CfP - Speaking more broadly: Adapting anthropological concepts for a broader audience

Following up on our previous post, AAA in San Jose - Anthropological Concepts for Non-Anthropologists, Jennifer and I would like to take this opportunity to circulate a call for papers for our proposed AAA panel. We hope that this panel will be a launching pad for the new kind of anthropological handbook we have been imagining over the past year or so.

So, without further ado, here's our call! If you are interested in participating in this panel/ project, please get in touch with us by April 12th.

Call for Papers  |  Speaking more broadly: 

Adapting anthropological concepts for a broader audience

 

Panel for AAA 2018 Annual Meeting in San Jose, CA:

“Change in the Anthropological Imagination”

For questions or to submit an abstract for consideration, please email Jennifer Long (longjen@mcmaster.ca) and Rhiannon Mosher (rhmosher@yorku.ca) by April 12th.

In this panel, we seek to identify, contextualize and ‘translate’ anthropological concepts and constructs for a broader audience. This year's conference organizers ask anthropologists to write about holism, social change, resistance, resilience, and adaptation in the contemporary moment, and to recognize the importance of discussions about species, societies, reorganization, transformation and stasis. We invite anthropologists to take this challenge literally.

                                                                    

This CfP seeks authors who wish to break down the organizers' questions into their sum of parts in an effort to consider: how other disciplines, our applied experiences, and interdisciplinary partnerships inform our discussions. We want to know how we can tap anthropological experiences and perspectives to engage and educate a wider public? We seek to understand specifically how an anthropological vocabulary shapes and frames the field and our practices with our partners, interlocutors, and colleagues. Further, we want to better understand the ways in which anthropological understandings are understood, changed, and integrated into new contexts.

This proposed panel is a response to calls like Ryan Anderson's (2013) post (on the blog now known as Anthro{dendum}) to break the closed loop in which anthropologists often work. Anderson argues that anthropologists often end up speaking (just/ only) to one another about our work – all the while, this cacophony of anthropological insight remains locked behind closed doors. In our current sociopolitical context, and with more and more of our graduates working outside of the academy in interdisciplinary contexts, learning how to "get involved, to collaborate, to find ways to communicate and bring the ideas of anthropology to wider issues and conversations" (2013) should be the discipline's priority.

While the irony of calling for papers at the Annual Meeting on the topic of breaking open the closed loop of anthropological discussions is not lost on the panel organizers, we seek to create a resource which situates various anthropological concepts historically within our discipline, and then contextualizes these concepts in their new, renewed, and revised contexts. Importantly, each concept or term should be explained through a case study, an experience from the field, with researchers from different disciplines or through original research. It should be noted that this call is open to anthropologists in all four fields. The goal of this panel is to jump-start the draft for a text where various concepts are discussed using to be used by students, practicing and interdisciplinary colleagues.

Therefore, panel organizers seek papers that define, describe, and compare anthropological concepts used in practice, past experience, in industry (e.g. ethnography in user design or market research) or other disciplines (e.g. other social sciences, hard sciences or technology, engineering or math). Panelists should define the term in plain language, provide a brief history of its origin and use, then elucidate on the term using a case study from fieldwork, in conversation with non-anthropologists, and the workplace.

For questions or to submit an abstract for consideration, please email

Jennifer Long (longjen@mcmaster.ca) and Rhiannon Mosher (rhmosher@yorku.ca)

by April 12th.

AAA in San Jose - Anthropological Concepts for Non-Anthropologists

As blogger Rhiannon and I slog through the end of the semester, we're striving to post at least 1 blog post per week. Despite our want to continue our biweekly posts, life/administration/teaching/striking is getting in our way.

Instead, the bloggers of Anthro Everywhere! are cooking up an idea for a panel at the next AAA conference in San Jose. The theme this year is Change in the Anthropological Imagination: Resistance, Resilience, and Adaptation

One potential idea that we were throwing back and forth is the idea of writing an edited book about Anthropology (its concepts and uses) for non-Anthropologists.

Here is the idea in its nascent form - posed by blogger Long to partner-in-crime Mosher:

What do you think about writing a text that defined, described, or compared and contrasted anthropological concepts terms used in industry (e.g. ethnography in user design or market research) or other disciplines to our own? These terms could come from other social sciences, hard sciences or technology, engineering or maths. 

