Minutes of the First Business Meeting of the Society for Anthropological Sciences
Drury Hotel, New Orleans
November 23, 2002


Stu Plattner opened the meeting at 9:00 am with an overview of the day’s agenda. Items to be discussed included the following:

  1. Relationship with the AAA
  2. Organizational structure.
  3. Treasurer’s report
  4. Activities

Plattner then introduced a five-member contingent from the AAA board, which included President-elect Liz Brumfiel, executive committee members Geoff Clark, Norm Yoffee, and Dennis Wiedman, and outgoing executive committee member Kathy Gibson. Brumfiel was then invited to speak. She offered greetings from AAA president Don Brenneis, and explained that he and the rest of the executive committee were concerned about the alienation felt by many of those present and were there to listen. She then gave an overview of the benefits that affiliating with the AAA might offer SASci, including sessions at the national meeting, office support, and a venue for science-oriented anthropologists to collaborate and perhaps publish. She noted that the AAA is not wholly anti-science despite some vocal anti-science groups, and cited a 1997 AAA survey that found 72% of AAA members support the AAA because it represents all aspects of anthropology and 90% of AAA members believe AAA leadership should include representatives from all subdisciplines.

Murray Leaf asked for a show of hands to see how many present were AAA members, but Stu suggested those present constituted a biased sample since non-AAA members would not likely have been attending the AAA meeting. Mike Fischer reported that 90% of those responding to the SASci on-line poll reported being AAA members, and 87% wanted to remain affiliated with AAA.

Emilio Moran asked why, if AAA members show such strong support for 4-field anthropology, the program was so heavily biased towards (a particular type of) cultural anthropology. Brumfiel, who had been involved in the organization of the AAA annual meeting, answered that the papers accepted for the meeting are directly related to the universe of papers proposed; she also said that the program is weighted by the sections, each of which review proposed panels and have several panels of their own. She argued that science-oriented papers were represented this year in the proportion to which they were proposed.

Jean Ensminger noted that lots of science-oriented panels were turned away, and lots of folks were alienated from the AAA. She asked what we could do to bring them back, and suggested high-profile sessions. Brumfiel agreed.

Murray Leaf then suggested the best course of action was to become a section of the AAA.

Dwight Read asked whether SASci could simultaneously organize as a section of the AAA and as an independent organization. Brumfiel said yes, like NAPA. Plattner suggested we organize as SASci, then if there are enough AAA members, they can form a section too. Plattner argued that if there were a large number of people who are strongly opposed to the AAA, then we don’t want to prevent their membership in SASci.

Yoffee stated that he hated to see science-oriented anthropologists leave AAA and would do all he could to help. He argued that there were many advantages for SASci if organized under the AAA, and that doing so would be relatively easy. He noted in particular that as a section SASci would be able to review panels for the annual meeting and nominate members to the executive committee, both of which might be very beneficial.

John Moore asked what percent of the SAA and APA were still members of the AAA. The answers, given by various members present were as follows:

Doug White noted that there are a number of Europeans who want to join SASci, but would be unlikely to do so if it were only organized as a section of the AAA. Fischer agreed, noting that 15% of the listserv members were European.

Plattner then asked Carmella Moore to give the Treasurer’s report. Moore reported that as of the meeting time there were 149 paid members, with numerous additional inquiries and statements that membership dues were forthcoming. There was a total of $2595 in the treasury, suggesting that many members were “putting their money where their mouth is” and providing more than the minimal $10 dues.

An unidentified member of the audience then suggested that alienated members of the AAA often have other issues related to departmental conflict, postmodern perspectives, and the like, and that incorporating separately from the AAA would allow them to participate in SASci.

Plattner then asked for a vote, with the results as follows:

Plattner then asked, given these results, how to proceed. First, he suggested someone had to undertake the task of incorporation.

White suggested that we don't actually want to incorporate, but rather create an AAA section and let the parallel, independent SASci self-organize. He noted that INSNA and the Sunbelt Social Network Meeting were both organic developments, and the independent SASci track might be left to grow organically too. Russ Bernard gave a brief history of these two organizations as examples of how this might happen.

