APLA at the 2009 AAA Annual Meetings

The Association for Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA) announces five APLA sponsored-panels and seven mentoring workshops planned for this year’s AAA meetings covering student research projects as well as career issues.

This year we will have 4 research workshops, and 3 workshops on professional issues given the current market situation and the success of last year’s events. The only requisite for participation is to be an APLA member.  Please see the below descriptions, register through the emails noted, or email Andrea Ballestero, the APLA Graduate Student Representative, if you have any questions. APLA looks forward to your participation and a successful AAA!


**Graduate Research workshops 2009:
The Graduate Research Workshops are characterized by an informal and nurturing atmosphere where students can share their work and receive focused feedback from leading faculty and fellow students from around the country. These workshops are also an opportunity to network and get to know the work of peers in other universities. To register:  email Andrea Ballestero (aballes@uci.edu) before Nov. 15th. We invite graduate students who are at the pre-, during, and post-fieldwork stages to discuss their work with faculty in one of four interest areas:

Cultures of Illegality, with Profs. Susan Coutin and Ric Curtis (Sat. Dec 5th, 12.15-1.45)

Affect and the Law, with Profs. Elizabeth Povinelli and Don Brenneis (Frid. Dec. 4th, 12.00-1.30)

The Law and its indigenous others/objects/intersections, with Profs. Rosemary Coombe, Madelaine Adelman and Ann Kakaliouras (Time and Date TBA)

Technologies of the Law, with Profs. Kimberley Coles and Elizabeth Mertz (Sat, Dec. 5th, 12.15-1.45)

**APLA Professional Mentoring Workshops 2009:

Job search: How to understand what search committees look for? (with Bill Maurer and Sally Merry, Sat. Dec 5th-10.30-12.00):
How to understand what search committees look for? This workshop will familiarize students looking for jobs with how search committees understand and organize the process of choosing a candidate for a position. Conducted by faculty members that have been part of search committees it is designed to provide tips and strategies on how to navigate the process. To register: please email Andrea Ballestero (aballes@uci.edu), before Nov 15th, with the Subject line: Job Search Workshop.

What to do after you file? with Profs. John Bowen, Ilana Gershon and Daniel Goldstein. (Fri, Dec 4th, 9.30 –11.00):
You have recently filed your dissertation and are taking the first steps in the academic world, but where to start? Many questions come to mind among them where and what to publish first? How to position yourself when looking for a job? What is a viable “next” project? Trying to answer these questions you may feel that you need guidance, a word of a professional, someone who has the experience and expertise and is able to lead you through some of these first steps. If you are at this stage and these are the questions you are faced with then this is the workshop for you.  The workshops will be organized as a conversation amongst colleagues. To sign up: please send an email with your name and affiliation information along with a one paragraph summary of your current work or next project and a maximum of three questions you would like the faculty to address information to Noa Vaisman (nvaisman@uchicago.edu) or Andrea Ballestero (aballes@uci.edu) by November 20th, with the subject line “What to do after you file?” workshop.

Book Proposal Workshop with Profs. Mark Goodale and Tom Boellstorff  (Thurs. Dec 3rd, 10.00-11.30):
This workshop is for recent PhDs who have a book proposal they would like to discuss and share with others. In this workshop you will be able to get feedback and tips for crafting a better proposal that may appeal to a number of presses. We will also discuss publication options, positioning, lists and how to approach publishers. The workshop will be organized as a discussion session based on prior reading of the documents by all of the participants. The workshop is limited to 8 participants, so please sign up early.  To sign up: please send an email with subject line Book Proposal, and a short (1-2 paragraphs) description of your work to Noa Vaisman (nvaisman@uchicago.edu) or Andrea Ballestero (aballes@uci.edu) by November 20th. A longer outline of your book proposal (1-2 pages) will be required by Nov. 25th

**AAA 2009, Philadelphia, APLA sponsored panels

8:00 a.m. on Friday morning with an innovative session, “Towards a Medical Anthropology against Militarism,” co-sponsored by the Society for Medical Anthropology. 

1:45 p.m. on Friday afternoon, “Theorizing Infrastructure:  Technopolitics of Development in Contemporary Africa,” co-sponsored by the Association for Africanist Anthropology, will present analyses of visual aesthetics in Tanzania, corporate social responsibility in Morocco, the ethics of energy consumption in Dar es Salaam, contested spaces, and citizenship in South Africa. 

4:00 p.m., also on Friday afternoon, “Bureaucracy and Befuddlement,” co-sponsored by the National Association of Student Anthropologists, will analyze how bureaucracies address refugee issues, fishing, land, security, climate change, drugs, and policies’ subjects. 

10:15 a.m. on Saturday, “The End of Citizenship in Latin America:  the Body as a New Site of Political Struggle,” considers the physicality of the body within struggles over citizenship, and thus presents ideas that could become key heuristics in political and legal anthropology.  This session is co-sponsored by the Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. 

1:45 p.m., on Saturday, “States of Desire:  Citizenship, Political Subjectivity, and Social Change,” co-sponsored by the American Ethnological Society, will provide attendees with an excellent opportunity to evaluate whether and how theories of desire can shed new light on a range of political phenomena. 

***
AAA 2008, San Francisco
APLA-Sponsored Panels and Workshops 2008
The Association for Political and Legal Anthropology sponsors panels, workshops, and an invited lecture biennially at the meetings of the American Anthropological Association.

This year's schedule: (View the 2008 AAA Annual Meeting Prelinary Program (PDF) or search the program online.)

For further information contact Cristopher Timura at ctimura@gmail.com.

APLA organizes research workshops where graduate students can share their work and receive focused feedback from leading faculty members from around the country. These workshops are also an opportunity to network and get to know the work of peers in other universities. For the 2008 AAA meetings in San Francisco, we invite graduate students who are at the pre-,during, and post-fieldwork stages to discuss their work with faculty in one of five interest areas:

1. Religion and Politics: intersections, co-minglings, and oppositions
2. Social Movements: NGOs, non-NGOs and other political strategies
3. Science, Technology, and the Law: circulations and placements
4. Time: anticipation and memory in Law and Politics
5. Public Policy and the Law: politics in action

Scheduling for these workshops is coordinated with participants in order to make sure that, to the extent possible, all who sign up can attend. All that is required from students is to be APLA members and to produce a two-page summary of their research project where they refer to obstacles/challenges/difficulties they are facing at the methodological, ethnographic, or theoretical levels. The workshops are meant to provide a friendly and supportive environment for engaging with issues that are often left without discussion in more formal conference presentations. Feel free to email us with any questions. We look forward to having you as a participant in one of the workshops.