It would be an applied anthropology text but one that could also be used in interdisciplinary courses or by industry partners who want to understand the root of the terminology they're using. It would include examples and activities as well, which could be workplace or community-based experiences. 

This text could also serve as a guide and translation piece as to the usefulness and the pliability of anthropology - coincidentally anthropology's greatest secret and which "people" are taking way to long to figure out. I also thought it would help recent anthropology graduates articulate their skillset and knowledge to employers. 

We could write a book proposal for the AAAs timing this year (I'm going, are you?) while checking interest at the same time. 

Therefore, in a potential AAA panel proposal, we'd ask authors to identify a term, and present its application in either a work or community-based concept. Additional notes on the application of this term and its use within anthropology would also be required. 

As organizer and chair, Mosher and Long could present answers to such lingering questions as:

How would such a text be similar or different to other texts already out there, for example, Caroline B. Brettell's Anthropological Conversations: Talking Culture across Disciplines (2015).

Would such a text be more like a handbook or a textbook? Would it be an accessible text for anthropology majors/ grad students/ instructors? Would it be aimed at those who believe that most anthro grads are not going to be academics and need some guidance on how to speak to prospective employers about the value of an anthropological perspective?

Would the text be more useful if instead of presenting the info from a disciplinary perspective, it instead took a more career-stream oriented approach? More like a So what are you going to do with that? but anthro-specific approach? Or both?

Dear AnthroEverywhere! readers, what do you think?

Is there need for such a book?

Would such a text help/behoove the anthropology community? Its research participants? Its stakeholders? Its practitioners or students?

If you'd like to be a part of this panel or this book, please email us at anthrolens (at) gmail.com or tweet to us @anthrolens

New Advice for Grad Students page: Conferences

In October 2017, we published a series of posts on essential conferencing skills. We started with a post about how to write an effective abstract or organize a successful poster session, and from there we developed a full series of posts just in time for the AAA meetings.

Now, with the joint Canadian Anthropology Association (CASCA) and Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) annual meeting for 2018 on the horizon we have conferences on our minds again! (Check out this year's preliminary program here...)

While we do have a handy #conference tag for general navigation, we thought it might be helpful to group this series of tips on conferencing together on a dedicated page on the blog... and where better than in our Advice for Grad Students series?

Presenting our new Advice for Grad Students | Conferences page!

So, whether you are an old hand at conferences, a student-adviser, or a grad student new to the conference scene, we hope that you find these posts useful!  These posts offer tips on how to prepare for a conference, moderate and chair panels, as well as participate well in discussions and network during receptions and other conference events.

Happy conferencing!

Are you a grad student or prospective grad student wondering about job prospects, professional development strategies, writing tips, or wellness? If so, check out our pages on these topics for more advice and resources.

Conferencing: Working the (Reception) Room Part II

Conferencing - Just can't get enough! Here on #anthroeverywhere! we've got conference fever and we've been delving into topics all about conferencing. These topics include Writing better Conference Abstracts and crafting better Posters, Tips for Moderators, How to be a great Chair, and most recently, How to Work the Reception Room.

In continuation of these points, we've been exploring and commenting on Diane Darling's, author of The Networking Survival Guide tips and tricks for working a reception room.

In continuation of the list developed in Conferencing: Working the (Reception) Room Part I, we looked at:

1. Doing your pre-conference research
2. Travelling light
3. Walking the walk
4. Starting at the food table
5. Who's who
6. Approaching VIPs pre-talk
7. Spotting the lone wolves
8. "And you are?" connection strategies

There are still a few important tips and tricks to add to Darling's list:

1. Be curious - Darling asks us to avoid pumping those we meet for information just to see if we can 'use' them in our work. Instead, be curious as in, be personable beyond all else. Tying into a point below, you never know if this individual can be a connector to someone who is more relative to your own work. AnthroEverywhere!'s take: Got it...be a human being. Check!
2. Card exchange - Darling puts her own cards in her right pocket and the cards she receives in her left. This avoids having to search through other's cards to find your own.   AnthroEverywhere!'s take: Check to see if your department or your supervisor will pay for you to get official cards. If not, or if you'd like to work on your personal brand, check out cheaper alternatives on the internet. 
3. Get an introduction - Darling argues that connecting to someone new might be easier if you can do it through an intermediary. An introduction functions as an implicit endorsement.  AnthroEverywhere!'s take: Ever more the reason to meet with colleagues from other institutions at lunches, in talks, etc. They could potentially introduce you to that big speaker later on in the evening.
4. Give and take - Darling advocates for you to connect people whenever possible. This makes you look well connected and make others want to return the favour.
5. It's a wrap - Just like Lee's article for UA from the last two posts, follow-up with your connections in short order. 

