As printed in the January 2008 issue of The Anthropology Newsletter.

• Final Program Decision: The AAA follows a policy of peer review and merit consideration for acceptance and inclusion on the program. The programming decisions are made by a committee composed of section program editors, executive program committee members, the executive program chair and officers of the AAA.

• Review Procedure: Volunteered sessions and individually volunteered papers and posters are reviewed by section program editors and committees established by each of the sections of the AAA. The recommendations of these sections are forwarded to the executive program chair, who assumes final responsibility for the acceptance or rejection of proposals. The executive program committee prepares the final program schedule following the rankings submitted by each section. All final program notifications about acceptance and scheduling will be mailed by the executive program chair. There is no appeal process.

Organizers and presenters are required to select one review section when submitting proposals online. Only one section may be checked. The decision should be made on the basis of content and intended audience; membership in a section has no bearing on the review process.

• Presentation Policy: Participants may present one paper and accept one other role other than a paper presentation (discussant, organizer or chair). The policy of one paper presentation plus one other role will be strictly enforced. The program committee will remove any name that appears more than twice on the scholarly program, and urges individuals to refrain from accepting more than one commitment of any kind in the scholarly program. A participant may be credited with coauthorship of one or more additional papers when coauthorship is understood to include participation on a research project. Presenters’ names must appear first, with others following in alphabetical or other appropriate order.

No proposals for participation in the scholarly program of the meeting can be considered unless formally submitted online through the AAA website.

Participation is limited to current paid AAA members. To join, contact AAA at 703/528-1902, ext 3031, or visit www.aaanet.org. The membership requirement may be waived for scholars from other disciplines, distributors submitting films, or for anthropologists from countries other than the US or Canada. Read More about Waivers >

Meeting Dates: The scholarly program of the 2008 AAA Annual Meeting will begin at 12 pm on Wed, Nov 19, and contine through the morning of Sun, Nov 23.

Types of Sessions:

Sessions are of four types: 1) Invited Sessions organized by sections of the AAA; 2) Volunteered Sessions proposed by members; 3) sessions constructed from individually volunteered papers or posters; and 4) AAA Public Policy Forums. The deadline for submitting a public policy forum is March 1; all other submissions must reach the AAA by 5 pm ET, April 1.

All sessions on the scholarly program are to be submitted as a single (1.75 hours) session, or as a double (3.75 hours) session, but no more. That is, members may organize and submit either one single or one double session, but not a triple session or two double sessions.

• Invited Sessions: Each section of the AAA will be responsible for the organization of one or more innovative, synthesizing sessions intended to reflect the state-of-the-art in the major subfields and the thematic concerns of those fields. Suggestions with respect to content and coverage are welcomed and should be addressed to the member of the program committee representing the appropriate section. Sessions that have been designated Invited Sessions will not be subject to further review, but participants are otherwise bound by the rules of the meeting and must submit abstracts, meeting registration forms and fees by April 1. Members should work closely with the section program editors when planning Invited sessions.

• Volunteered Sessions: All sessions other than Invited Sessions are to be submitted as Volunteered Sessions.

The organizer must select one appropriate section for review. If accepted, the section that reviewed the proposal will be published in the final program.

The program committee strongly urges members to contact and work closely with the section program editors, and to follow the guidelines:

• The organizer is responsible for articulating the theme and relevance of the session in the session abstract. The concept of the session should be reflected in each paper; poorly integrated groupings are subject to revision or distribution of papers to other sessions.
  
  
• An outline of the session, indicating presentations, discussion periods and breaks, should be submitted. A maximum of 15 minutes will be allotted for the presentation of any single paper or to a discussant, break or discussion period.
  
  
• The papers within a proposed session will be evaluated individually. Organizers should be prepared for the possibility that some proposed papers may be rejected and other papers substituted or added.
  
  
• The organizer is responsible for ordering audiovisual equipment required for the proposed session, and should request this information from session participants. LCD projectors will be provided for every scholarly session on the AAA program. Audiovisual equipment must be operated by the participant. No changes to the original audiovisual order submitted online may be made after April 1.
  
  
• Every participant included in the proposal, including chairs and discussants, must be contacted and agree to participate.
  
  
• The names and institutional affiliations of the proposed participants should be verified by the organizer.
  
  
• Organizers must limit proposals to one session, with a total scheduled time of either 1.75 hours or 3.75 hours. Failure to comply will compromise scheduling opportunities.
  
  
• To submit a session, go to the AAA home page. Follow the links to the Call for Papers. Login and continue to the main menu page. A session abstract of up to 500 words is required. All Proposals for Paper or Poster Presentations must be submitted via the AAA website. Meeting registration forms and fees must be submitted for each participant. Submission deadline is 5pm ET, April 1.
  

