Session Abstracts

A-B-C | D-E-F | G-H-I | J-K-L | M-N-O | P-Q-R  | S-T-U-V | W-X-Y-Z

JENKS, Angela (UCI) Building Teaching Communities. Teaching is a significant aspect of applied anthropological work, but it often occurs in isolation. Many instructors face teaching challenges and develop teaching strategies on their own, and there are few opportunities to learn from our colleagues’ experiences. This roundtable discussion will examine current efforts to build communities of instructors within and across institutions and brainstorm new ways to strengthen relationships among anthropology instructors and support collaboration and exchange. Panelists will discuss projects such as faculty learning communities, informal organizing, and online networks, as well as the role of professional organizations, publications, and conferences. (W-105) 

JINKA RAMAMURTHY, Malavika (MS State U) Realizing Global Citizenship: Interactions of Ethnicities, Citizenship, and Cultural Identities in Diverse Societies, a COPAA Student Session. The recent times are witnessing a rise in human displacement due to internal conflict, natural disasters, biodiversity conservation, or economic development in the homelands. While human displacement makes host societies diverse, applied anthropology has been recognizing the adaptabilities of the displaced people or refugees to the cultures and people of the new lands, the possibilities and challenges for different cultural identities to co-exist, and the tradeoffs that world leaders have been negotiating in making societies an arena of mutual tolerance. Our session discusses the various interactions of citizenship, ethnic identities, minority rights, and cultural values in diverse societies. mj1428@msstate.edu (TH-123) 

JOHNSON, Teresa (U Maine) Extending Citizenship and Engaging Diverse Disciplines and Perspectives to Enhance Resilience in Marine Social-Ecological Systems, Parts I-II. Enhancing community resilience in the face of social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental change requires embracing the complexity and uncertainty inherent within marine social-ecological systems. This requires advocating for the inclusion of diverse perspectives and extending citizenship in policy discussions and research to new and/or marginalized perspectives and other disciplines. Marine applied social scientists are well positioned to do this kind of transdisciplinary work through their engaged scholarship with diverse stakeholders. This session will illustrate research and engagement efforts aimed to better integrate diverse disciplines and stakeholder perspectives to support decision-making about complex issues facing marine social-ecological systems. teresa.johnson@maine.edu (F-07, F-37) 

JONES, Eric (UTH TMC) Examining Resilience in Disasters: Resistance, Adaptation, Transformation. Papers in this panel address how a group of people faces a hazard and its potentially disastrous consequences and comes out the other side resisting, adapting to, or being transformed by the extreme event(s). By looking at wellbeing, population, and longevity norms of social organization over centuries, decades, or a few years, these studies advance conceptual refinement of the resilience concept as applied to hazards and disasters. Such refinement permits greater attention to mechanisms and thus more targeted applications in disaster mitigation, preparation and recovery through policies and programs. eric.c.jones@uth.tmc.edu (F-31) 

JONES, Rose (Perot Museum of Nature & Sci) and CARRINGTON, Jara (UNT) The Lone Anthropologist Syndrome: Reclaiming Applied Anthropology in the Workplace and University. Drawing upon the roles and experiences that a diverse team of anthropologists, applied and academic, mentees and mentored, archeologists and ethnographers, had as they collaborated on an exhibit, “Origins: Fossils from the Cradle of Humankind,” recently curated by The Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, Texas, session participants will address how anthropology informed and guided their respective roles for the exhibit. Session participants will also address the ways in which anthropology was muted or highlighted in their respective roles, focusing on the implications the Lone Anthropologist Syndrome poses for applied anthropology and its practitioners in today’s job market. rose.jones@perotmuseum.org (F-05)​​​​​​​ 

KABEL, Allison (Towson U) and PAUL-WARD, Amy (FIU) Navigating Conflicting Demands and Contested Citizenship in Higher Education throughout the Life Course and across the Disability Spectrum. Applied anthropologists, like other professionals working in higher education settings, increasingly face conflicting demands from our constituencies. The emergence of these conflicting demands is particularly salient when working to support students living with disabilities, impairments, chronic conditions and various challenges in the face of policies, practices and guidelines ill equipped to serve this population. We will explore the accessibility of study abroad programs, challenges and opportunities for students with developmental disabilities participating in post-secondary transition programs, policy considerations and other issues that cause our students to question their sense of belonging in our institutions of higher education. akabel@towson.edu (TH-132)​​​​​​​ 

KADONO, Mika (USF) Applying Anthropology to Vaccine Hesitancy: Current Themes, Policies, and Implications. There has been a steady, global rise in vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks due, in part, to increasing vaccine hesitancy. Vaccine hesitancy (VH), or the delay or refusal of vaccines despite their availability, is a complex phenomenon shaped by overlapping socio-cultural, political, and economic factors. In this paper session, we discuss anthropological themes of the current iteration of VH; application and role of anthropology in addressing VH; vaccine policy; and, public health and global health implications. mkadono@mail.usf.edu (TH-38)​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ 

KASNITZ, Devva (CUNY/SDS) and WANGEMAN, Matthew (NAU) Accommodating Research on Communication Disability. “Disability is an ingenious way to live” says playwright Neil Marcus. Ethnography and autoethnography are ways of capturing ingenious living. We prep our students to look broadly and deeply. Recent trends in online research offer access to thousands of unmet respondents. Is this anonymity itself a barrier to participation? Where do the ethics of representation come in? When was the last time you wrote to researcher, supervisor, or IRB to say that the research is inherently flawed because it is inaccessible? Brainstorm with us how to teach disability research to this troubling trend where medium silences message. sdskasnitz@gmail.com (TH-42)​​​​​​​ 