Nothing is more frustrating than going to a conference and feeling like you haven't made any real connections. Working Receptions is one more tool for your toolkit when conferencing.

Quick links and further reading:

From anthro everywhere!'s #conference series:

• Working the (Reception) Room
• Contributing to the Conversation
• Writing better Conference Abstracts and crafting better Posters
• Tips for Moderators
• How to be a great Chair. 
• How to work a room, Diane Darling, MBA Jungle Magazine, (2002) xplane.com
• Essential networking tips for graduate students (University Affairs, 2016)

Conferencing: Working the (Reception) Room

#AmAnth17, CASCAinCuba, and SfAA 2018 Sustainable Futures meeting, oh my! Here at #anthroeverywhere!, we've used the last number of posts to cover various topics related to best and promising practices in the art of conferencing. Blogger Rhiannon Mosher has covered topics such as Writing better Conference Abstracts and crafting better Posters, Tips for Moderators, and How to be a great Chair, and most recently, Contributing to the Conversation during Q&A period or in networking. In our post today, we're going to pick up on the idea of networking and take it one step further - How to Work the Reception Room.

As suggested in the last post, graduate students seeking networking tips should read Nana Lee's UA article Essential networking tips for graduate students. In her article, Lee suggests:

1. Doing some pre-conference homework on the work of researchers who might attend the reception/conference
2. Preparing a few questions to ask researchers which is also relevant to your own work
3. Be presentable to appear more open and accessible (introduce yourself with a firm handshake, a smile, and a business card)
4. Request an informational interview (through 2nd and 3rd connections) to land a mentor
5. Follow up with contacts in a timely manner (following the reception or conference)
6. Keep in touch with meaningful connections because you never know when you might need them!

Lee leaves us with sage advice: networking is more than just meeting new fun-tastic people, it's about building trustworthy relationships for the future.

Lee's list is a great start, and we're going to borrow more tips from Diane Darling who wrote The Networking Survival Guide to fill out the list.

Like Lee, Darling advocates for all of the above in addition to the following:

1. Travel light - Darling advocates to travel light during the reception so that you can concentrate on your conversations and appear professional without fumbling for items like your business card. AnthroEverywhere!'s take: We've been to many conferences and remember having to schlep around winter coats, heavy laptop bags, and branded conference bags with the conference schedule. This weighted look affects graduate students the most - we believe - because as graduate students, we couldn't afford to stay in the same hotel as the conference. If possible, keep expensive/irreplaceable items on you and leave your other items to the side of the room. Better yet, ask your supervisor or adviser to stash your items in their room (if they're attending and have a room in the same hotel). Or, are the conference organizers listening?!? We need a free coat/bag check for all conference reception events!
2. Walk the walk - Smile and carry yourself confidently. AnthroEverywhere!'s take: Don that confidence as best you can. For strategies on how to re-frame yourself as a junior scholar instead of grad student - check out Karen Kelsky's The Professor is In blog. 
3. Check out the food table for more than just food - People tend to be more open around the food table. Hungry or not, make the food table a stop in your travels around the room.
4. Who's who - Darling wants us to scan the whole room (do a walk-about) for those we want to speak with but avoid reading name tags while speaking to anyone. AnthroEverywhere!'s take: AAA name tags seem to follow this pattern as of late, making conference goer's first names bigger than their last. Having done your homework before hand to know who's who (advocated by both Lee and Darling), you'll already know who you'd like to connect with.
5. Approach the VIPs before talks - Darling advocates that we talk to VIPs before their big event as they tend to be swamped after. AnthroEverywhere!'s take: Great idea. If you've done your homework, you'll be able to ask them pointed questions and avoid general dead-ended questions such as, so what's your talk going to be about?
6. Spot the lone wolves - Darling points out that the best networking and introductions come from one-on-one conversations. If you find a 'lone wolf' standing by themselves, approach them smiling and be ready with a handshake. AnthroEverywhere!'s take: Caveat: while business events are supposed to be professional, it's important to be mindful of one's personal safety. If you're reticent to approach new individuals on your own, find a colleague or new conference goer who you can tag-team the 'working the room' with.
7. "And you are?" - Darling advocates that we ask others what their connection to the conference is first. This way, you can identify with their interests and lives in your response. AnthroEverywhere!'s take: Sounds like we should treat the reception room like an anthropological field site. Ask questions first, and connect through personal experience.

