Annual Report 2002 Society for Psychological Anthropology

Annual Report 2002
Society for Psychological Anthropology
Geoffrey White, President

Abstract
This year saw a number of positive developments for the SPA as well as progress in addressing fiscal issues that have produced several years of deficit budgets. In its publication activities, the Society's journal Ethos made significant progress getting production back on schedule, although serious questions remain about the current mode of production. The SPA Book Series was recreated with the signing of a contract with Palgrave/St. Martins Press. And announcement of the Biennial Meeting for April 10-13, 2003 in San Diego elicited an enthusiastic response for organized sessions and volunteered papers, setting the stage for a high level of participation in SPA activities in 2003.

Leadership
There were two significant changes to the SPA Board during the year. Claudia Strauss (Pitzer College) succeeded interim Secretary-Treasurer, Carmella Moore in November. And Rebecca Lester (Washington University, St. Louis) replaced Kevin Birth as SPA editor for the Anthropology Newsletter in March 2002. Sara Harkness completed her second year as editor of Ethos and completed a number of changes in composition of the editorial board. The SPA Board drafted changes in the By-Laws to formalize the addition of an elected Student Representative and an appointed Electronic Publications Editor to the board. These were subsequently ratified by vote of the membership.

Membership
Over the past several years, our membership has remained relatively constant at between 6-700. We are taking measures to expand membership and improve participation of current members. We are using the SPA listserv and website to maintain regular communication with the membership and to encourage involvement in SPA activities. Recognizing the importance of student membership, the Board voted to introduce a Student Representative as a new elected position on the Board. In addition, strategies for increasing student involvement in the Biennial meeting have been an important element in program planning.

Fiscal Issues
The Board made some progress in reducing the Society's budget deficits, which had reached crisis proportions. With three successive years of deficit budgets ($2,458 in 1999, $10,188 in 2000, and $5,987 in 2001), the Society's fund balance had shrunk from nearly $55,000 in 1998 to about $35,520 at the end of 2001. The SPA's deficit situation has been created by a combination of rapidly rising costs of journal production (on average, 10% a year over the last five years) and static income (no increases in either membership levels or dues or subscription fees for at least five years). Although final figures are not yet available, it appears that higher-than-expected subscription revenues combined with some relief in production charges will have produced a nearly balanced budget for 2002 (former Secretary Treasurer Carmella Moore estimated a bottom line of "plus or minus $3,500" for 2002).

Before summarizing the steps taken by the Board to address the budget situation, it is important to note the difficulties faced in gathering clear and accurate data on the AAA's accounting practices in billing the Society for Ethos costs. Two factors should be highlighted: (1) the opacity of AAA accounting practices in charging journal production costs to sections; and (2) the practice of billing "overhead" costs of AAA-wide publications only to sections with journals.

(1) Officers of the Board have spent dozens of hours attempting to clarify charges and billing practices, with only partial success. For example, in May 2002 the Director of Publications estimated that our 2003 'editorial & production' (e&p) charges for Ethos would be about $27,188 (email from Susan Skomal to G. White 5/10/02). However, just a week later the Director of Administration and Finance informed us that the actual charge for 2003 would be $36,243-20% higher than the previous year (email from Frank Medina to G White, 5/16/02). G. White's request for clarification was never answered. In July 2002 the AAA Controller informed our Secretary Treasurer that the Society faced a deficit for 2003 of $9601, due mainly to the journal's editorial and production costs. Within a few weeks, however, this figure was reduced by more than half because of an "error" in calculating journal e&p charges (reduced to $30,145 from the initial $36,243). G. White's request for details of the source of the error and clarification of the formula for computing e&p costs was not answered.

(2) The most important change in the finances of journal production, and of the Society as a whole, came with action of the AAA Executive Board to rescind charges to sections for AAA-wide publication costs (on a one-year basis). For the SPA, this amounted to $4,065 in budget relief-thus bringing the SPA's e&p budget to $26,080 contributing substantially to reduction of the SPA's budget deficit. Recognizing the importance of making this change permanent, the Board passed a resolution stating,

"The SPA board welcomes the recent vote of the AAA Executive Board approving overhead relief to section journals in 2003. In light of the fact that this adjustment eliminates a billing practice that unfairly charged Association-wide expenses disproportionately to sections with journals, the SPA urges the Executive Board to make this action permanent. Making this change permanent will give Ethos the breathing space it needs to re-establish a financially viable publishing program.

