Roundtable - Executive Session Status Awarded
Sponsored by: AAA Executive Program Committee
Of interest to: Practicing and Applied Anthropologists, Teachers of Anthropology in Community Colleges, Students
Primary Theme: Immigration/Migration/Citizenship
Secondary Theme: Social movements
Anthropologists working with (im)migrants and refugee communities are engaged in heated political debates over migration, globalism, citizenship, inclusion, and belonging. Many of us have been drawn into political and advocacy work on our campuses and in our communities alongside and on behalf of our immigrant, undocumented, and precariously-documented students as they confront increasingly-restrictive policies and immigration enforcement practices and resist political hostility while adapting to existential uncertainty. In 2016, the group Anthropologist Action Network for Immigrants and Refugees (AANIR) formed as a vehicle for sharing experiences and strategizing about modes of anthropological engagement in uncertain times. AANIR has invited panelists in this roundtable to reflect on questions such as: How are our engagements alongside (im)migrant, undocumented, and precariously-documented students and communities evidence of new modes of doing anthropology -- in teaching, research, advocacy, and praxis? How might these engagements be modes of resistance and/or adaptation to the current political era? What are the limits of these engagements, and how are we addressing issues of power and privilege in our work? How are we responding to the heightened violence and uncertainty of ICE raids and enforcement actions on our campuses and communities? Are these responses forms of resistance to state power? How do anthropological engagements in immigrant rights movements offer insights into solidarity or acompañamiento as forms of resilience or adaptation? Do they offer novel ways of imagining citizenship and belonging from below? Finally, what does this work suggest for new modes of anthropological engagement in the 21st century?
Kristin Yarris
Associate Professor
University of Oregon
Wendy Vogt
Assistant Professor
Indiana University, Purdue University at Indianapolis
Ruth Gomberg-Munoz
Associate Professor
Loyola University Chicago
William Lopez
Clinical Assistant Professor
University of Michigan School of Public Health
Mariela Nuñez-Janes
Associate Professor
University of North Texas
Heide Castañeda
Associate Professor
University of South Florida
Sarah Horton
Associate Professor
University of Colorado, Denver
Christina Getrich
Assistant Professor
University of Maryland, College Park
Lauren Heidbrink
Assistant Professor
California State University, Long Beach
Deanna Barenboim
Wesleyan University
Whitney Duncan
Associate Professor
University of Northern Colorado