We'll continue with Darling's tips and tricks in our Thursday post. In the meantime, how is abstract writing going?

Quick links and further reading:

From anthro everywhere!'s #conference series:

• Conferencing: Contributing to the Conversation
• Writing better Conference Abstracts and crafting better Posters
• Tips for Moderators
• How to be a great Chair. 
• How to work a room, Diane Darling, MBA Jungle Magazine, (2002) xplane.com
• Essential networking tips for graduate students (University Affairs, 2016)

Conferencing: Contributing to the Conversation

Our past few posts have focused on tips for conference-goers, which are timely with the upcoming #AmAnth17 in November. To date we've shared some tips on Writing better Conference Abstracts and crafting better Posters, Tips for Moderators, and How to be a great Chair. Today we are focusing on the Q&A and networking during conferences in general -- useful tips for grad students and veteran conference-goers alike.

The conference Q&A -- if the chair has done their job well -- can often be the most rewarding part of a panel discussion. It is a place for audience members and panelists to respond to the ideas and data presented, elaborate on points of interest, and possibly spark new and necessary conversations. Unfortunately, the Q&A can also be taken over by those academics in the audience who like to spend quite a lot of time discussing their own research interests and then pretend it was a question.

So, how do you avoid this kind of all-too-common faux-pas and help contribute to a constructive and enlightening discussion?

The Guardian has some answers in their "Don't be a conference troll: a guide to asking good questions." The gist of this advice is that we should find positive or constructive ways to frame questions, even when they are critical. Think about asking questions in a way that opens up conversation rather than shutting it down. It shouldn't be that difficult to do, considering that we're anthropologists. What I would add to this advice -- perhaps especially a pitfall because we are anthropologists -- is to be careful of providing too much context for your question. How can you succinctly ask your question without taking too much time by oversharing your own research experiences that inspired your question?

For speakers, the Guardian also has this advice:

When you’re the one in the spotlight, how should you respond when faced with a question that feels inappropriate or hostile? Remember that a bluntly worded question is not necessarily a malicious one. Audience members have little time to prepare their questions. It may be helpful to respond in a tone and style that is slightly friendlier than the questioner’s. In some cases, this is all that is required to smooth the waters and enable dialogue.

For those of us -- particularly graduate students new to the conference scene -- who struggle with asking questions or approaching speakers during or after the Q&A, check out our past post on A guide to academic conversations (6 June 2016). You might also be interested in prepping for your conference experience by reading UA's Essential networking tips for graduate students, and Academic EQ's PhD Networking Tips for Introverts.

Happy conferencing!

Quick links and further reading:

• From anthro everywhere!'s #conference series: 
• Writing better Conference Abstracts and crafting better Posters 
• Tips for Moderators
• How to be a great Chair. 
• Don't be a conference troll: a guide to asking good questions (Guardian, 2015)
• A guide to academic conversations (6 June 2016)
• Essential networking tips for graduate students (University Affairs, 2016)
• PhD Networking Tips for Introverts (Academic EQ, 2017)
• anthro everywhere!'s Advice for Grad Students page

Conferencing: How to be a great Chair

With #AmAnth2017 on the horizon, we've been sharing some timely tips for conference goers over the past two posts. Today we are sharing some resources on how to be a great chair.

The chair of any panel or roundtable at a conference has a number of important tasks. The chair must introduce the panel, the speakers, keep time, and ensure an orderly question and answer session. The chair is also usually responsible for providing some concluding comments for the panel.

As The Guardian's Higher Education Network suggests, doing these tasks brilliantly can be accomplished though adhering to a 6-point checklist. An excellent chair should be: Organized, Inclusive, Selfless, Attentive, Firm, and Positive.

In many ways, these different points come back to the chair's ability to keep good time during their session.

We all have our pet peeves during conferences. Mine is when panelists go well over their allotted time! When a speaker goes over their time, it means that everyone else -- panelists and audience -- has less time to share their ideas and questions. In effect, it means that the panel will not be as inclusive as one that gives everyone time to share their ideas, comments, and questions. It is up to the chair to be firm about how much time a speaker may take. When I have chaired, this is a conversation that I begin over email leading up to the conference, helping to ensure that everyone presenting is on the same page.

