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American Anthropological Association Confused About What Biological Anthropology Is

2/10/2016

7 Comments

 
I'm sure the American Anthropological Association (AAA) does a lot of great things. I'm not a member even though the AAA is the flagship association of my discipline. I joined at one point because I had to attend the meetings for job interviews, but I let my membership lapse soon after because I couldn't see that the benefits justified the $200 annual dues.

Along with the high price tag (and the regressive dues structure), several "what the hell, AAA?" moments have dampened my enthusiasm. The most notable was the removal of the word "science" from  the AAA's long-range plan in 2010. I'm an anthropologist, an archaeologist, and a scientist. It doesn't thrill me that the AAA apparently finds the word "science" too prickly to embrace. 

Here's another one for the "what the hell, AAA?" pile. This morning on Facebook, one of my biological anthropology friends posted a photo of a new poster printed by the AAA to celebrate World Anthropology Day: 
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Look at the description of physical anthropology:
"Physical Anthropology + Studies animal origins and the biologically determined nature of humankind."
Animal origins? Biologically determined nature?  Seriously, AAA?

That definition in no way reflects the objects of study or the questions of physical/biological anthropology.  It is so dumb, in fact, that it's hard to even dissect how wrong it really is.

The last time I checked, multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia (aka "animals") originated over 600 million years ago. Perhaps that has changed, however, and I'm not up to date. I wouldn't know, you see, because I'm an anthropologist AND ANIMAL ORIGINS IS NOT WHAT I STUDY.

I don't know what percentage of physical anthropologists would say they are studying the "biologically determined nature of humankind," but it certainly would not be large. Does the study of the origins and meaning of human variation constitute the study of the "biologically determined nature of humankind"? What about the study of human evolution? What about the study of health, demography, fertility, mortality?  

I don't do physical anthropology full time, but I've done it in the past (as both an undergraduate and for my M.A. thesis) and I teach aspects of it in my undergraduate classes now. I chafe at the definition on that poster, and I'm betting a lot of my physical anthropology friends will also not look kindly upon it. How did it get on there? How in the world does the AAA produce a poster, apparently intended to educate the public, that says that physical anthropologists study the "origins of animals" and the "biologically determined nature of humankind"?

I just don't get it.

I'm glad I didn't help pay for it. 
7 Comments

Who Can Afford a AAA Membership?

11/18/2014

9 Comments

 
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The AAA (American Anthropological Association) is the "central society" of professional anthropologists in the United States.  My membership in the AAA is up for renewal.  I've got a lot going on right now, but I'm going to take a few minutes to discuss the AAA's "income-based" dues structure: it is regressive and (I'm guessing) probably doesn't need to be.

The annual dues increase with income.  If you make $20,000/year, you pay $60 (0.30% of your income).  If you make $120,000/year, you pay $265 (0.22% of your income).  If you make more money, your actual dues go up but your rate goes down.  That's a regressive payment structure.

According to some statistics I found (U.S. Bureau of Labor), most anthropology professors have an annual salary between about $42,000 and $132,000, with a mean of around $80,000.  Those $42k, $80k, and $132k levels are marked with vertical lines on the graph above. I'm presuming that range is where most of the AAA's dues payments are coming from.

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If the AAA imposed a flat annual dues rate of about 0.25%, individuals making less than the mean of $80k would pay lower dues than they are now, and their friends making more would pay more (both would be paying the same proportion of their incomes).  The bottom portion of the chart to the right shows the difference: an individual (let's imagine he or she is a junior scholar) making $50k/year would pay about $50 less ($125 instead of $174), while an individual making twice that would pay about $15 more.

I don't have any information on the distribution of salaries in collegiate anthropology or the AAA's annual budgeting needs, and I'm not accountant, so I can't demonstrate that this sort of proportional dues system would work as far as revenue.  If it didn't work out that it would produce enough cash, however, the flat rate could just be incremented upwards until it did.

I know from personal experience that expenses associated with professional memberships impose a financial burden that can be difficult for those of us in the early stages of our careers (and/or without institutional support for conference travel, etc.) to absorb.  Lowering the rates for the those least able to afford them would be a helpful thing to do, and it would probably increase the AAA membership.  I joined last year because I had to interview at the meetings in Chicago.  I'm considering not renewing my membership this year simply because of the expense.

9 Comments

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