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Anthropology and the Environment
February 1999
Ed Liebow, Contributing Editor
Rappaport Prize for Student Paper
To honor the memory of Roy A. Rappaport, the Anthropology and Environment Section invites submissions for the Second Annual student paper competition. Papers must be delivered by May 1, 1999 to Carole Crumley [Anthro, U North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3115]. Please follow guidelines for authors from Human Ecology, except you should submit the original and FIVE copies. The winner of the $500 prize will be presented at the A&E Business meeting in Chicago this November.
This month's column offers a note from Section President-elect Peter Brosius, and a summary of the Annual Business Meeting, held in Philadelphia on December 4, 1998.
From the President-Elect's Perspective
By Peter Brosius (pbrosius@arches.uga.edu)
It is a real honor to have been chosen President-elect by the members of A&E. We are at a watershed in the history of A&E, as we build on Carole Crumley's efforts to move our section from the organization stage into a more active phase. In the last several months I have worked closely with Carole, members of the A&E Executive Committee, Ed Liebow and Alx Dark toward this goal. It has been a distinct pleasure working with this committed, energetic group of individuals. The following are a series of specific goals that I hope to accomplish during my time of service to A&E.
One of my primary objectives will be to work toward increasing A&E membership from our present roster of approximately 350 members. One way we can do this is to be more actively engaged in outreach to other sections of the AAA. At the A&E business meeting in Philadelphia we formed a Liaison Committee to coordinate this effort. We are also presently discussing an initiative to work with the Archeology Division to explore ways for archeologists to play a more central role within the AAA, with A&E as one of the places that they can call home.
A second major goal is to make A&E a valuable resource for members: an active locus for the exchange of information among ourselves, with those in other disciplines, and with those who work in altogether different domains. A solid foundation for this has been laid with the A&E web site, and members can do more by heeding Alx Dark's call to send course syllabi and other materials to him for posting. The new A&E listserve (EANTH-L) is also contributing toward this effort. To date there have been several informative discussions: the nature of the distinction between ecological and environmental anthropology, how to define political ecology, and others. Plans to develop a database for members seeking information on funding sources, internships, and the like, are in progress.
Third, I intend to devote a great deal of effort toward increasing the visibility of A&E. One of the things that was clear from our member survey is that most members want A&E to play a more prominent role in addressing national and global environmental issues. Rather than waiting for policy-makers, donor agencies and others to come to us, we need to make a concerted effort to demonstrate the relevance of our work to a broader audience. This includes taking a more active role in informing and educating the public. The challenge confronting us now is how to do this. As a first step, at the A&E business meeting in Philadelphia we initiated the formation of a Public Policy Committee. In the months ahead we will begin to identify key issues that we might address, and consider what sort of structure we might establish to promote an anthropological voice in the environmental policy domain. Any members who are interested in this effort should contact me. I would add that I think we have a particular responsibility to promote the work of graduate student members of A&E in the area of public policy by fostering their participation in opportunities such as internships.
Finally, it is important to acknowledge that one of the challenges our section faces is its diversity. Among our members are those who take their theoretical cues from ecology and other sciences, and those who take their cues from cultural theory. There are strong centrifugal forces at work within our discipline. Given the many serious environmental issues that currently confront us, A&E should strive to be a meeting ground for this diversity of perspectives rather than a battle ground. I consider our diversity a source of strength. It is worth repeating a portion of Carole Crumley's A&E mission statement, published in the December 1996 Anthropology Newsletter:
the diversity of practice and the wealth of expertise within anthropology is both advantageous and necessary, if complex environmental issues at every scale are to be addressed, their historical interconnectivity demonstrated, and equitable future courses charted. Anthropologists must enter current debates over environmental issues by as many avenues as possible…
Whatever our particular theoretical perspective, I believe we all benefit from the effort to seek points of contact with the work of those whose theoretical propositions differ fundamentally from our own. I plan to organize a panel for the 1999 AAA meetings that attempts this, but we must make a broader effort to identify other opportunities to do so.
