different pathways to activism, collaboration, and scholarship. By locating the human at the center of its inquiry, anthropology through all of its fields provide crucial methodological and political insights for other disciplines.

The 2013 annual meeting is dedicated to examining our efforts to transform our disciplinary identity and capacity in terms of knowledge production and relevance in a world of radical change. What is the nature of anthropological knowledge in a world of heterogeneity, interconnectivity and risk? How can we rethink collaborations beyond the categories of researcher/subject, expert/lay, or anthropologist/other? How can we fruitfully participate in interdisciplinary exchanges and projects that engage big questions? How do we nurture and support younger scholars who are struggling to expand the questions and parameters that define the field for a new century? How do ethical considerations shape the practice but also the substance of our scholarship in an imperiled world?

We are at a historical moment when there is healthy interdisciplinary dialogue about theory and method and a search for effective methods for studying globalized futures. Anthropology can take a lead in confronting questions of the human, culture and life itself that engages many disciplines.

Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) is the world's largest organization of individuals interested in anthropology. Although there were several other American anthropological societies in existence at the turn of the 20th century, this new, national organization was formed "to promote the science of anthropology, to stimulate and coordinate the efforts of American anthropologists, to foster local and other societies devoted to anthropology, to serve as a bond among American anthropologists and anthropologic[al] organizations present and prospective, and to publish and encourage the publication of matter pertaining to anthropology".

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