We also lose time during a session when we struggle with technology. As chair, make sure that you have a good understanding of how to work the AV equipment your panelists will need, who to contact in case it doesn't work, and take the time to load all presentations before the session begins. (A note to presenters: When everyone's PowerPoint Presentation is labelled some variation of ConferenceNameDate, it can be tricky to find the right presentation even when it is pre-loaded. Why not label your presentation some variation of YourNameConferenceNameDate?)

As the Research Whisperer has noted, "Conferences are a necessary and fun part of academia. The more professional consideration and support that’s spread around at them, the better!" So, use these tips and check out our recent posts on abstracts, posters, and moderation to help make your panel the talk of the conference... in a good way.

Quick links and further reading:

• If you are new to conferencing and chairing, you might want to check out this informative FAQ from the Southwest Popular/American Culture Association.
• The Research Whisperer's How to Chair is also a useful guide, especially regarding Q&A moderation.
• How to be a brilliant conference chair (Guardian, Higher Education Network), including such useful advice as "don’t yawn or shoehorn in your own research. And for goodness sake, get speakers’ names right"
• Writing better Conference Abstracts and crafting better Posters (anthro everywhere! 5 October 2017)
• Conferencing: Tips for Moderators (anthro everywhere! 12 October 2017)

Conferencing: Tips for Moderators

In keeping with our post last Thursday on Writing better Conference Abstracts and crafting better Posters, and with #AmAnth17 next month, I thought it timely to share this article on Tips for Moderators: Don’t Be the Barrier that Prevents Expression (Medium, 15 Sept 2017).

More than just a list of tips on how moderate (rather than dominate) a conversation between speakers, this article also provides a cautionary tale about power dynamics and voice in public platforms. At what sounds like an amazing recent event in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, "Gloria Wekker and Philomena Essed shared their experiences and thoughts as scholars, women, women of color, teachers." Amazing, except these speakers and the audience were saddled with a moderator who stole focus from the speakers rather than guiding their conversation with the audience deeper. As the author of the Medium piece laments,

The biggest failing of the moderator was one I’ve seen at nearly every panel discussion I’ve ever attended, particularly in the Netherlands. I’m sure others will recognize it. It comes from inviting brilliant people and then limiting their space for interacting with each other and engaging in meaningful conversation. It comes from misplaced and misdirected questions. It comes from the habit of control.

So, what lessons can we learn from this event and take with us as we moderate the panels or round tables or public discussions in our futures...?

1. A good moderator knows their stuff
2. A good moderator shuts up
3. A good moderator listens
4. A good moderator changes tacks
5. A good moderator asks what the speakers expect of them
6. A good moderator backs down

Check back on Monday when we will continue the conferencing tips theme by posting about how to be a great chair!

Writing better Conference Abstracts and crafting better Posters

We originally planned to write this post for grad students, but really, couldn't we all benefit fit from learning a bit more about how to write a great conference abstract or an eye-catching poster?

Here are a couple of interesting resources for helping you do just that.

From the LSE Impact Blog, you might like to read Your essential ‘how-to’ guide to writing good abstracts and their follow-up post How to write a killer conference abstract: The first step towards an engaging presentation. These posts contain some useful tips for grad students applying to a conference for the first time. Veteran conference-goers may also benefit from reviewing these suggestions, and considering how conference abstracts are different from article abstracts.

Conference posters are often less common among social anthropologists than paper presentations. As a visual medium, posters present unique challenges for researchers whose work is based in narrative. However, we're not the only discipline who struggles with how best to represent our findings in this format. Luckily, there are many resources available to help you craft an informative and eye-catching poster:

• 4 Design Tips, For Awesome Research Posters (22 October 2012, AAA Blog)
• Better Posters: A resource for improving poster presentations
• How to Create a Research Poster: Poster Basics (NYU Libraries)
• Creating Anthropology Conference Posters: A Guide for Beginners (Jason E. Miller and John K. Trainor)

We've also taken the opportunity to update our page on Advice for Grad Students | Writing Tips with this information on conferencing. If you're getting ready to head to a conference, you might also want to check out our collected tips on networking on our Advice for Grad Students | Professional Development Strategies page.