Summary of Annual Business Meeting
December 4, 1998 (Philadelphia,
PA)
1. INTRODUCTIONS: Section President Carole Crumley welcomed the more than 60 persons in attendance, and acknowledged the recently-elected officers, Executive Board members Ann Forbes and Tom Sheridan, and President-elect Peter Brosius. She also recognized 1998 Program Chair Bob Rhoades for his work on compiling a strong program.
2. OVERVIEW: President-elect Brosius summarized some of his aims for the Section in the next three years (see above):
3. RAPPAPORT PRIZE: Section President Crumley presented Melissa Checker with a $500 prize to acknowledge her paper, "It's In the Air: Organizing for Environmental Equity in a Multi-Ethnic Coalition." Judges Bob Levy and Bruce Winterhalder commented that Checker's paper is "coherent," "ethnographically sophisticated," and "humanely and theoretically important." Information about the 1999 prize will be included in the February 1999 Newsletter and posted at the Section's Web site.
4. TREASURER'S REPORT: Section President Crumley presented the Treasurer's report on behalf of Tom McGovern. Current membership is about 350. The 1999 budget is projected at $13,450, and, as a new section, A&E is subject to a "use it or lose it" rule: Section fund balances will no longer be allowed to accumulate indefinitely, so uncommitted funds at year's end will revert to the AAA. A brochure describing the Section will be produced in the coming year, as will a movable poster that can travel to various meetings. $2,500 had been set aside for publication costs associated with the Section's inaugural session (1996), but AltaMira Press has agreed to publish this volume of papers, so these funds are now available for other purposes.
5. PUBLICATIONS: Publications coordinator Ed Liebow reported that the Section aims to increase the bandwidth available for publications, as evidenced with the launch of the new list-serve by list-owner Bret Diamond, and the continued excellent support of the web site by Alx Dark. Publication possibilities include a newsletter, an occasional publication series, a stand-alone print journal, and an on-line journal. Liebow asked for volunteers to join a planning group to consider the advantages and limitations of each of these publication possibilities, taking into account the membership survey currently underway. As a joint publishing venture with the Culture and Agriculture Section, a special issue of Culture and Agriculture edited by Priscilla Weeks is planned for publication in the Fall, 1999. Continued coordination with the Association's Advisory Group on Electronic Communications will be productive in considering publication possibilities.
6. COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP: In addition to the Public Policy and Publications planning groups, volunteers are sought for Section committees: a. Annual Meeting Program Committee b. Membership c. Nominations (4 open positions this next year, including a president-elect and a student seat on the Executive Board) d. Outreach / Liaison
7. MEMBERSHIP SURVEY: Christian Turner (Georgia) is coordinating this survey of the Section membership concerning how the Section can best serve its members' interests. The current response rate is about 23%, but there are still opportunities to respond. Communications issues and making available a common data pool are among the most frequently cited interests from those who have responded to date.
8. COMMUNICATIONS: Bret Diamond (Georgia) announced that EANTH-L, the Section's new list-server, has more than 350 subscribers in its first month. About 50% are Section members. It was agreed that subscription should be kept open to non-Section members, in the spirit of outreach and information exchange. Diamond proposed to offer modest interventions as moderator, reminding the list from time to time of directing personal messages to the proper recipient, and providing assistance to individuals wishing to manage the volume of message traffic through "digest" and "no mail" commands. Alx Dark reported that with the advent of EANTH-L, some web site content will be modified, and an archive of the list-serve will be considered. Dark also noted that the Section would like someone to volunteer to compile curricular materials that could be accessible via the web site.
9. LOGO CONTEST: The Section is sponsoring a $100 prize for a logo to visually realize its organizational identity. Art work should be submitted to Carole Crumley (crumley@unc.edu)
10. ANNOUNCEMENTS: In addition to several time-dated announcements circulated shortly after the meeting, these items are of continuing interest: - Data Access and Release Policy: Page West reported that the Omnibus Budget Bill passed by the US Congress on October 21, 1998 contained a little-noticed provision requiring that all research data collected with federal sponsorship be publicly available via Freedom of Information Act request. It was suggested that this issue be considered by the planning group to be formed regarding public policy issue engagement.