American Anthropological Association Conference in SF!

From: Gary Dei Rossi [mailto:gdeirossi@sjcoe.net]


On behalf of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) I write to you with an invitation to our annual meeting this fall. Working through the Anthropology Education Committee (AEC), we have initiated a program to bring educators from the host city school districts to this rich and varied gathering of scholars and students from around the world. In this way and through your attendance at some of the sessions that interest you and related events we wish to bring the wealth of anthropology to young people of local schools. Let me spell out the details, then ask for your reply.

Setting: Hilton San Francisco, 333 O’Farrell at Mason (ZIP 94102), November 19-23, 2008

Cost: Your time, transportation, food. The normally required registration and membership will be waived for the first 20 who reply.

Thanks to an agreement with the National Council for the Social Studies, any NCSS member can always attend any AAA annual meeting at the member rate, no matter what city is hosting. In other words, there is reciprocal membership specifically to encourage attending each other's annual meetings. But in 2008 the first 20 San Francisco Bay Area educators from grades k-12 who reply to this offer will pay no registration fee and no membership fee to attend.

Outcomes:
-- Gather materials from the vast exhibitors' hall (open Thursday, Friday, Saturday)
-- Make personal contacts with experts worldwide of the nations, languages and issues that interest you so that your questions may be answered on site or in the future (for personal growth, or specific classroom uses)
-- Cultivate deeper interest in the perspectives of anthropology, and
-- Start the process of dialogue between local educators and the AAA professional association

Procedure:
1. Indicate your interest in attending all or parts of this meeting by writing to Mr. Guven Witteveen,
the AEC contact for this program. He may be reached by email at anthroview@gmail.com or phone 989-224-2768 (Michigan time zone).

2. Guven sends you selected sessions from the preliminary program (see below) with accompanying advice about those events and sessions that local educators may find of special relevance.

3. By 11/7 please reply with a firm commitment to attend so that a welcome packet and name badge may be prepared for you. Indicate the day and time at which you would first arrive on site so that we may try to arrange to welcome and orient you in order to help you to make the most of your participation.

4. By 11/14 we finalize any arrangements to meet you on site to get you started; we'll send any last minute program changes and suggest specially recommended opportunities that you may not have considered yet.

5. By 11/18 we send a reminder for the upcoming annual meeting!

6. By 12/15 you respond with a listing of sessions and events you attended, as well as observations on this mammoth annual meeting, and reflections on what specific things you may have gained that you plan to share with students, friends or colleagues. Based on this feedback, we will refine this initiative for host-city invitations to local educators next year.

Begin this process now by responding to Guven with your name & email address (list your school district and grade level this fall), a brief description of your prior experience of anthropology, or a list of the kinds of things that you'd like to find out about anthropology.

Guven Witteveen, anthroview@gmail.com
http://anthrolinks.blogspot.com & http://anthroview.googlepages.com/precollege