SANA 2006 Conference
Call for Papers
"Anthropology in an
Uncertain Age"
April 20-22, 2006
*
PLEASE NOTE THE DATE CHANGE *
Deadline for Paper and
Session Submission:
February 15, 2006
The Society for the
Anthropology of North America invites
participants to discuss the state of
anthropology in a period of uncertainty and
change at our 2006 conference, to be held
April 20-22 at the
Newman Conference Center of
Baruch College in New York
City.
If the 1990s were
characterized by the ascendance of the twin
projects of neoliberalism and globalization,
and if the immediate post-9-11 period was
characterized by a forceful American
nationalism and unilateralism, now there is
a sense that things are falling apart. The
American political-economic vision that
reigned supreme a short time ago now seems
stalled, caught in the dual quagmires of
Iraq and Afghanistan. Global economic
integration and free markets have produced
new rivalries in Europe, North American,
China and India, as well as disastrous
economic failures and intensified social
suffering in Latin America, Africa and
developing nations across the globe.
Closer to home, the
American national state is now unable to
fulfill its most basic obligations, as
Hurricane Katrina made clear. As
environmental regulations loosen, tax
burdens shift to the middle and working
classes, and wages stagnate, the empire
begins to resemble its poorer neighbors. In
this context, it is paradoxical to many of
us that the appeal of radical individualism,
crude materialism, and self-righteous
conservatism in American popular culture
seem stronger than ever.
In the midst of all
this, the stakes for anthropology are high.
Are things falling apart – and is this a
good thing? Should we view all of this with
distress, or hope? And what is the role of
anthropology and the anthropologist in the
early years of an already eventful and
perplexing 21st Century?
The 2006 conference
will be held in New York City, which itself
epitomizes the conference’s theme. Despite
outward signs of the city’s post-9-11
recovery – a booming tourism economy and a
hot property market, new development in all
five boroughs and the decline of the racial
tensions of recent decades – there are also
signs that NYC’s status as the self-styled
“capital of the world” is threatened: the
city’s share of the financial industry is in
decline; driven by exorbitant housing costs,
the working class and even the middle class
is slowly leaking out of the city, leaving
it more and more to the very rich and the
very poor; and immigrants, the key to much
of the city’s economic and cultural
vitality, are increasingly bypassing this
traditional port of entry and heading
directly to the south and west.
Though topics and
geographic areas are open, here are some
possible themes for panels and papers:
Pedagogy and
Research in an Uncertain Era: For
decades we have struggled to be more than
just purveyors of exotic cultures to our
students. How do new popular cultural and
political shifts – the rise of
fundamentalisms, neo-racism, the movement
against gay marriage and so forth – affect
what we do in the classroom and beyond?
What kinds of public pedagogies might
anthropologists develop and contribute in
the public sphere? How should we respond to
shifts in academic life such as the
corporatization of the academy and the rise
of think-tank culture? What is the future of
research in an academy regulated by IRBs and
in a policy arena characterized by secrecy?
Governmentality:
The rise of neoliberal governance different
scales prompted anthropologists to explore
the relations between new strategies and
tactics of governance and new forms of
subjectification. What is 21st
century “government” and who is the 21st
century subject?
Sovereignty: In
the 1990s, the concept of sovereignty
reemerged as a focus of intense discussion,
especially in the context of globalization
and purported decline of the nation-state;
Hardt and Negri’s Empire, with its
argument that sovereignty had become
dispersed and placeless, typifies this. How
are we to judge this kind of argument, and
how are we to understand sovereignty when
the first decade of the 21st
century seems to be characterized by a
reassertion of the power of the nation
state?
Imperialisms and
Empires: During the past few years,
“empire” and “imperialism” have replaced
“globalization” as the new buzzwords of
thinkers concerned with international
relations. Is there a new imperialism or an
old imperialism in new clothes? Or are we
seeing something altogether different?
Restructuring and
globalization: The assault on workers’
rights, wages, and standards of living
continues, often under the rubric of
“globalization.” Profits remain high, wages
remain flat. “Outsourcing” threatens
workers higher and higher in the wage and
status hierarchy. What is the state of
global capitalism five years past the turn
of the century?
(Un)healthy bodies:
Concerns about the body and health are
everywhere: from fears of Avian Flu, to the
rise of the organic and whole food industry,
to the ubiquity of gyms, to a simmering
dissatisfaction with the state of the US’
health insurance and public health systems.
What is the state of the body, medicine, and
health in the early years of 21st
century?
Racial Justice:
We see clear evidence of racial injustice in
the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Yet the only
high-profile response to racial injustice is
the Millions More March, itself
controversial in a number of ways. How does
racial injustice – and the struggle t
against it – manifest itself in the 21st
century?
Gender, Kinship,
Feminism, and Queer politics: The
campaign to ban gay marriage garnered
responses from anthropologists – from a
statement by the AAA, to a special issue of
the American Ethnologist, to articles and
the National Review. Clearly, the
idea of “the family,” implicating gender,
kinship, and sexuality, is subject to
conflict. Meanwhile, some women are
attaining positions of power in, ironically,
a conservative administration, even as women
overall remain more subject to poverty,
low-wages, and the dual responsibilities of
work and home. How can anthropologists and
their research address and inform discussion
of these issues?
Religion: What
is the relationship between Islam and
terrorism? Should Intelligent Design be
taught in public schools? What is the
proper relationship between organized
religion and politics? Religion is at the
heart of many cultural and political
debates. What does anthropology, which has
so long had religion, ritual and cosmology
in its purview, have to say about these
questions?
Please direct all
inquiries or questions to Julian Brash,
Conference Chair, at
sana2006nyc@gmail.com
|