2003 CNA Annual Report

2003 Annual Report
Council on Nutritional Anthropology (CNA)

Submitted by
Barrett P. Brenton, President
brentonb@stjohns.edu

1) Accomplishments for Period November 24, 2002 - November 23, 2003

Membership

CNA membership has been steady over past two years with 212 members as of December 2002 and 210 members as of September 2003. The breakdown of regular and student memberships have remained about the same over this time as well. Slight fluctuations in membership are always expected with ongoing renewals. It is unclear at this point how AnthroSource will affect our membership numbers in the future, although it is probably safe to assume that most people are not CNA members only for the purpose of receiving the journal.

Financial Balances

CNA continues at present to be fiscally sound. Expenditures set aside for development and promotion were not completely used in 2002 so total net assets increased for the 2003 budget. As of September 2003 our net assets were approximately $12,800, which will decrease to approximately $10,000 by January 2004. A spending deficit for 2003 covered AAA meeting activities, and development and promotion expenses, including a new portable promotional display board.

New costs for 2004 will be incurred to support the phase-in of AnthroSource and the proposed online publication of Nutritional Anthropology (NA). Our 2004 projected revenues are $3,322 and our total expenses for NA alone will now be $2,929. In short, for an $18.00 regular membership: $10.00 goes to publish NA, $5.00 will now go to AnthroSource expenses, and the remaining $3.00 goes towards honoraria associated with the Christine Wilson Awards and the Distinguished Lecture.

Meeting Activities

At the 2003 AAA meetings in Chicago CNA sponsored two invited sessions and one general session, all of which were well attended. The CNA distinguished speaker series continued this year with a presentation by Dr. Marion Nestle (NYU) on food politics and how the food industry influences nutrition and health. This was followed by a CNA funded reception in her honor.

The Christine Wilson Awards given for outstanding undergraduate and graduate research papers on a topic that combines perspectives on nutrition, food and anthropology were not presented this year. Although there were submissions the selection committee felt that in their present state none of them met the high quality standards established by the award in honor of Dr. Wilson.

Communications

Under the editorship of Kristen Borré two issues were prepared of our peer reviewed publication Nutritional Anthropology (NA), which includes articles, research reports, book reviews, member news, etc. Janet Chrzan's editorship of the CNA column in Anthropology News (AN) provided information about our section and other related information throughout the year in nine issues of AN.

By January 2004 CNA's webpages on the AAA site should be completely updated. Members are being encouraged to check them periodically as a source of news, useful links, and contact information. With the support of Thoric Cederstrom and Laura Cramer of Counterpart International CNA now has a listserve. The list is not currently archived nor monitored.

A second printing of informational brochures on CNA continued to be handed out at the AAA meetings as well as other related meetings throughout the year (e.g., Association for the Study of Food and Society, Society for Nutrition Education, and the Society for Applied Anthropology). A new promotional display board was put together by past-president David Himmelgreen. Members were asked to contact him (dhimmelg@chuma1.cas.usf.edu) to have their news and projects added to the display or to request to have it available to promote CNA at an event.

2) Future Plans or Activities

AnthroSource and the Future of Nutritional Anthropology

AnthroSource will require both a financial and professional commitment by CNA to our journal Nutritional Anthropology (NA). CNA members will have to decide by 2005 if we agree to go ahead with this new endeavor. The following outlines some of the issues CNA we will have to consider as an organization in order to make this decision..

AAA will pay for archiving past issues of Nutritional Anthropology (NA) before 2003. This will be available online to all members of the AAA regardless of their section membership(s) and by subscription for institutions through AnthroSource (to be operated by the University of California Press). For our 2004 budget and beyond CNA will be responsible for our share of the operating and administration fees of archived material. What revenue we will receive as a section from AnthroSource is still unknown. Over the next year we will have to discuss raising membership dues in order to support these costs. By 2005 CNA will have to decide if we want to continue having a print copy of NA (which AAA will no longer handle) or switch over to online access only. Given our small membership we do not have the revenue to do both. The online version of NA will cost less to publish, but costs are unknown to date. There is no doubt that online access to NA will provide a great deal of exposure to the journal outside of our membership. As stated above, this will require both financial and scholarly support from our members.

This commitment brings up a number of additional issues and concerns for the future of our peer reviewed journal Nutritional Anthropology. The opportunity to become a journal that is widely accessed, read and cited is clearly important. However, new responsibilities must be accepted and the structure of the current journal will need to change. Our contract with AnthroSource will require for example: regular content formatting; an editorial board; regular submission deadlines; specific peer review guidelines, and regular dated publications.

A New Proposed Name for CNA

The result of past forums have made it clear that CNA's roots and traditions are firmly anchored in scientifically rigorous studies of human diet and nutrition. Yet it is also realized that to more fully engage the spectrum of theoretical and methodological perspectives of individuals AAA-wide, especially in the wake of the increasing girth of Food Studies programs, CNA's name might evolve to incorporate the word 'Food.'

This issue was brought up at the 2002 CNA general business meeting and a lively discussion ensued concerning the need to both maintain CNA's core purpose while increasing its visibility. At the 2003 meetings a motion was made to put a name change to a vote by the membership during the spring 2004 AAA Elections. The ballot question would change the current name 'Council on Nutritional Anthropology' (CNA) to 'Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition' (SAFN). The question would only change "Article I. Name." of the bylaws.

Other Future Development Projects

Additional CNA projects that were discussed at the AAA meetings in Chicago included a proposed revision of the Nutritional Anthropology Methods Handbook, and a third edition of Syllabi for Nutritional Anthropology Courses (SNACIII). All those interested in working on these projects were asked to contact past-president Leslie Sue Lieberman (llieberm@mail.ucf.edu) or CNA President Barrett Brenton. Plans were made to co-sponsor a distinguished lecture with the Culture and Agriculture section at the San Francisco meetings.

To better assess the future direction of CNA a members survey will be sent out in the spring of 2004. Questions will cover topics such as the services and developments members want from CNA and input on the future of AnthroSource and NA.

3) Other Items

One of the primary issues that has come up in discussions among CNA members is the ultimate future of small sections in the wake of the increased cost and membership shifts that are to be associated with AnthroSource. A primary concern is that our section is paying for a benefit that all AAA members will receive, including those who belong to sections without a publication. One remedy to this perceived disparity may be to have a flat-fee for all AAA members to help defray the financial burden of this change.

Another issue of concern is the need for even more links to be made with the media and public policy makers via AAA concerning the applied dimensions of our section members' research on human food and nutrition.

CNA Section Officers for Period November 24, 2002 - November 23, 2003

Barrett Brenton, President (brentonb@stjohns.edu)

Kristin Borré, Vice-President and Editor of Nutritional Anthropology (borrek@mail.ecu.edu)

Andrea Wiley, Chair, Program Committee (wileyas@jmu.edu)

Janet Chrzan, Contributing Editor to Anthropology News (jdamkrog@sas.upenn.edu)

Leslie Carlin, Chair, Nominations Committee (L.E.Carlin@durham.ac.uk)

Dan Sellen, Chair, Curriculum & Research Committee (dsellen@emory.edu)

Thoric Cederstrom, Chair Policy & Liaison Committee (thoric@counterpart.org)

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