• Individually Volunteered Papers/Posters: All volunteered papers/posters will be evaluated individually. The author must select one appropriate section to review. The program committee welcomes the submission of individual papers and posters independently from organized sessions.

To submit an individually volunteered paper/ poster, go to the AAA home page. Follow the links to the call for papers. Login and continue to the main menu page. A papers/poster abstract of up to 250 words is required. Proposals must be accompanied by the meeting registration fee. Deadline is 5pm ET, April 1. Volunteered papers/ posters, if accepted, will be grouped by the program committee into sessions around a common topic or theme. A maximum of 15 minutes will be allotted for the presentation of any single paper/ poster in such sessions.

• Public Policy Forums: The AAA Public Policy Forum provides a format to discuss critical social issues affecting anthropology, public policy issues of interest to anthropology, or public policy issues that would benefit from anthropological knowledge or expertise. The public policy forum engages anthropologists and nonanthropologists, as well as presenters and the audience, in a discussion of public policy issues to enhance application of anthropological knowledge beyond the discipline in order to advance anthropology in society at large. Recognizing that there may be diverse perspectives among anthropologists, the public policy forum presents a balanced view of the issue in order to promote dialogue among participants. Ideally, at least one policymaker will be included in the forum.

No papers are presented in the public policy forum. The ideal format consists of a moderator and no more than seven panelists. Panelists are introduced by the moderator, or introduce themselves and their interest in the topic, and the moderator proceeds to pose questions to panelists. Questions may be posed to one panelist directly, with other panelists commenting on the question after the original panelist has answered; or questions may be posed to the panel as a whole to elicit comment/discussion. After the panel discussion, the moderator requests questions or comments from the audience. It is important that adequate time be set aside at the end of the forum for audience participation.

Generally, public policy forums are allotted 1.75 hours, or 105 minutes, of annual meeting time. Since the dual purpose of the forum is to maximize discussion of policy issues among the panelists and the audience, it is recommended that time at the forum be allotted as follows: introduction (15–20 minutes); moderator-posed questions/answers (55–60 minutes); and questions/ comments from audience (30–35 minutes).

To submit a session, go to the AAA home page. Follow the links to the Call for Papers. Login and continue to the main menu page. Select public policy forum under the session option. Refer the Review of the Ses­sion Proposal to the AAA Com­mittee on Public Policy, NOT a section; complete the Session Structure Form, identify the moderator and potential panelists, and check their role as discussant (time allotment is 1.75 hours); submit an abstract of 500 words describing the Public Policy Forum and public policy issue to be discussed. The deadline for forum submissions is 5pm ET, March 1.

• Request for Media Submissions: The 2008 SVA/ AAA Film, Video and Interactive Media Festival will take place during the 107th AAA Annual Meeting. As in the past, SVA selects a jury of anthropologists and film scholars who decide which submissions to include in the festival and, among those, which will receive awards. We continue to welcome interactive media work, and we also encourage short work which is under 15 minutes. DVD formats are fine. Registration for all submissions must be completed by April 1 at the AAA Meeting Registration Site online.

Filmmakers and distributors are asked to send work to be considered to Joyce Hammond, Department of Anthropology, Mail Stop 9083, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, postmarked no later than April 1.

Students who are just finishing a film must also register by April 1, but may submit their work up until May 15. Submitted materials will not be returned. Award winners will be notified in the summer, and clips of award winners will be placed on SVA’s website. For further inquiries or questions contact Joyce Hammond at joyce.hammond@ wwu.edu or 360/650-4796.

• Special Event Proposals: Special events such as business meetings, committee and board meetings, workshops, food and beverage functions, and panels will be scheduled as part of the special events program, which is the responsibility of the executive office, from Wed through Sun. To avoid conflicts with scientific sessions, special events are usually scheduled during the periods of 12:15–1:30 pm and 6–7:15 pm. Events are limited to 1.25 hours, except some events, workshops and board/ committee meetings, which may be scheduled on Wed, the first day of the meeting. To submit a special event proposal, go to the AAA homepage. Follow the links to the Call for Papers. Login and continue to the main menu page. Select special event from the category titled "submit an event."

First priority in the assignment of time and space will be given to business, board and committee meetings of the AAA, including its sections. Other special events will be accommodated to the degree possible. For events organized by other organizations, there is an administrative fee to cover costs of arrangements and publication. The Special Events Program will not accommodate panels, papers or professional presentations that rightfully belong on the scientific program. To be listed in the meeting program, special event proposals must be accompanied by administrative fees when appropriate.