AAA Meetings

SVA 2010 Call for Papers: click here! // Download AAA Call for Papers: 2010cfp

About the American Anthropological Association:

Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) is the world’s largest organization of individuals interested in anthropology. Its purposes are to encourage research, promote the public understanding of anthropology, and foster the use of anthropological information in addressing human problems. Anyone with a professional or scholarly interest in anthropology is invited to join. Since 1950, its membership has increased dramatically, now averaging in excess of 10,000. Annual meetings draw more than 5,000 individuals, who attend over 300 sessions organized into a 5-day program. The AAA is further organized into a number of smaller, thematic “sections” (such as the Society for Visual Anthropology), each of which is responsible for coordinating a portion of the annual meeting program by soliciting, organizing, and reviewing session proposals.

For more information on session types and meeting registration procedure, see:
www.aaanet.org/meetings

NOTE:

    AAA regulations allow every conference participant only ONE “major role” (paper presentation, etc) and ONE “discussant” role per year. The word limit for a session abstract is 500 words; for a paper/poster abstract, 250 words.


Types of AAA Sessions:

Regular “scientific” sessions (standard 15-minute paper or poster session)

  1. Invited panels (each AAA section’s program chairs jury their submissions and decide which will be “invited” by the section; these are automatically accepted into the meeting program and get prioritized scheduling; each section gets limited allotments for these according to membership numbers).
    • Deadline to submit proposals to SVA program committee: March 1
    • Deadline to register/submit online with the AAA: April 1 (5pm ET)
  2. Volunteered papers, posters and panels for section review
    • Section program chairs review and grade ALL individual paper submissions AND organize independently submitted ones into panel sessions.
    • Section program chairs rank ALL sessions (both newly formed or submitted as complete panels) and submit these ranks to AAA for final acceptance decision and scheduling.
    • Deadline to register/submit online with the AAA: April 1 (5pm ET) [submitters choose SVA to "review" the paper/poster/panel during the online registration process]

Presidential/Executive sessions:

“Invited” and scheduled by the AAA Executive Program Committee (for 2009-John Jackson and Deborah Thomas, Co-Chairs).

  • These can be either typical “scientific,” 15-minute paper presentations, or other kinds of events such as screenings, debates, discussions, performances, etc; these are automatically accepted into the AAA program and get prioritized scheduling.
  • “High Tables”: this is an encouraged format, in which there is one major speaker and a few brief follow-up speakers, followed by a discussion between all of them and the audience.
  • NOTE: all papers/presentations (even the brief “follow-up” High Table speakers) count toward the one “major role” for conference participation.
  • Deadline to propose Presidential/Executive sessions to SVA program committee: January 10, 2009.

Roundtables:

This is a flexible format to offer alternatives to the standard 15-minute paper panel. (To encourage the format, all roundtables automatically get “Invited” status without using the limited section allotments.)

  • NOTE: all roundtable presentations (which the AAA refers to, somewhat confusingly, as “discussants”) count toward the one “major role” for conference participation [i.e. they count as a "paper", not as a "discussant" role in the regular panel sense].
  • Deadline to register/submit online with the AAA: April 1 (5pm ET) [submitters choose SVA to "review" the roundtable during the online panel registration process; submitters should indicate the format by putting "Roundtable" directly in the panel title and abstract]

Special Events:

These are NOT part of regular session programming (they do NOT count toward the 2 role limit; they must be scheduled at specific times in between regular sessions [e.g. lunchtime, late afternoon, evening, etc])

  1. Business/Board meetings; special interest group meetings; parties, receptions, cash bars; award ceremonies; special lectures; off-site receptions or film screenings, etc.
    • Deadline to submit online with the AAA: April 1 (5pm ET)
  2. Workshops (these are technical workshops offered by sections for a fee; they have limited numbers, and must be registered for in advance by participants.)
    • NOTE: there is a special form to submit, available on the AAA website.
    • Deadline to submit workshop to the AAA: April 1 (5pm ET)
    • NOTE: If you are interested in organizing an SVA-sponsored special event or workshop, contact the SVA program committee as early as possible.

      Public Policy Forum. (no formal papers; see AAA website for more info)
  • Deadline to submit to the AAA: March 1






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