With gratitude for all that you have helped the AAA accomplish in 2019, we wish you a Happy New Year! Here are just a few highlights from the past year at the American Anthropological Association.
AAA issued more than three dozen statements and letters both independently and in collaboration with our sister organizations on topics like:
Public Outreach
AAA partnered with our podcast collaborators to share the work of anthropologists with a large public audience.
On Anthropology Day, more than 340 registered groups from 14 countries, including 290 departments of anthropology, 28 community colleges, 20 K-12 schools, and 30 businesses/museums planned activities to celebrate the discipline.
The Anthropologists Go Back to School initiative, held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting each year, connected 20 participating anthropologists with K-12 students at five different field sites in Vancouver this past November.
Meetings & Professional Development
The AAA partnered with the Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) to host the 2019 Annual Meeting in Vancouver, BC. The meeting featured 1,063 sessions with 4,549 presenters and hosted more than 6,000 attendees. Our sincere gratitude goes out to the Executive Program Committee, to our partners at CASCA, and to the individuals who served as section program chairs, as well as those who worked tirelessly to host one of the many section meetings held in 2019.
AAA also hosted our second Summer Institute for Department Leaders in 2019, welcoming department chairs and leaders to Loyola University in Chicago this past June for a three-day series of breakout sessions and collaborative discussions.
Three summer interns joined us in the AAA offices and lent their support to our partners at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Naval History & Heritage Command. Thank you to the members who continue to donate and make the summer internship program possible.
Education & Research
This year the AAA’s research department worked closely with three new leadership fellows as well as five undergraduate research fellow teams made up of a total of 10 undergraduate students.
We also issued four new “at a glance” reports about the field:
Publications
In 2019 Anthropology News published 247 articles from 300 contributing authors. The AAA also published three issues of our digital-only, public journal Open Anthropology focusing on topics like anthropology on the border and hearing women’s voices.
The AAA’s publications team also oversaw the launch of the new Open Anthropology Research Repository (OARR), a community server established to improve and accelerate the discovery and dissemination of anthropological work, including preprints, teaching materials, and papers and posters presented at disciplinary meetings worldwide in any language.
Membership
In 2019, 120 Member Advocates brought new members into the AAA fold. We also welcomed 50 recent graduates who were nominated for free AAA memberships by their professors through our New & Recent Graduate program.
Finally, we would like to thank the more than 175 volunteers who helped make all of this possible by serving on AAA committees, the Executive Board, working groups, in section leadership, and more.
Thank you, and Happy New Year from the American Anthropological Association.