Addressing the revenue side of the equation, the Board voted in 2001 to raise dues from $35 to $45 (the first increase in eight years). This year it voted to raise the institutional subscription rate for Ethos 10%, from $60/year to $66/year. Following advice of the Chain Bridge Group (report to Susan Skomal, October 1, 2002), the Board committed itself to regular incremental increases rather than a single large increase in institutional rates.

In its efforts to cut costs, the Board has focused on journal production costs and exploration of possible publishing alternatives. Given the difficulties in pinning down the source of 'editorial and production' cost increases, the Board passed a resolution at its November meeting authorizing the Ethos editor to examine the feasibility of changing over to camera-ready publication and report back to the board at its April meeting with alternative cost scenarios. The Board has also discussed the option of publishing outside AAA, but is aware of legal restrictions that require AAA sections to publish through the AAA publications office. In other cost-cutting measures, the Board reduced the amount allotted for the Condon Prize and requested a reduction in the travel budget for the Ethos editor to no more than one meeting per year (formerly two paid trips who have been supported in a biennial year).

Ethos [submitted by Sara Harkness, Ethos Editor]

During the past year (from October 31, 2001), the Ethos field office put together five issues (one for volume 29 and four for 2002), covering a broad range of topics dealing with relationships between the individual and the social environment, and reflecting a diverse set of disciplinary and methodological approaches. During the course of the year the field office added an editorial assistant and an office assistant, bringing the field staff to four. And a journal website was created that includes information for subscribers as well as authors.

Timeliness of publication continues to be a problem for Ethos: as of the closing date for this report, only one issue had been mailed this year - and this was the fourth issue for the previous year (29:4). Some of the delay has been due to lateness (about one month on average) in submission of manuscript packets to the AAA office, but the problems have been compounded by further delays there. At present, publication of Ethos is lagging almost a full year behind schedule. This is a serious problem that, if not corrected, may be expected to result in decreased institutional and individual subscriptions as well as fewer submissions.

A high priority for the Ethos Editor is to institute a system for publishing the journal in a manner that is both manageable at the field office and effective in terms of timeliness and distribution. Two possible solutions to current problems are under consideration. One is to hire a professional copyeditor, thereby saving lengthy trails of correspondence with the AAA editorial office. A second, more radical solution would be to change to camera-ready production. These options will be assessed closely in the coming year. Although somewhat concerned about the low number of new submissions over the last year (27), Editor Sara Harkness reports a good collection of papers now in process along with plans for thematic issues to be solicited through the SPA listserv, newsletter column, and biennial meeting.

Book Series [submitted by Douglas Hollan, SPA Book Series Editor]

This year the SPA found a new publisher for its book series, Palgrave/St. Martin's Press. The previous publisher, Cambridge University Press, withdrew its sponsorship in 2001. The board charged the Book Series Editor, Douglas Hollan, with finding a new publisher and negotiating a new contract. After an exhaustive exploration of various options, he and the Board were attracted to the enthusiastic support offered by Palgrave/St. Martin's and negotiated a new six-year contract for the series, finalized on May 10, 2002.

With a new publisher, the Series Editor constituted an editorial board that represents broad representation from each of the subfields of psychological anthropology, expressing the series' eagerness to publish a variety of perspectives. The new board members are: Linda Garro, Catherine Lutz, Peggy Miller, Robert Paul, Bradd Shore, and Carol Worthman. The series currently has two manuscripts under active consideration, both of which have been reviewed and are undergoing revision:

Prizes

The Boyer Prize for best publication in psychoanalytic anthropology was awarded to Drew Westin[I1] (in absentia) of Emory University for his paper, "Beyond the binary opposition in psychological anthropology: Integrating Contemporary Psychoanalysis and Cognitive Science." in Moore, C. C. and H. F. Mathews, The Psychology of Cultural Experience, pp 21-47, Cambridge University Press.

The Condon Prize for best student paper in psychological anthropology was awarded to Eileen Anderson-Fye for her paper "Never Leave Yourself: Ethnopsychology as mediator of psychological globalization among Belizean schoolgirls." The board voted to redefine the Stirling Prize so that it would become a prize recognizing best published work in psychological anthropology. Whereas previously the Stirling Prize had been awarded for unpublished work, the board recognized that with the advent of the Condon Prize for student papers, there is a more important need for the Society to recognize publications that represent the best work in the field. The board also passed a resolution authorizing a fundraising campaign to fund a $10,000 endowment for the prize (as is, in fact, now required by AAA By-laws for new prizes initiated by sections). Geoff White has submitted a request to the finance committee of the AAA board for approval of the campaign.