An Anthropologist In Situ Part II: A Business Accreditation Conference

I (Jenn) have recently been reflecting on the ways in which we can bring anthropological knowledge into non-traditional anthropological places - particularly, during conference season. First, I spoke about anthropological ethical standards in engineering classrooms and more recently, when I showcased lessons on intercultural competency during group work at an engineering conference. Just this past week, I attended a conference about accrediting our business program (within the Engineering faculty) and was struck by one unique practice of identifying other conference participants.

When one arrives at this conference, we're given your standard name badge. Like other conferences, the name of the individual (without title) is given and, in smaller font, their university's name. At anthropological conferences like the AAA or CASCA, conference-goers have seen their first name printed in bigger font than any other information in recent years, perhaps to create a more equitable approach rather than singling out or emphasizing those individuals who have risen to anthropological fame (henceforth called the anthro-glitterati ™ anthro everywhere!). This practice of identification and labeling fits into symbolic anthropology where anthropologists study "the way(s in which) people understand their surroundings, as well as the actions and utterances of the other members of their society" (Hudson et al. 2009).

Hudson et al. (2009) describe Victor Turner's perspective of symbolic anthropology where symbols help dictate and allow others to discern and interact with one another. "Turner felt that these "operators," by their arrangement and context, produce "social transformations" which tie the people in a society to the society's norms, resolve conflict, and aid in changing the status of the actors" (Ortner 1983:131).

Jenn's conference name
tag & basic ribbons

It was in this light that I understood the use of ribbons or badges at my most recent conference. As will be further described below, these ribbons allow conference-goers to discern their connection and placement of other conference-goers not only through individuals' and university names but also through the practice of attaching ribbons.

For example, I was told by a helpful and experienced conference-goer that I needed to identify my accreditation region (so that others would know which region I came from) as well as my own or my university's accreditation level (where they stood in their accreditation process, i.e. candidate, accredited, re-affirmation, etc.). You'll see from my badge I'm a first time conference-goer.

Further, if you held a position within the organization, there was a badge for that too, including evaluator, chair elect, etc.

The ribbon station (photo below) was clearly marked in one of the main halls of the conference and included many ribbons:

Ribbon Table

Ribbon choices

In addition to the ribbons describing your rank and geographic category, there were 'silly' ribbons, for example, my ("I heart bacon" and "totes magotes") ribbons:

Jenn's badge with the
addition of 'silly' ribbons

"Are you showing your ACBSP pride today? This attendee certainly is."

From my four day experience of this conference, I noticed that this practice of collecting and displaying silly ribbons was a mechanism to identify and distinguishing oneself from others and was often used as a talking piece either face-to-face or online. Here are three screen shots from the conference's twitter feed:

Tweet from Conference-Goer

#ACBSP2017 Twitter feed:

"Badges - High Impact Practice

I'm hearing about everywhere."

This last photo I took was of two participants who told me that ribbon collecting was tradition at the conference and the longer the chain, the better.

Conference attendees display their ribbons

Thus, as an anthropologist in situ, these identity making practices show a moment in time where individuals are able to identify and distinguish themselves among other conference goers and, I would argue, find new collectivity in the practice of ribbon gathering and displaying.

Quick links and further reading:

• Anthropological Ethics outside of Anthropological Classrooms (June 08, 2017, anthro everywhere!)
• An Anthropologist In Situ: Canadian Engineering Education Association 2017 Conference (June 15, 2017, anthro everywhere!)
• Symbolic and Interpretive Anthropologies (2009, Scott Hudson and Carl Smith and Michael Loughlin and Scott Hammerstedt - a student guide to anthropological theory for students)

An Anthropologist In Situ: Canadian Engineering Education Association 2017 Conference

As mentioned in our previous blog post, I recently spoke about the potential of bringing anthropological ethics into Engineering classrooms (as per my current teaching role).

I was accepted to speak at the CEEA conference which had Innovation and Diversity in Engineering Education as its theme.

As part of a special symposium on diversity, I wrote a paper on the role of team work workshops in developing a tolerance for diversity and self-reflection.

