Not many people seem all that satisfied with how anthropologists hire each other these days. Job seekers are frustrated by the demands made by job ads, and a dearth of information. Hiring committees are stymied by many of the unknowns in the process as they try to sort who can respond well to their departments’ needs. All the problems are ones that anthropologists should be well-suited to understand – in practice these are problems with knowledge circulation and standardization. Given how hiring practices have changed over the past 10-15 years, we now have to explore: what professional development and research support should look like for contingent faculty? How should we ethically manage internal candidate dynamics? What strategies can we develop to value practices that resemble apprentice training for precariat faculty that allow them to enter more easily into the jobs they want to have? This roundtable will offer ethnographic insights and recommendations for how the AAA and departments can adapt to the needs of today’s job-seekers, and how we can all better advocate for and support early career scholars.
Please contact igershon@indiana.edu – there is currently space for 2-3 more people.
Association for Political and Legal Anthropology 