s.etteiri April 1992 1

anthropologists who are not employed inacademics. One particularly thoughtfulresponse is printed in part below. Whatconcrete steps can AFA as an organiza-tion take to achieve the objectives withwhich Joseph closes her letter? Are theremembers out there willing to write oftheir own experiences for the column?Responses to the comments can be ad-dressed c/o this column and to the au-thor, Rebecca Joseph, PhD, Director,Cultural Heritage Arts Program, Insti-tute for Community Research, 999 Asy-lum Ave, Suite 500, Hartford, CT06105-2476:203/278-2044.

Dear Professor Rubin:

I am writing in response to the AFAcolumn in the February AN, specificallythe sections introducing the new, moreinclusive format. I have been on bothsides of the "what is a professional an-thropologist?" issue, as a tenure-trackassistant professor and as an "indepen-dent" in several positions. As an earlyAFA member, J applaud the organiza-tion's interest in deconstructing modelsof "the professional anthropologist" inorder to better serve the needs of its di-verse membership, but it is clear fromthe February column that some addi-tional consciousness raising within theorganization would be helpful.

With respect to the column, I am es-pecially concerned by the mixed mes-sages conveyed in both your commentsand Kerry Skiffington\s. At the sametime that you state "the need to recog-nize both the gendered and hierarchicalnature of our definition of success in thefield," you justify this activity in termsof decreasing availability of tenure-trackacademic jobs. While stating that she en-joys a high quality of life as an "inde-pendent scholar" in Vermont, and is askilled and versatile teacher. Skil'finsitonindicates that this is somehow a conso-lation prize for not having the "ideal ten-ure-track position at a beautiful collegecampus or exciting university."

The underlying assumption is ob-vious—that the tenured or tenure-trackacademic position is still the profes-sional benchmark against which othertypes of careers in anthropology are con-ceived and measured. This bias is further

revealed by the division of professional"Others" into Temporary AcademicAppointments, Independent Scholarsand Practicing Anthropologists. As Skif-fington's essay demonstrates, these areartificial boundaries, suitable only to thepurposes and understandings of tenured/tenure-track academics. In fact, most ofthe un- or temporarily affiliated assumeone, two or all of these roles during thecourse of our careers, often simulta-neously and by choice.

It is ironic that feminist anthropolo-gists, who as a group have been so in-strumental in moving social science re-search away from viewing "Others" interms of their problems as defined by apowerful elite, should appear to adoptprecisely the same patronizing attitudetoward their own disciplinary sisters.

Where is the feminist in the Associa-tion for Feminist Anthropology? As acollege student in the 1970s, I agitatedfor Women's Studies courses. As a grad-uate student I believed that I was part ofa revolutionary movement within aca-demia. In recent years, 1 have come tothe conclusion that the institutionaliza-tion of feminist anthropology, alongwith Women's Studies in general, hasbeen a mixed blessing at best. While ithas had demonstrable impact on theoryand research well beyond its subdiscipli-nary boundaries, it is disheartening torecognize that access to power so oftenco-opts, when it fails to corrupt, evenour high-minded selves.

If the AFA wants to better serve its di-verse membership (I) let us Others de-termine our ugenda(s) professionally aswell as within the organization; (2) dem-onstrate the organization's commitmentto us by tracking us more often into lead-ership positions: and (3) most important,recognize and respect our contributionsto the discipline and to society, as wellas our struggle, as we define them.

Sincerely, Rebecca Joseph

Send news items to Deborah Rubin.Dept Soc/Anth, U of the Pacific, Stock-ton, CA 9521 1: 209/946-2815 (o) or952-2676 (h).

ASSOCIATION FOR POLITICAL AND LEGAL: ANTHROPOLOGY- -

Peter W Black, Contributing Editor

New Contributiog Editor

With this issue, 1 begin as Contribut-ing Editor for this column. In reality, ofcourse, this column belongs to the mem-bers of the Association—it is yours tomake of what you wish. At a minimum 1would like it to act as a clearinghouseand information node, keeping us up-to-date with one another and developmentsin the field as well as providing news tothe profession of the Association's af-fairs. For example, Marc Swartz sug-gested in last month's column that this isa good place for people to announce re-cent or forthcoming books and articlesthat fall within the Association's areas ofinterest. Other material that might ap-pear here could be announcements of up-coming events, ideas for future sessions,proposals for collaborative projects,thoughts about present or future APLAactivities and perhaps even ideas for

what this column should be doing. In anyevent, it is important that anything meantto be in the column get to me in a timelyfashion (Contributing Editors for othercolumns in AN ask for six weeks' leadtime). Material for inclusion in this col-umn should be sent to me at the Anthro-pology Program, George Mason U, Fair-fax, V A 22030: FAX 703/993-1446;Bitnet PBLACK(«> G M U V A X .GMU.EDU).