Below is the paper abstract:

In their quest to find work-ready graduates, employers are increasingly prioritizing graduates with so-called transferable skills. These transferable skills include critical thinking and problem-solving skills, communication skills, and the ability to work in diverse teams. With the plethora of engineering education literature on the topic of developing undergraduates’ teamwork abilities, there are numerous suggestions and little consensus on the best way to develop these skills in engineering classrooms. This paper adds to this literature and provides an overview of group work workshops for first-year undergraduates. The hope for these workshops was to better equip students for future group work activities by providing them easy-to-remember teamwork tools that were first learned and practiced in low-stakes workshop environments. Following their participation in these workshops, students participated in focus groups and feedback demonstrated an appreciation for these workshops as well as the opportunity to self-reflect on their role as a team member. Further, there appeared to be a shift in the awareness and tolerance of the diversity found among group members, which demonstrates a potential area for further investigation. The authors conclude with a call for more research in order to better understand the role of teamwork as a means for developing tolerance toward diversity among first-year undergraduate students. 

Important to Monday's post, these workshops incorporated:

• The importance of using a holistic perspective to understand how all the parts of Engineering students' come and work together. 
• Self-reflection to understand the power and privilege of their role and how that role is perceived with the community.

Quick links and further reading:

• Anthropological Ethics outside of Anthropological Classrooms (June 08, 2017, anthro everywhere!)

Promoting publications behind paywalls... or anthro everywhere! in Anthropologica

Jennifer and Rhiannon at CASCA-IUAES
with Vol. 59, Issue 1 of Anthropologica (May 2017)

What a nice surprise to arrive at the CASCA-IUAES intercongress last week and see our new journal article "Agency and Agendas: Revisiting the role of the Researcher and the Researched in Ethnographic Research" published in the most recent issue of Anthropologica! This article was co-authored by the authors of anthro everywhere! (Rhiannon Mosher and Jennifer Long) as well as Elisabeth Le and Lauren Harding.

This is also an opportune moment to reflect on how we can best communicate about our new article through social media. During CASCA the publisher (University of Toronto Press) had made this latest issue open access, but now that the conference has ended, our article is once again behind a paywall. So, as Aidnography suggests in Don’t post direct links to your new journal article! (17 April 2017), here's a brief description of our latest publication. If you have access to Anthropologica as a CASCA member, or through your institution, we hope that you download and read the full text.

"Agency and Agendas"

"Agency and Agendas" came out of the discussions we had as members of a panel during CASCA 2015 with the late Pierre Maranda (1930-2015) on the researcher as starting point for ethnographic research. Growing out of that early discussion, this article focused in on how ethnographic research is an essentially collaborative project between the researcher and the researched, all of whom exert agency in how they choose to engage with the ethnographic project (or not), and in the service of their own agendas -- which may align or differ from those identified by the researcher in their project. This article doesn't focus on explicitly collaborative research approaches -- like PAR or activist approaches -- but thinks about how ethnographic knowledge is created more generally. In thinking through the diversity of moments that comprise what we come to know through this approach to social research, we find Anna Tsing's notion of "friction" useful, as it "engages not only the ‘‘awkward zone of encounter’’ but also the potentially generative results of diverse, even divergent, agendas and agencies coming together" (Mosher et al. 2017:154). As we write,

Tsing’s friction refers not to conflict or poor relations among the researcher or researched. Instead, friction refers to the idea that our interlocutors are agentive individuals who wilfully take part in, and influence, our research. How our interlocutors participate (or refuse to participate) deeply affects our work as ethnographers (Mosher et al. 2017:146).

In this article, we wanted to try to move beyond simply discussing reflexivity and positionality, and instead consider how the people who participate in our research co-create what we consider 'the field' -- how this interaction deeply "enables, shapes, redirects, and limits the kinds of research we may ultimately produce." Through drawing on our own research experiences, we argue that what we come to know through ethnography "is in no small part due to the agency and agendas of those we recruit as participants in our studies" (Mosher et al. 2017:147). As authors, we tackle these questions and hope to open up this discussion through addressing considerations of:

• how our potential participants shape and direct our access to data. Our interactions with the people, places, and issues that we seek to understand are deeply entangled in the iterative process of ethnography.
• what might be called the "observed" effect on our research. In what ways are we and our research agendas/ approaches shaped by becoming an object of scrutiny among our research community/ participants/ informants? 
• the adaptation of ethnographic methods to non-academic research contexts. With the growing interest in ethnographic methods in industry, how can anthropologists pursue "thick" ethnographic relationships and insights in the context of rapid, industry research timelines (including where our research contacts have been pre-arranged by a third party)?
• the afterlives of research. How do the reputations of past researchers among the communities we study impact or frame the kind of research we do in the present? How might our own research findings become incorporated into yet unimagined future projects and agendas, including among our former research communities?

