WAPA would like to congratulate the five recipients of the 2017 Praxis Award. There was one first place award, and four honorable mentions (typically, a maximum of four awards are presented). This was a very competitive year, reflecting the tremendous value of the work being done by anthropologists. The awards were presented on December 1, 2017, in Washington, DC, immediately following the business meeting of the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology as part of the American Anthropological Association annual meeting.

The 2017 Praxis Award recipient is Luisa Cortesi, Yale University, for the competition entry, “Dug-well Revival: Tradition, Knowledge, and Equity in Drinking Water in North Bihar, India.”

Honorable Mentions were presented to the following:

Cathleen Crain, Nathaniel Tashima, Reiko Ishihara-Brito, and Erick Lee Cummings, LTG Associates, Inc., for the project: "A Video Ethnographic Study: Raising Healthy Children in Poverty and Examples of Excellence in Addressing Childhood Wellness."

Adam B. Seligman, Rahel R. Wasserfall, and David W. Montgomery, CEDAR (Communities Engaging with Difference and Religion) Program, for the project: "Learning to Live with Difference: Taking Anthropology Out of the Classroom and Into the World."

Thurka Sangaramoorthy, U of Maryland, and the Project Team, for the project: "Marcellus Shale Public Health Study."

Olive M. Minor, International Rescue Committee (current), for the project: "Socio-cultural Barriers and Enablers in the Ebola Response."

Additional information about the awardees and their projects can be found under the Praxis Award link on this site (use the drop down menu under the "Professional Anthropology" link near the top of the page.)

PROFESSIONAL CAREER PATHS! NETWORK AND DISCOVER COLLEAGUES! 

Students, new professionals, and faculty who mentor young anthropologists: Come and meet with professional anthropologists to explore career options.  Careers Expo sponsored by NAPA and AAA Friday December 1st at the AAA meeting in the atrium just outside the main exhibit hall, 11am-4:00pm; 660 Woodley Rd NW, Washington, DC 20008

FREE ADMISSION - Register Here

NYU Washington, DC -1307 L Street Northwest

Thursday, November 30, 2017 from 8:00 PM to 9:30 PM (EST)

This public event is in conjunction with the 116th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) held in Washington DC, November 29 – December 3.  World on the Move: 100,000 Years of Human Migration is an AAA initiative designed to change the public conversation about migration, immigration, and displacement. The special event will include the screening of El mar la mar, a documentary on undocumented immigration.

Still taken from film, El mar la mar (2017)

 Over the last 20 years, the US border patrol is alleged to have retrieved 6,029 human remains from the arid terrain of the Sonoran desert that stretches across the US-Mexico border. The bodies of thousands of others who have tried to enter the US through this treacherous stretch of desert may have been obliterated by the sun before they were found.

 El mar la mar shares the harrowing stories of individuals who attempt this journey. Filmmakers Joshua Bonnetta and JP Sniadecki spent almost three years documenting this hostile environment, filming the landscape, recording wildlife, and talking to border rangers, aid workers and people-smugglers to put together a film that speaks to the devastating reality that many who set out to find a better life in the US never make it through.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/205561041

As we kick off the 2017-18 year, WAPA would like you to consider sharing your recent work with other professional anthropologists. We have slots open for new and interesting talks on the first Tuesday of the month until next June.

If you have a project that you think would be of interest to other anthropologists because of the topic, methodology or challenges overcome, please let us know. We also want to extend this invitation to anthropologists visiting local colleges, agencies or non-profits. We welcome new and interesting presentations and look forward to hearing from you.

Please send an email with a brief description of your proposed talk and your contact information to Laurie Krieger and Jennifer Zazo-Brown at: laurie_krieger@hotmail.com, and Zazo-BrownJ@si.edu.    

We have several open positions on the WAPA Board. These can be a great way to help out and learn more about the organization while meeting active members. Open positions and responsibilities follow. Please contact Erik Kjeldgaard with questions, nominations, or to volunteer.

Secretary – Take notes during WAPA board meetings, draft notes for board review, and post final notes on website.

Membership/Communications Liaison –update information for events in the events tab, schedule events emails, field requests to send things out to the membership/contacts list, assist with any issues related to updating membership, edit all automatic communications with membership to reflect accurate information, serve as the point of contact for prospective members or members and send those individuals to the appropriate contact, collaborate with the social media team on a social media strategy and protocol

Website Editor –maintain site pages, update as new information is provided regarding members publications, announcements and help with event formatting on website. Help out with membership profiles and programming as affected by website access or information.

Student representatives from area colleges and universities –to serve as a voice for and help WAPA reach students interested in anthropological praxis at those institutions
Programming Committee and other committee members –to work with the program committee chair to identify and schedule speakers and events

The National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC) is releasing free, Advance Timed Entry Passes for September 2017 beginning at 9:00 am, tomorrow, June 7.  Timed Passes are released on the first Wednesday of each month.

The NMAAHC is proud to have welcomed approximately 1.7 million visitors, making us one of the most popular cultural destinations in the country.  The museum is working diligently to ensure that as many people as possible can visit while ensuring the safety, security and quality of the visitor experience.

The museum offers several options for obtaining passes:

Online Same-Day Timed Passes: Visitors can obtain passes on the day of their planned visit starting at 6:30 a.m. on the museum’s website, nmaahc.si.edu/sameday.  

