Anthropology NewslettedNovember 1988 5

Unit News AMERICAN ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Chad McDaniel, Acting Corrcspundirrg Editor

Annual Business Meeting and Reception

The AES Business Meeting will be held Friday, 530-730 pm, to be fol- lowed by a cash bar reception. Please come if you are interested in learning more about the AES, or becoming more actively involved!

AES Sponsors Special Sessions at Phoenix

The AES is again sponsoring a num- ber of special sessions at the annual AAA Aeting this year. We have en- couraged sessions that focus on topics of current theoretical concern. The range of themes reflects the efforts of the AES to capture the diversity within sociocultural anthropology and to provide space for the expression of the full span of inter- ests of ourmembers. Because of our de- sire t6 encourage dialogue among the dlffe‘rent trends within our field, we have sought sessions that synthesize different peepectives, and, on an organizational level, we have ,cosponsored sessions with a ‘number of other units within the

AT% is continu’ltig its new tradition ‘in ’ which several people discuss the works of a prominent anthropologist, who then replies to their comments. This year’s “Author Meets Critic” session features a review of the works of James Fernan- dez by John Gumperz, Richard Werb- ner, Benjamin Colby, Pascal Boyer and Marily Ivy, with a reply by Fernandez.

This interest in reassessing intefpre- tive anthropology is also prominent in several other sessions. Such a reassess- ment is the immediate focus of the ses- sion “Interpreting Interpretive Anthro- pology.” “Memory and Exchange: So- cial History through Narrative and Ob- jectification” explores dimensions of historicity and memory in the study of discourse, while “Building Cultural Models from Interviews and Other Talk” examines methodological ques- . tions in the study of discourse and cog- nition. “Unveiling Agendas” raises questions of personal and political con- cerns in the conduct of ethnographic re- search and preparation of academic writ- ing. A similar concern with power and textuality appears in “En-gendering Dis- course and Practice.” A double session, “Regimenting Histories: Ideologies and Objects in Public Museums and Cere- monies” and “The Objects of Culture,” addresses these issues in relation to re- search presented in museums rather than in written form in journals and mono- graphs.

Other sessions examine issues of po- litical economy; several of these show the increasing sensitivity within anthro- pology to the languages that are used to describe inequality and domination, much as some of the interpretive ses- sions raise questions of power. “Re-

thinking Analytical Categories: Trans- national Perspectives” and “Class. Eth- nicity and Gender in the Andes” both show this interest in ideology, through 8 joining of the study of relations of power with an examination of dominant and al- ternative constructions of these rela- tions. Several sessions also bring the fruits of areas of recent expansion of eth- nographic research, both with increased access to China (“Ethnicity, Identity and the State in China” and “Reconcep- tualizing the Chinese State”) and with the expansion of interest in gender ide- ology and practice (“Beyond Psychol- ogy: Towards a Psychology of Lesbi- ans”).

This linkage of interpretative anthro- pology and political economy perspec- tives is well reflected in the ongoing re- search in the region where this year’s meeting is held, the Southwest. The en- counter of cultural traditions and anthro- pological traditions in an arena of shift- ing political control is studied in “The Southwest as a Region for Ethnological Research” and .in two. sessions that re- evaluate the worWof twb pioneer women

-hers a Ihk with the museum sessions mentioned above) and Elsie Clews Parsons, an early president of the AES and a major figure within it.

Anthropology and Temporality: AES Spring Meeting in Santa Fe

The I I Ith annual AES spring meeting wifl be held Thursday through Sunday, April 6-9, 1989, at the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe. AES will meet concurrentiy with the Society for Applied Anthropol- ogy (SfAA).

The AES meeting theme, “Anthro- pology and Temporality,” was an- nounced in the Unit News of the Septem- ber edition of the Anthropology Newslet- ter. A number of sessions already are in the planning stages, including the fol- lowing with tentative titles: “Power and the Seizure of Time,” organized by Ash- raf Ghani and Katherine Verdery; “Ca- lendrical Prophecy and Politics in Maya History,” organized by Grant Jones; “Time Allocation Research: Methods and Findings,” organized by Allen Johnson; “Temporal Organization in the Use and Management of Resources.” organized by James Acheson and Jane Guyer; ‘‘Jewish Culture and the Narra- tive Shaping of Time,” organized by ’

Jonathan Boyarin; “Temporal lssues in Biography,” organized by Ellen Basso; and “Alternative ‘Time Systems in West- ern Industrial Society,” organized by Gary McDonogh. Other potential panels are being developed on ”The Tempor- ality of Marginal People,” “Time and Working-class Culture,” and “Dy- namic Conceptions of the Person.”

