The APLA Board and Committees have been busy working on a number of projects. Here is Madelaine Adelman’s summary of ongoing initiatives:
The APLA Programming Committee is now reviewing submissions to create a diverse and intellectually compelling set of panels for AAA2014. Heath Cabot and Jeff Martin make this process look easy.
The APLA Book Review Committee has received a robust number of promising nominations for our first competition. Nominations remain open through May 1, 2014. Please nominate your own and/or a colleague’s book (see attached). Thanks to Susan Terrio, Susan Hirsch and Bill Maurer.
The APLA Graduate Student Paper Prize Committee seeks submissions for the 2014 competition. Nominations remain open through August 1, 2014. Please help us circulate the call for submissions (see attached Anthropology News story for some exciting additions to the prize). Kudos to Mark Schuller, Gabrielle Hosein and Chika Watanabe.
The APLA Graduate Student Mentoring & Workshops at the AAA 2014 will be led by Joshua Clark and Suraiya Jetha (3rd year grad student at University of California, Santa Cruz). Suraiya has been appointed as our second graduate student representative. With additional help from Chima Anyadike-Danes they are developing an exciting lineup of workshops for AAA2014. We also continue to mentor graduate students during the year: in addition to our Digital Editorial Fellows overseen by Kate Henne, we have recruited graduate students to work with the journal’s Book Review editor Ilana Gershon (Daniel Huizenga), the new CRN (Anna Offit), the Communications Committee (Aries Dela Cruz) and the Editor Search Committee (Josh Clark).
The APLA Nominations Committee has completed its work for now. Please be sure to vote when prompted for our fabulous slate generated by Sarah Hautzinger, Jennifer Curtis and Erica Borstein.
The APLA Communications Committee is working on several items including an analysis of the APLA website by Jennifer Curtis, Andrea Ballestero, Leo Coleman, Allison Fish, and Kate Henne, and conversation with the AAA about how to best develop our online presence; please provide them feedback when requested to help us streamline and enhance the site’s content and functionality. The committee is also creating a turnkey package to help APLA members be ambassadors for the section and our journal: sample issues, CFPs, relevant virtual issues aimed at targeted audience, and recruitment of potential submissions.
APLA members Robin Conley and Justin Richland have successfully created a new CRN at the Law & Society Association called “Ethnography, Law & Society.” The kickoff “business meeting” will be held at the LSA meetings on Thursday, May 29, 3:30-4:30pm in Boardroom 3. Bring your friends!
APLA’s new Pre-Tenure/Early Career Mentoring Committee has initiated professional development programming for AAA2014. Christine Hegel-Cantarella leads this effort along with Amy Levine and Victoria Bernal.
APLA seeks new editor(s) for Political and Legal Anthropology Review. Toward this end, we are convening an Editor Search Committee. It will include board members and non-board members. Self- and other nominations are welcome. Please send to Madelaine: mad@asu.edu
The Future of Publishing Committee co-chaired by Allison Fish and Susan Coutin is finalizing our Sustainability Report (feedback welcome, see attached) with the aim of increasing the visibility and reach of APLA’s scholarly community within and beyond anthropology. A sub-committee is coordinating the APLA Salon at AAA2014 at Busboys & Poets on Wednesday, December 3, 6-8pm. Save the date! Thanks to John Conley, Jennifer Curtis, Sally Merry, Erik Harms, Andrea Ballestero, Kate Sullivan and Justin Richland for this ongoing effort.
AAA news
We have been congratulated by Alex Barker: this is the second year in a row that all AAA sections submitted their annual report on time.
AAA and Wiley-Blackwell are relaunching a redesigned AnthroSource. APLA has provided them with feedback on the site draft.
Association for Political and Legal Anthropology 