Plattner then posited that we not worry about organization, but rather focus on what we want to accomplish. Schlegel suggested we put forward sessions on evolution. An unidentified member of the audience suggested we maintain a parallel meeting to the AAA. Ensminger argued we want to create sessions that will provide visibility within the AAA. A student in the audience noted that many students feel there are not places for them to go in the AAA. He suggested activities focused on education and job search, and perhaps a student paper prize to help young anthropologists build up their visibility. Leaf noted that those are the kinds of things that being a section of the AAA would allow us to do. Moran supported Leaf, and argued that our main task was to support students and younger anthropologists in order to help the discipline as a whole regain a scientific focus.

Peter Peregrine put forward the idea of workshops, and Wiedman responded for the AAA, suggesting that workshops might be a very good way to accomplish some of these goals. He also noted that SASci invited sessions could take any form we wanted them too--we would not be restricted to 15-minute papers or even a presentation format. Jeff Johnson told of the NSF workshops he has been doing for 8 years, noting the strong impact they have had on students, and arguing that this is something we need to do.

Kim Romney stated that he has produced some 60 PhDs in his career; 17 of the first 20 are in anthropology departments that train anthropologists, while none of the last 20 are. He argued that this reflects the discipline as a whole, and wondered whether anything we do can really impact a discipline so far distanced from science. Geoff Clark responded that while there are vocal anti-science constituencies in the AAA, it mirrors the discipline (and the public). He suggested that most anthropologists still see anthropology as a science, and that it is our obligation to contest the anti-science people. He argued that the AAA is not dominated by anti-science in numbers, although it may be in voice.

Moran moved that we get practical, that we create 5-6 workshops and several good sessions for next year's meeting. White seconded, and suggested that in addition to formal organization within the AAA we let SASci self-organize as a parallel, independent group. Plattner then asked for concrete tasks that need to be undertaken, and a lengthy discussion followed in which a large number of possible tasks were put forward. These break down into the following major categories (in random order):

  1. workshops
  2. job network
  3. sessions
  4. prizes
  5. publications
  6. listserv/website
  7. publicity/recruitment

A number of individuals in the audience, most notably Brumfiel, argued that many of these tasks should be undertaken collaboratively with other sections within the AAA, and that building alliances would be very beneficial to everyone involved. A number of individuals also noted that our work on these tasks needs to be exemplary, in the true sense of the word; that is, we need to set an example of the kind of work we would like to see coming from all areas of the AAA.

Plattner then asked for volunteers who would begin to work on these tasks, and after lengthy discussion, the following list emerged:

  1. Organize as a section of the AAA
Officers: Plattner, Read, Kronenfeld
Treasurer: Moore
Secretary: Peregrine
  1. Listserv/website: Fischer
  2. Publicity/Recruitment: MacClaury
  3. Publications: White
  4. Outreach: Bernard
  5. Workshops
Corporate anthropology:
Comparative research: Ember, Peregrine
Spatial analysis: Moran
Scientific anthropology and policy: Weller
Network analysis: White
  1. Sessions: Ensminger, Leaf, J. Moore and C. Moore

Plattner then noted that NSF would be very interested in proposals aimed at workshops promoting science in anthropology, and asked the students if there were topics that they would like to have covered in workshops. Students responded they would like to learn more about advanced statistical methods (esp. nonparametric), culture and biology, mathematical methods of theory construction, and text analysis. There followed further general discussion of graduate education in anthropology.

Plattner ended the meeting by summarizing what had taken place and the tasks at hand. He reminded everyone that there was a lot of work ahead, and that we all needed to say ‘yes’ when asked to contribute. The meeting adjourned at 11:00 am.

Respectfully submitted as a subjective account of an empirical moment biased by the hegemonic influence of global capitalism, non-Hispanic white testosterone, and a mild hangover by Peter N. Peregrine.