KASNITZ, Devva (SDS) and WOIAK, Joanne (U Washington) Society for Disability Studies President’s Town Hall. With many Directors of SDS from anthropology, we have found a place in applied anthropology. Last year we co-sponsored seven events with 34 presentations. For this year, 2020 we expect a 50% increase. This event will start with a very brief meeting about SDS and the logistics of our partnership with SfAA. Then we want to talk about future plans and themes for 2021. With memberships overlapping not only with SfAA but with the Disability Research Interest Group of the Society for Medical Anthropology and groups on aging, we want to share resources and research agendas. sdskasnitz@gmail.com (TH-162)​​​​​​​ 

KELLEY, Shawn (Parametrix) and BUNCH, Fred (NPS) Traditional Use and Collaborative Research at Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve (GRSA) located in southern Colorado, preserves the tallest sand dunes in North America, as well as creeks, wetlands, grasslands, ponderosa forests, and alpine tundra. In order to better understand Native American connections to GRSA the National Park Service contracted a Traditional Use Study. Native Americans representatives from ten tribes (currently in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona) worked together with anthropologists and other scientists on a collaborative research project to better understand the resources and connections Native American communities have with GRSA. This informs GRSA’s management, interpretation and helps preserve this information for future generations. skelley@parametrix.com (T-67)​​​​​​​ 

KING, Samantha (UNCCH) Households and Landscapes: Exploring the Social and Ecological Dynamics of Agrarian Change, Part I. Over the last several decades, farmers have encountered increasingly unstable dynamics of global economic and environmental change. To understand the impacts of such global challenges on agrarian ecologies, anthropological analyses typically investigate the social and ecological dimensions of households. Yet broader spatial and temporal processes of landscapes are also significant. In an effort to integrate such concerns regarding scale, papers on this panel present innovative ethnographic research that utilizes interdisciplinary perspectives from landscape ecology and geo-computational techniques (such as remote sensing, GIS, and spatial analysis) to enhance our understanding of the complexity of agrarian change. skk@unc.edu (F-103)​​​​​​​ 

KING, Samantha (UNCCH) Inside the Black Box: Considerations and Concerns When Studying Rural Households, Part II. Today, the household is widely considered the primary unit of analysis for understanding rural livelihoods, yet it remains a problematic concept in both social theory and empirical research. Intractable assumptions of households as cohesive units of (re)production and consumption often mask the diversity of intrahousehold practices and the social relations that structure rural life. Still, venturing inside this ‘black box’ presents its own set of challenges. This roundtable will offer a venue for discussing the methodological and analytical quandaries that arise when studying rural households. Panelists will raise key issues and discuss techniques they have utilized to address these concerns. skk@unc.edu (F-133)​​​​​​​ 

KLINE, Nolan (Rollins Coll) Constructing Cultural Citizenship and Belonging: Immigration Politics in the US on National and Local Levels. Anti-immigrant politics and nativist rhetoric were central components of the 2016 Trump campaign and continue to be a priority for the Trump administration. The growth of xenophobic and nationalist policies under this administration has served as a call to action for anthropologists who work with immigrant communities across the country. In this roundtable, we discuss US immigration politics and place them into conversation with our local immigration research, teaching, and activism. Focusing on a diversity of sites, including Colorado, Florida, Maryland, and Oregon, we consider the commonalities and particularities of our research and propose new areas for research and action. nkline@rollins.edu (W-63)​​​​​​​ 

LEVIN, Betty Wolder (CUNY SPH) Seeking, Finding, Accepting and Resisting Care: Structural and Cultural Diversity in Complex Societies. This session, sponsored by the Dying and Bereavement Interest Group of the Society for Medical Anthropology, will examine issues related to care and support – medical and social, professional and personal – for people who are dying, ill or impaired. Five anthropologists will start by describing their observations based on work in a variety of settings including homes and communities, religious institutions, hospitals, nursing homes and hospices. We then look forward to a lively discussion, informed by anthropological perspectives, among panelists and audience members about peoples’ willingness and ability to seek, find, accept or resist care and support. betty.levin@sph.cuny.edu (TH-03)​​​​​​​ 

LINN, Colleen, O’LEARY, Brendan, and AKEMANN, Camille (Wayne State U) Exploring Best Practices in Urban Interdisciplinary Research. In interdisciplinary research groups, anthropologists are often positioned between marginalized communities and the agencies or academic groups that hired them. Such collaborations include anthropologists and lab scientists, communities, and non-profits. These relationships demonstrate the importance of establishing a sustainable methodology in applied anthropology. However, common challenges arise during these efforts, including work style differences, end goals, and a lack of rubric for best interdisciplinary research practices. This roundtable will be hosted by an interdisciplinary research team from Wayne State University (Detroit, MI), and explore questions related to the challenges of doing interdisciplinary work and navigating best practices for meaningful collaboration. fz1165@wayne.edu (TH-45)​​​​​​​ 

LITTLE, Peter C. (RIC) and CAMPBELL, Jacob (Field Museum) Political Ecology, Intersectional Alliances, and Navigating the Just Transition, Parts I-II. Exploring recent anthropological and political-ecological engagements with urban environments, conservation and land management regimes, and climate change, this panel aims to bring applied anthropology into conversation with “just transition” theory and practice. Emerging from labor unions and environmental justice groups, the “just transition” aims to foment the social movement(s) that will bring about an equitable political economic global system. Increasingly there are attempts being made to align gender, class, race and indigenous struggles for justice that build solidarity around intersectional goals and tactics for this transition. Our panel explores the forms that “just transition” takes in different research and advocacy. plittle@ric.edu (TH-13, TH-43)