President's Message

By Marc Swartz (California-San Diego)

I had hoped the inaugural messageyou saw last issue would have appearedsooner or that there was more time to getyour advice about nominations and yourideas for panels for the AAA meetingthis fall. The delay in the message's ap-pearance results from my failure to un-

derstand how rhe Newsletter works. 1wrote it as soon as i got back from theChicago meeting, but 3 did not knowwhat deadlines applied, and my hopethat it would appear in the January News-letter or, failing that, the February issue,was not realized.

There is still time for your suggestionsconcerning the desirability of an APLAmeeting separate from the AAA annualmeeting. I also hope you will write mewith your views and suggestions for themembership of the committee to arrangethe meeting if you think having one is agood idea. Please contact Marc Swartz,Anth Dept, UCSD, La Jolla, CA 92093-0101; FAX 691/534-5946.

The question of the composition ofAPLA's publications committee is stillvery much open. The third and finalmember will not be chosen until I havehad a chance to hear from you. MikeAronoff and Bob Hunt are the two al-ready appointed members. They haveboth accepted appointment and will beundertaking the responsibility for draft-ing publications policy to be consideredby the membership. The issues the com-

mittee will consider include, but are notlimited, to the nature of what is to bepublished; beginning a journal, and, ifso, at what frequency; and what mono-graphs, at what intervals? There will beplenty of opportunities to communicatewith the committee after it is fullyformed, but if you have any commentson any of this write to Robert Hunt, AnthDept, Brandeis U, Waltham, MA02254-9110.

1 want to thank Dan Strouthes, whoserved as editor of this column for someyears, for his dedicated efforts on behalfof our Association. His carrying on ofthe APLA column while writing his the-sis is a praiseworthy and difficult under-taking. Regretfully he is unable to con-tinue, but we are fortunate in that PeterBlack has generously accepted the re-sponsibilities of being the editor of thiscolumn. Any comments you may haveabout the column, any of the researchmentioned in the last letter, or anythingelse you want to communicate to Peter orthe whole membership should be sent tohim at the Anth Program, George MasonU, Fairfax, VA 22030.

Lauana MLackev> Contributing Editor

Nothing to report this month. Keep Louana M Lackey, 17 W 29th St, Balti-those cards and letters coming folks! more, MD 21218; 410/243-6948.

BIOLOGICAL ANTHROPOLOGY SECTIONKathleen R Gibson, Contributing Editor

for Siudy

The University of the Pacific has theSpencer R Atkinson Cranio-Osteologi-cal Collection available for study. Thisconsists of 1400 human crania from au-topsy specimens, including an age-graded series of 400 crania from fetal toadult stages. The collection also containspathological specimens, such as micro-cephaly and hydrocephaly. Sn addition,the University of the Pacific has a verte-brate anatomy collection of over 600specimens and a collection of teachingslides. For information contact the A WWard Museum/S R Atkinson Collection,U of the Pacific, School of Dentistry,2155 Webster St, San Francisco, CA94 SS 5; 415/929-6627.

Human Biology at Cornell

Cornell University seeks applicationsfor graduate study in its Human BiologyProgram. The prime focus of this pro-gram is biological anthropology, includ-ing human evolution, population biol-ogy, and behavioral and biological di-versity. Eight faculty, distributed amongfive departments, contribute to the pro-gram. The university has collections ofhuman and primate osteological speci-mens and fossil hominid casts. It also hasmodern laboratories equipped for thestudy of osteology, anatomy, body com-position, work physiology, growth andnutritional status. Please write to the Di-rector, Human Biology Program, Cor-nell U, Division of Nutritional Sciences,211 Savage Hall, Ithaca, NY 14853.

Center for Theology and the NaturalSciences

The February 16 edition of the Hous-ton Chronicle reports that the Center forTheology and the Natural Sciences inBerkeley, California, has been awarded$400,000 by the federal government aspart of the Human Genome Project. Thisgroup will study issues of genetic deter-minism versus theology. Specifically,they wish to address whether DNA is allthere is to humanity and whether thepresence of genes for mental illness andother behavioral traits indicates that hu-mans lack free will. The group will alsoexamine the biological roots of evil, de-bate whether or not gene therapy can beinterpreted as humans playing God, anddiscuss the ethical issues of the use of ge-netic information by insurance compa-nies. The group is headed by a Ted Pe-ters, and is composed of a dozen genet-icists, theologians and ethicists.

Biological Anthropologists in thePublic Media

An article by Katherine Milton ap-peared in the March issue of NaturalHistory, "Civilization and Its Discon-tents." The article discusses the culturalimpact of the diffusion of Western toolsinto Amazonian tribes. The March issueof National Geographic contains twomajor articles pertaining to great ape andhuman biological relationships.

Request for News

Please send your news to me at theDept of Anatomical Sciences, U TexasDental Branch, PO 20068, Houston, TX77225; 713/792-4131; fax 713/792-4188.