Activities at Annual Meeting of the AAA [submitted by R. Desjarlais, SPA Program Chair]

The SPA sponsored four invited sessions at the annual meeting of the AAA:

"The Work and Life of Clifford Geertz"; Invited Session organized by Richard Shweder and Byron Good [co-invited as Presidential Panel]

"How Should We Understand Human Subjectivities?: A Dialogue," Invited Session organized by Robert Desjarlais, Jeannette Mageo, and Theresa O'Nell [co-invited with Anthropology and Environment Section] "Memories of Terror: Dialogue on Public Issues," Invited Session organized by Geoffrey White and Setha Low [co-invited with General Anthropology Division] "Sites of Trauma / Places of Memory,' Invited Session organized by Setha Low and Geoffrey White [co-invited with Society for Urban, National, and Transnational Anthropology]

The SPA also sponsored or reviewed five other panels:

"Becoming Human: Anthropology and Human Development," organized by Ryan Brown, Jason A. DeCaro, and Carol M. Worthman "Self, Emotions, Identity: Current Research in Psychological Anthropology," Volunteered Paper/Poster Session "Chasing the Pied Piper: Youth as Agents of Globalization," organized by Vanessa Fong "Affect, Availability, and Fatherhood in Seven Western Cultures," Volunteered Paper/Poster Session "Culture and Personality: Renewal and Revision in Contemporary Research," organized by April Leininger and Bambi Chapin

Biennial Meeting

During the year plans were put in place for the 8th SPA Biennial Meeting, scheduled to take place in San Diego, California April 10-13, 2003. The Board decided to shift the timing of the SPA Biennial from fall to spring in order to reduce conflict with the annual AAA meeting each fall. The board felt that a spring biennial would increase participation in AAA programs during biennial years. This meeting will mark the 25th anniversary of the SPA, officially reached in 2002. The theme of the 2003 Biennial is "Reaching In: Conversations Between Psychological and Cultural Anthropology"--a theme designed to improve connections with colleagues in related subfields as well as student anthropologists. Proposals for 15 organized panels, 36 volunteered papers and 9 poster proposals were received. After detailed review, the program committee put together an agenda that includes 12 organized panels, 6 sessions of volunteered papers, a poster session, 2 lunchtime roundtable discussions, and a plenary symposium. The plenary or "Presidential Forum" will feature a talk from Sherry Ortner with responses and commentary from Jean Briggs and Jean Lave. In addition, Lifetime Achievement Awards will be bestowed upon Walter Goldschmidt and Theodore Schwartz for their contributions to the origins of Ethos and the SPA.

Website [submitted by Stephen Leavitt, SPA Electronic Publications Editor]

The SPA web site is maintained as a resource for current SPA members as well as a source of information for people interested in learning more about the SPA. It includes information about the organization of the SPA (list of officers, By-Laws, Leadership Handbook, instructions for joining the SPA listserv) as well as major activities, including information on: the SPA book series, prizes, the 2003 Biennial Meeting, and sessions sponsored at the annual meeting of the AAA. The site also offers resources for teaching and research, including links to some 40 syllabi in psychological anthropology, catalog of descriptions of 140 recent books of interest, archive of all Ethos article titles, from 1973-2001, list of some 180 recent articles of interest, and manuscripts in progress for download. Several of these features are the result of improvements over the last year. We have put together the Ethos archive, added articles of interest, and most importantly, we have instituted a convenient online registration form for the upcoming Biennial SPA Meetings. SPA contracted this work out to the AAA web site coordinator.

In addition, over the past year, we have made a concerted effort to publicize and promote the SPA listserv as a vehicle for communication among colleagues interested in psychological anthropology. We have contacted all current SPA members, inviting them to subscribe to the listserv. As of now there are 180 members of the listserv, out of some 660 SPA members overall. (It is possible to join the listserv without being an SPA member). Future plans involve developing web resources associated with Ethos, by expanding the Ethos site and eventually by integrating Ethos into the SPA web site directly. Other sections have given considerable attention to web support for section-related publications. In addition, we hope to expand the SPA site as a better resource to psychological anthropology students, with detailed descriptions of psychological anthropology programs, features on ongoing research projects, and links to other sites and services of potential interest to psychological anthropology students.

Use of the web site has steadily improved (see graphic of site hits over the last six months) indicating perhaps more interest as the AAA and Biennial meetings approach. The web site has had 5000 hits since its inception, nearly 2000 in the last six months.

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