From Dolores Koenig, President, Society for Economic Anthropology
Bram Tucker, incoming SEA President, and I would like to welcome all to the AAA meetings. SEA is offering many exciting events.
There are many interesting SEA sessions, which look at issues such as: ethnography in white collar contexts, new energy landscapes in Africa (co-sponsored with Association for Africanist Anthro), the anthropology of corporations (co-sponsored with the Association for Political and Legal Anthropology), the value and authenticity of cultural products, technologies of governance and communication, calculating the value of food, space, and risk, commodity cycles, taxation, consumerism, entrepreneurship, and the middle classes. For more details on these sessions, see the AAA program.
The SEA Business Meeting will be held on Friday, December 1 at 12:15. This is your opportunity to learn about what SEA has been doing over the previous year and to help us plan for next year. Learn about the SEA meeting to be held March 1-3 in Tempe, Arizona on the theme of water. Learn about how you can publish through SEA’s journal, Economic Anthropology. Learn about opportunities for research funding for graduate students and opportunities for to recognize student achievements. Learn who the SEA officers are and how you can become involved in SEA.
Please also come join the Society for Economic Anthropology (SEA) and the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists (WAPA) for an evening of new research, networking, and food and beverages. SEA and WAPA are hosting an American Anthropological Association reception at historic Sumner School, 1201 17th Street NW, Washington, DC, Friday, December 1. Listed in AAA program as 6:30-7:45 p.m., but we can stay until 8:30. All are welcome to attend.
This combined reception highlights the work of WAPA and SEA focused on understanding and addressing contemporary issues and problems through the lens of anthropology. Presenters will give short talks interspersed with discussion. Refreshments will be served.
Voices of Virginia (2018-2020) — WAPA presenters will talk about an exciting new study looking at voter attitudes and civic engagement in the swing state of Virginia. The recent 2016 U.S. elections and the contentious public debates that followed appear to show a nation divided. What is not clear is if this is indicative of what U.S. citizens and voters think and feel in local communities. Using qualitative data from six communities in the Commonwealth of Virginia, researchers will explore the extent to which people from different sociopolitical backgrounds share the divisive views permeating politics and the media and how this impacts civic engagement at the local level. Field researchers are currently being recruited for this study and interested anthropologists with and without experience are encouraged to attend.
SEA members will showcase some of the uses of economic anthropology to approach problems in the US and elsewhere. Participants will discuss their involvement in toxic waste disposal, food waste legislation,long-term consequences of dam resettlement, and other issues.
NOTE: This event is open to attendees of AAA, SEA and WAPA members, and friends. Sumner School, managed by the US National Park Service, requires that you bring a picture ID to enter the building. We do not require AAA conference badge to attend.