Walk-Up Passes: A limited number of walk up passes are available starting at 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. No walk-up passes will be available on weekends due to high visitation. 

Group Passes: To date, we have received more than 55,000 requests for group passes and are working through a long waiting list. The demand for passes is so high that we have temporarily suspended group reservations; we cannot accept requests until further notice. 

October 2017 Advance Timed Entry Passes: Advance Timed Entry Passes for October 2017 will be available online, nmaahc.si.edu, beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 5.

 

 

Please welcome our incoming WAPA President for 2017-2018, Erik Kjeldgaard.  

Erik Kjeldgaard received his Ph.D. in cultural anthropology in 2007 from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His dissertation research, supported by a Fulbright scholarship, focused on religious conversion to pentecostal Christianity in Trinidad, West Indies. He has been an analyst at the US Government Accountability Office since 2009, where he has worked on human capital, government performance, agricultural, worker safety and environmental issues, among others.  Prior to that, he administered the social and behavioral sciences institutional review board and worked in educational evaluation at Northwestern University. He has served as WAPA secretary since 2014.

The Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists (WAPA) represents anthropologists living and working across the greater D.C. region.  WAPA is one of the oldest and largest regional associations of professional anthropologists in the United States.  In the wake of the 2016 national U.S. elections, we resolve the following:

We condemn and will actively work against policies, programs, and inflammatory rhetoric that support racist, anti-immigrant, sexist, gender-biased, religious or otherwise discriminatory or divisive views;

We recognize the US. is a country of immigrants and we value and support diversity and the unique differences that we share, be it dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies; and

We condemn the use of inflammatory rhetoric and false information from the new administration and others to incite hate crimes, discrimination,  or violence towards any community, including but not limited to African Americans, LGBTQ, refugees and asylum seekers, new immigrants, women, persons with disabilities, and seniors;

We condemn and will actively work against unconstitutional policies and programs that may suppress freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to assemble and peacefully protest;

We resolve to stand in on-going support of the pursuit of scientific inquiry into the human condition for the betterment of the communities in which we conduct our research.  We value the use of social science, empirical evidence and scholarly inquiry as the basis for illuminating, supporting, and valuing diversity.

We resolve that the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists will stand in solidarity with anyone who feels unfairly threatened or attacked because of their beliefs, orientation, racial or ethnic background.

Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists

April 17, 2017

Dear WAPA,

A few members have gotten together, reviewed by the WAPA board, to draft a statement in response to some of the policies and rhetoric coming out of the new administration.  We plan to post this statement on our website, on our blog, and to share with press and others.  Please take a moment to review this draft statement.  If you have any comments or suggested edits please send to Frances Norwood at francesnorwood@aol.com by Friday, March 31st.  Once the comment period has ended we will post the final version to the public.  Thanks for your help.

WAPA Statement – for website, press release and blog

Draft 3-23-2017

The Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists (WAPA) represents anthropologists living and working across the greater D.C. region.  WAPA is one of the oldest and largest regional associations of professional anthropologists in the United States.  In the wake of the 2016 national U.S. elections, we resolve the following:

We condemn and will actively work against policies, programs, and inflammatory rhetoric that support racist, anti-immigrant, sexist, gender-biased, religious or otherwise discriminatory or divisive views;

We recognize the US. is a country of immigrants and we value and support diversity and the unique differences that we share, be it dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies; and

We condemn the use of inflammatory rhetoric and false information from the new administration and others to incite hate crimes, discrimination,  or violence towards any community, including but not limited to African Americans, LGBTQ, refugees and asylum seekers, new immigrants, women, persons with disabilities, and seniors;

We condemn and will actively work against unconstitutional policies and programs that may suppress freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the right to assemble and peacefully protest;

We resolve to stand in on-going support of the pursuit of scientific inquiry into the human condition for the betterment of the communities in which we conduct our research.  We value the use of social science, empirical evidence and scholarly inquiry as the basis for illuminating, supporting, and valuing diversity.

We resolve that the Washington Association of Professional Anthropologists will stand in solidarity with anyone who feels unfairly threatened or attacked because of their beliefs, orientation, racial or ethnic background.

What: The American Anthropological Association (AAA) invites you to hear Elzbieta M. Gozdziak, research professor for the Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM) at Georgetown University, read selections from her latest book, Trafficked Children and Adolescents in the United States: Reimagining Survivors published by Rutgers University Press.

When: June 7, 2016 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Where: Busboys and Poets
625 Monroe Street Northeast 
Washington, DC 20017

Trafficked children are portrayed by the media - and even by child welfare specialists - as hapless victims who are forced to migrate from a poor country to the United States, where they serve as sex slaves. But as Gozdziak reveals in Trafficked Children in the United States, the picture is far more complex. Basing her observations on research with 140 children from countries all over the globe, Gozdziak debunks many myths and uncovers the realities of the captivity, rescue, and rehabilitation of trafficked children.

For more information about the event, and to RSVP, visit http://bit.ly/WOTM_TraffickedChildren.

To schedule an interview with Dr. Gozdziak, contact the American Anthropological Association at 703-528-1902.

This event is presented in collaboration with AAA’s latest public education initiative World on the Move: 100,000 Years of Human Migration, designed to offer people a chance to pause and rethink their ideas about migration, displacement, and belonging. To learn more about the initiative visit www.understandingmigration.org.