Call for Papers for 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, March 18 - 22, Albuquerque, New Mexico

We write to invite you to organise a session for the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, to be held March 18-22, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The theme of the meeting is “Destinations” and the Program Chair and Committee want to highlight the innovative work that museums are doing to engage audiences, deepen collaboration, and move beyond exhibition to new forms of outreach and education.

The meeting theme description states:

We are a world on the move. We are increasingly drawn to issues of transience and mobility. The leading question of our time might no longer be who we are but rather where are we going? Where will we live as storms imperil our lives and as sea levels rise, or as fresh water becomes a scarce commodity in many parts of the world? How do we imagine a fair and just world in those places where immigrants face discrimination and hostility and political refugees wait impatiently for someone to respond to their plight? Where do we find safe harbour when some of our most constant fellow travellers are disease and epidemics and where health care professionals struggle to respond to the needs of a diverse and highly transient population? Where do we locate the past and people’s heritage in such a great furor of instability and mobility? How far must our food and goods travel to satisfy modern consumer demand? How do our cities and communities respond to the needs of the homeless, the undocumented, the multiple other visitors? How are the diasporas of the past reflected in the contingencies of the present, and how might we anticipate the movements of people in the future?

Museums have long been “destinations” where people go to seek knowledge, insight, solace and escape from the entanglements of the mobile world described above. Museum professionals have embraced the transformation of their practice, but much of the new work is not familiar to applied anthropologists. The 2014 meeting offers an opportunity to dialogue with anthropologists and other social scientists actively committed to applying research insights in a wide variety of contexts.

We hope you will join us by organising a session or roundtable that illustrates new directions, dilemmas, methods and practice raised by your work and that of your colleagues.

The program for the meeting will foreground the “museum cluster” of programs so that they will be easily visible to meeting participants. Local stakeholders and community members will be invited to the meetings as well.

We are happy to discuss any ideas you might have for sessions, roundtables, or other activities, and answer any questions. You can find full meeting details here.

With thanks, Alaka and Christina

Christina Kreps, Ph. D.

Associate Professor of Anthropology

Director of Museum and Heritage Studies

Museum of Anthropology, University of Denver

Denver, Colorado USA

1.303.871.2688

Alaka Wali, Ph. D.

Curator of North American Anthropology and Applied Cultural Research Director,

Environment, Culture and Conservation

The Field Museum

Chicago, IL

(312) 922-9410