Papers related specifically to any of the above sessions or more generally to the program theme are most welcome.

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Welcome, also, are organizers of addi- tional sessions. Please call Henry Rutz (315/859-4191) or write to him at Ham- ilton College, Clinton, N Y 13323. See AES Unit News in the September issue of AN for a description of the theme and

for further details about advance regis- tration, session abstract and paper ab- stract forms. Deadline for sirbmissio~i of all rnatcrials is Jatwary I S , 1989.

Look for a further update of the spring meeting in this column in December.

Spring ’88 AS Executive Committee Meeting

The Executive Committee for the Ar- cheology Section held its spring 1988 meeting on .4pril 29-30 during the SAA convention in Phoenix. The following summary highlights are the major topics treated during those deliberations.

Annual MrrtinR Progrcim. Program Chair Robert D Drennan reported that ar- cheology sessions at the 1988 AAA Meetjng in Phoenix would equal or ex- ceed the 1987 total in Chicago. During his two-year term, D.rennan has sought innovative approaches to sessions, re- spondirg to a widely feltldissatisfaction with the usual :Staccato presentation of short monologues. Sessions designated as “invited” or “sponsored” by a unit have some more flexibility in format, and Drennan has looked to develop these as potential showcases for innovation. In so doing, he has encouraged contributors to work from their own ideas, rather than trying to implant topics and treatments in the minds of prospective organizers. Change has been somewhat slow to take hold, but perhaps the seeds of such change have been sown, and these and future meetings will include progrcs- sively more interpersonal exchange and interaction. Session organizers are also encouraged to consider submitting writ- ten results of their programs as prospec- tive volumes in the Section’s monograph series.

Publicution Series. The Archeology Section publication series proceeds to its second volume, with the Committeek selection of Altermrive Appruuches to Lithic Ariulysis. edited by Donald C ) Henry and George H Odell, as its next monograph. This volume will have a larger page size than its predecessor, and will be the first to bear the newly estab- lished series title, Archeologicuf Puprs of the American Anthropologitnl ASSO- ciation.

For development and production of future volumes, the Committee created an appointive series editorship. While one volume is selected annually for pub- lication in the series, production sched- ules may vary. The term of the series will therefore be defined, not as a set time period, but as the time required for seeing two volumes to completion. Geoffrey A Clark, an experienced editor of anthropological monographs and cur- rently a Member-at-large of the Com-

mittee, has agreed to be steward for both the Hendry and Odell volume and the one to follow. The annual deadline for submission of completed volume manu- scripts is March I (sent to G A Clark IAr- izona State l l ] ) , with selection decisions made by the Executive Committee dur- ing its spring meeting.

Budget. As membership totals and member benefits have grown, SO has the AS budget, and this raises several dts- tinct but related issues. At the close of 1987, we projected a budget deficit for the coming year (see Minutes of the No- vember 1987 AS Business Meeting, Jan 1988 AN, p 5), because of both higher administrative charges from the central office of the Association and new costs associated with expanding member ben- efits.

The higher administrative costs result from our crossing a membership thresh- oldof 1000, at which point theper capita monthly charge went from 40$ to 60q. The Comniittee has objected to the in- crease as punishment for growth. We are not the only unit of the AAA to be af- fected by this rule, and the matter is UR- dcr discussion by the Association’s Ex- ecutive Board (on which two members of the AS Executive Committee sit).

AS to benefits. the AS is and has been one of only a couple of AAA units to dis- tribute the Americrirt Anrhropuiogist to its members. In the last couple of years, the Executive Committee has sought to develop additional benefits, to serve the existing constituency and to attract new members. Such expanded offerings in- clude both the publication series inau- gurated in 1987 and the annual work- shops, beginning this year (see bclow). The costs associated with development and production of these benefits we borne in large measure by a preexisting budget, and the more than $4000 in added costs have combined with the higher administrative costs (see above) to stretch our expenditures beyond total unit revenues. The Committee believes the costs to he worthwhile, however, Publications should be self-supporting in time, as a revolving fund from sales (to other than AS members) becomes avail- able. Once the workshop series is under- way, its costs are underwritten by regis- trants’ fees, and should even generate profit for the unit.

In the meantime, however, in light of the higher overall costs encountered now