(Note: This email is sent on behalf of the SLA Program Chair, Sarah Shulist, at s.shulist@queensu.ca. Please direct all questions and concerns about AAA 2021 directly to her.)
The 2021 Annual Meeting for the AAA is going to be taking place in Baltimore, MD from Nov 17-21, 2021, with a hybrid meeting format in which presenters can either attend in person or virtually. Some of the specifics about how this hybrid format will take place can be found under the FAQs: https://annualmeeting.americananthro.org/general-info/faqs/.
Generally speaking, panel submissions have to be either for an in person panel or a virtual one, rather than a combination of both The theme this year is “Truth and Responsibility”, which we are encouraged to think about as “a call to reimagine anthropology to meet the demands of the present moment. The imperative to bear witness, take action, and be held accountable to the truths we write and circulate invites us to reflect on our responsibility in reckoning with disciplinary histories, harms, and possibilities. To whom are we giving evidence and toward what ends? For whom are we writing? To whom are we accountable, and in what ways?”
You can find more information about submission types, public health measures being implemented, and other changes on the AAA’s Annual Meeting website here:
https://annualmeeting.americananthro.org/general-info/
Specific information about submission can be found here:
https://annualmeeting.americananthro.org/submissions/general-call-for-papers/
Key information and deadlines:
- Submissions for the General Call for Papers must be started by Friday May 21 at 3 pm Eastern time – you cannot begin a new submission after this point. The submissions must then be completed by Wednesday, May 26 at 3 pm Eastern time. In addition to the submission of panels or individually volunteered papers, you can also coordinate the submission of presentations in the formats that were available for the “Raising Our Voices” event in 2020 (Roundtable/Town Hall, Conversations and Debates, Interviews, and Podcasts).
- As was the case for the “Raising Our Voices” event, you do not have to be a member of AAA at the time you submit your proposal (you will have to become a member in order to present, in either format). There are options available for Guest Presenter Non-Member Rate available either for non-anthropologists or for anthropologists outside of the US and Canada. There are also a limited number of waivers of registration fees available to these presenters. Applications or requests for these exemptions are due by April 30, 2021. While the guest presenter status will automatically be granted to qualifying people who submit the request in time, notification about which waivers the SLA is able to grant will be sent out by May 12.
- Special Event and Late Breaking Submission options will become available later in the spring/summer, with fairly tight turnaround times, so I will be sure to send another notification before these deadlines.
The situation this year continues to be complicated by the ongoing pandemic, so there are lots of answers to FAQs provided on the website, or you can email SLA program chair Sarah Shulist at s.shulist@queensu.ca