Quick links:

• "Agency and Agendas: Revisiting the role of the Researcher and the Researched in Ethnographic Research" Anthropologica (pay-walled article)
• Aidnography's Don’t post direct links to your new journal article! (17 April 2017)
• A New Home for Ethnography: The Use and Legacy of Ethnography by Anthropologists and Non-Anthropologists (anthro everywhere! 9 June 2016)

At #CASCAIUAES17 in Ottawa!

This week (May 2nd-6th) we are attending the CASCA/IUAES2017 Conference in Ottawa! This year, the Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) is having a joint Conference/InterCongress with the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES). This year's theme is Movement, with thematic streams including:

• Worlds in motion,
• Living landscapes,
• Moving bodies, and 
• Relational movements

If you can't join us at what promises to be an interesting meeting, you can follow some of the conference over Twitter using #CASCAIUAES17.

In the past, we've seen some great commentary (in 140 characters or less) from particular anthropological Twitter accounts during CASCA. Accounts to follow during (and after) the conference for some anticipated live-tweeting of panels and events include:

• @CASCATweet - the official Twitter account of the Canadian Anthropological Society (in English and French)
• @sarahshulist - We've mentioned Sarah Shulist's work in our post What's in a Word? The Importance of Recognizing the Etymology of Words (27 March 2017)
• @charlesmenzies - Charles Menzies 
• @DrRootz - Martha Radice
• @ArticulateDinos - Brian E Noble
• And of course, you can follow the anthro everywhere! team via @anthrolens, @JennLong3 (Jennifer Long), and @rhiannonmosher (Rhiannon Mosher)

Acknowledging Indigenous Territory at Universities

Every year in recent memory, the opening of the annual Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) conference begins with an acknowledgement that the meetings are taking place on Indigenous territory. In the context of Canadian anthropology, which has a long (and fraught) tradition with studying Indigenous peoples, this ritual acknowledgement speaks to both the debates about decolonizing anthropology in Canada and more generally, as well as the ongoing work of truth and reconcilation.

However, as the ever-insightful âpihtawikosisân blog's Chelsea Vowel points out, territorial acknowledgement has become increasingly common as a policy across Canadian universities, with the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) itself releasing a Guide to Acknowledging Traditional Territory.

It is interesting that âpihtawikosisân's post about thinking Beyond territorial acknowledgments (23 September 2016) is set against headlines about the royal visit by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (a.k.a Will and Kate) to British Columbia. While many of these headlines have focused on the popularity of the young royals among (settler-) Canadians, and strengthening ties across the Commonwealth, some have focused on the decision of some Indigenous leaders and groups not to attend a planned 'reconciliation ceremony' at the BC legislative assembly (see for example these articles from HuffPost British Columbia and Vice Canada).

In this context, âpihtawikosisân's post offers valuable critical insights and analysis into the purpose and practice of territorial acknowledgement rituals. She writes,

When I think about territorial acknowledgments, a few things come to mind that I’d like to explore. First, what is the purpose of these acknowledgments? Both what those making the territorial acknowledgments say they intend, as well as what Indigenous peoples think may be the purpose. Second, what can we learn about the way these acknowledgments are delivered? Are there best practices? Third, in what spaces do these acknowledgements happen and more importantly, where are they not found? Finally, what can exist beyond territorial acknowledgements?

How can we move beyond just acknowledging territory (even when these acknowledgments can act as "sites of potential disruption, they can be transformative acts that to some extent undo Indigenous erasure") toward "asking hard questions about what needs to be done once we’re ‘aware of Indigenous presence’"?

Quick links:

• Beyond territorial acknowledgments (âpihtawikosisân, 2016)
• Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) itself releasing a Guide to Acknowledging Traditional Territory
• What does it mean to decolonize anthropology in Canada? (Decolonizing Anthropology series, Savage Minds, 2016)
• Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) 
• CASCA Dossier: Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 2015
• Royal visit & reconciliation links:
• Canada’s Colonial History Thrust Into the Spotlight During the Royals Visit to BC (Vice, 2016)
• Royal Visit 2016: B.C. Chiefs Refuse To Attend Reconciliation Event With Will And Kate (HuffPost, 2016)
• Prince William and Kate in Canada: Why their royal visit is more than just the photo ops (CBC, 2016)
• More anthro everywhere! posts on Indigenous peoples and issues