ANNUAL REPORT for 2002 Association for Africanist Anthropology

ANNUAL REPORT for 2002
Association for Africanist Anthropology
Gracia Clark (Indiana), President

Distinguished Lecture
Professor Carolyn Martin Shaw, from the University of California at Santa Cruz, gave the 2002 lecture at AAA, on the topic "Structures, Processes, Discourses, and Action: Changing Anthropology in Africa".

AfAA Sponsored Panels
Two invited sessions were sponsored at the 2002 AAA meetings. Twenty panels were reviewed by AfAA for the meeting program. For 2003, we plan to cosponsor at least one invited session with another AAA section. Maria Cattell will continue as program chair.

Financial Position
Our finances remain very solid, with a membership around 340 and a net asset balance of approximately $30,000. Dr. Sheila Clarke-Ekong (University of Missouri-St. Louis) has agreed to begin serving as treasurer.

Student Paper Prize
Funds were approved at the 2002 business meeting for an annual student paper prize in Africanist anthropology.

Graduate Assistant
It was approved in principle at the 2002 business meeting to hire a graduate assistant to work with the President. This will be implemented in the current fiscal year to the extent budgetary flexibility allows. The assistant will help expand outreach and membership recruitment.

Cooperation With African Anthropological and Other Research Organizations
Closer collaborative ties with Africa-based researchers are important to building a solid long-term foundation for anthropological research on the continent. AfAA has made preliminary contacts with two organizations, West African Research Association (WARA) and Pan African Anthropology Association (PAAA) to increase joint activity. In the first place, better publicity and more advance planning for the AfAA travel grant will encourage more colleagues from African institutions to attend the AAA meetings.Secondly, possibilities are being explored for cooperating in sponsoring symposia or conference sessions that would foster mutual professional development.

Links to AAA Long Range Plans
This organizational cooperation would tie in with several points of the long range planning document recently circulated. Joint activity by sections with other organizations outside the US is specifically encouraged, including co-sponsoring sessions and planning program partnerships. It would help enhance the diversity of the discipline and promote a broader understanding of issues of diversity. It would foster discussion of research and social issues in a highly relevant public on the African continent. Because of the high profile of practicing and policy-related anthropology in the PAAA, as evidenced in their most recent annual meeting, we could develop programs with them for leadership development, media training and career track support.

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