2003-4 Annual Report Society for Visual Anthropology

Peter Biella, San Francisco State University

1. Accomplishments 2003-2004 A. Membership numbers

November 2003 -569 members

November 2004 -620 members

It may be that we attracted members this year away from more pricey sections because our dues were relatively low. As such, we may lose those members again soon when our dues go up in 2005.

B. Financial balances

Nov. 2003 - $37,547

Nov. 2004 - $39,856

Although we sought neither to increase or deplete revenue, this 2004 figure is higher because our (unusually high) expenses for publication of Visual Anthropology Review 19(1-2) had not yet been posted, and member numbers were up unexpectedly.

Like all other sections with publications, our finances will be drained deeply because of AnthroSource. Due to the arrival of new editors for our journal, we have decided to cease being a copy-ready publication; UC Press will do our layout in the foreseeable future. This will also raise our expenses.

On the advice of Susi Skomal, we have decided to continue publishing Visual Anthropology Review in hard copy. In order to be able to do that and continue to support AnthroSource, we have raised dues. In 2005, full member dues will go up from $25 to $40; student dues will go up from $15 to $20.

C. AAA Meeting Activities

Visual Research Conference. On the Tuesday and Wednesday morning preceding the meetings, every year SVA sponsors this conference. This year Tom Blakely (Penn State) celebrated the 20th year of the Conference and 20th year with himself as Chair; Najwa Adra (United Nations) was co-chair. Ten participants spoke to a surprisingly crowded room for about an hour each.

Film, Video and Multimedia Festival. Attendance at our annual screening of films was also unexpectedly high, in part because we were just about the only game in town. Film and video submissions have on the rise over the last few years and the quality has also improved. Jurors who met in Santa Fe in May selected nine titles for awards: these ranged from Award of Excellence for a Student Film to a newly minted Jean Rouch Award for participatory ethnography. (Rouch died at the age of 84 last year). The latter was presented to Wild East by Michael Haslund-Christ. It is a remarkable documentary that follows two underemployed Mongolian protagonists in Ulan Bator.

Most panels were cancelled. Our two invited sessions, honoring lifetime achievements of John Bishop (UCLA) and Jay Ruby (Temple) were postponed until 2005. A third session in honor of Jean Rouch, which was to be chaired by Faye Ginsburg and Steven Feld (both of NYU), was also postponed. Two panels and a poster session enjoyed reasonable attendance.

Workshop in Digital Visual Anthropology. I led this workshop with Kate Hennessy (U British Columbia). We had about fifteen attendees.

D. The SVA has no Spring meeting.

E. Communications

Visual Anthropology Review 19(1-2), which was shipped in September, marked an important development for the SVA and AAA publications generally, since it is the first AAA journal to include a bundled CD-ROM. As editor of this volume, I have been very gratified by compliments internationally for this volume. A number of anthropologists have spoken to me about ordering copies for their entire classes. Volume 19 is a double issue on media in Southern Africa: it discusses the Steps for the Future Project, a remarkable series of thirty-six HIV/AIDS educational films (in 18 languages), as well as John Marshall's epic Kalahari Family, fifty years of Kalahari history in six hours of screen time. The CD duplicated the hard-copy volume's thirteen essays and linked them electronically to more than 140 film clips. Kate Hennessy and I spent more than five months producing the CD: it required extensive html code and the digitization of clips from more than 40 different films.
Although Visual Anthropology Review has in recent memory been between two years and eighteen months behind schedule, the publication of Volume 19 brought us within six months of proper publication timing.

Two years ago, Vol. 17 of Visual Anthropology Review was apparently mis-mailed to more than 300 non-SVA-member recipients. After weeks of fact-finding and six months of negotiation between Susi Skomal and myself, the AAA agreed at its expense to republish the wayward volume and remail it to our members who never received it. The volume has now been shipped and received.

SVA maintains its own website, www.societyforvisualanthropology.org. The site feature calls-for-papers, collaboration and job opportunities, a "From the Field" column, a Members' Forum and conference announcements. Last year I also established an SVA listserv when the Atlanta crisis loomed. It allowed us in the Executive Board to get a better idea of member wishes concerning Atlanta. I currently use it for announcements to the members and for taking additional polls and pulses.

SVA Column in Anthropology News. Appearance of the column was sporadic in 2004 and our then-editor has retired. A replacement editor pro tem I trust will take a more proactive stance.

F. Outreach. Since I live in San Francisco, the SVA through me collaborated with the Society for the Anthropology of Work last year in seeking lodging and locations for their San Francisco meetings.

The SVA and the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) formally joined forces last year in an effort to lay the groundwork for a summer credentialing institute for production in visual anthropology and sociology, and to create joint ethical guidelines for our two organizations.

G. No changes in bylaws.

2. Future plans or activities

A. More CD-ROM bundling with Visual Anthropology Review. Although the next few issues of VAR are not destined to have accompanying CDs, I anticipate that more issues in the future will do so. I have been in communication with members of the AnthroSource Committee and have shown them the electronic Vol. 19. I was assured by UC Press (with which I was in close contact during production) that the CD is entirely AnthroSource-friendly. It will make a powerful addition to the AAA's online offerings.

B. Summer credentialing institute in Visual Anthropology/Sociology with International Visual Sociology Association. Plans are tentative but this may become a reality in the next three years. My Dean at San Francisco State University has offered to make its state-of-the-art digital filmmaking lab available for the purpose.

3. Other items

A. Recommendations

Member listservs are a good idea. No doubt like members of the other sections, those of the SVA vacillated between sorrow and rage at the Atlanta disaster. The creation of an SVA listserv helped establish a more genuine sense of community and representative government in our organization.