The 111th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) has just been held in San Francisco with the theme Borders and Crossings (November 14-18). This year’s program had 717 sessions, 34 workshops, 13 innovents and 183 special events. The AAA program is rather intimidating, so we’ve extracted information from it (for those of us not able to go!) on the four sessions (panels) and other papers of specific interest to scholars of the Pacific islands:
The edges of sex and HIV in Papua New Guinea: culture, right
- Opposite Persons and People with Gender: Talking about Sex and Gender, Nature and Culture At a PNG Highlands Nursing School Barbara Andersen (New York University and New York University)
- Intimate Consumption and Sexual Stigma: Embodiment, HIV Rights, and Cultural Transformation Across Time Among the Sambia of Papua New Guinea) Gilbert Herdt (San Francisco State University)
- Positive Sex, Positive Prevention: HIV, Relational Personhood, and Participation In National Identity-Making Katherine M Lepani (Australian National University)
- Seizing the Moment: Towards Sexual Citizenship In Papua New Guinea Christine Stewart (Australian National University)
- Global Rights In Local Realities: Negotiating Changing Notions of Sexual and Reproductive Contagion and Rights Amongst Women Living with HIV In Papua New Guinea Angela Kelly (Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research and University of New South Wales)
- Discussant Lenore H Manderson (Monash University)
From “stone-age” to “real-time”: temporalities and mobilities in and beyond Papua
- Technological Performances: Demonstrating the Stone Age In Dutch New Guinea Danilyn Rutherford (University of California Santa Cruz)
- Figures of the Primitive In Papuan Self-Representations: Korowai Transformations of Tourist and State Evolutionist Ideologies Rupert Stasch (UCSD Anthropology)
- The Asmat Tradition Over Time: The Extent of Change Astrid de Hontheim (Université de Mons)
- Biblical Historiographies for the Papuan Nation Jaap Timmer (Macquarie University)
- Dancing Koreri In and Beyond Jakarta Christian Raimund Warta (Macquarie University)
- Dreams Made Small: Humiliation, Stigma and Dani Aspirations Jenny Munro (University of Calgary)
- Appropriating Surveillance: Dani Moral Strategies and Human Rights Primitivism Jacob A Nerenberg (University of Toronto)
- Living and Dying In HIV-Land: Old Constraints and New Possibilities In Papua Leslie Butt (University of Victoria and University of Victoria)
- Exploring Networked Governance of Torture In Papua-Indonesia Budi Hernawan (Australian National University and Australian National University)
- National Technologies and Ontopologies Eben Kirksey (City University of New York – Graduate Center)
- Dynamics of (Trans)Local Elite Struggles: The Case of the Papuan Customary Council During the Third Congress of the Papuan People I Ngurah Suryawan Suryawan MA (State University of Papua)
- Papua As An Islamic Frontier? Multiple Muslim Imaginaries Martin Slama (Austrian Academy of Sciences AAS)
- Discussant Andrew C Willford (Cornell University)
- Pacific Masculinities: An Overview and a Suggested Re-Orientation David Lipset (University of Minnesota) and Martha Adele Macintyre (The University of Melbourne)
- “I Am a Better Husband and Father Than My Own Father Was” Holly Wardlow (University of Toronto)
- Domestic Bliss? Masculinity and Home-Making In Port Vila, Vanuatu Maggie I Cummings (University of Toronto)
- Modernizing Fathers and Postcolonial Manhood Among Eastern Iatmul Eric Silverman (Wheelock College)
- Strategies for the Defence of Masculine Power and Prestige In Samoa Penelope Schoeffel (National University of Samoa and National University of Samoa) and Malama Meleisea (National University of Samoa)
- Pacific Beserkers to Christian Moderns: Dual Discourses of Alcohol and Masculinity In Manokwari, West Papua Sarah Louise Hewat (University of Melbourne, University of Melbourne, University of Melbourne, University of Melbourne, University of Melbourne and University of Melbourne)
- Size and Sociality: the Genders of Social Change In Highland Papua New Guinea Thomas Strong (National University of Ireland Maynooth)
- Geometrics and Pacific Masculinities Pauline McKenzie Aucoin (Concordia University)
- A Sea of Masculinities Deborah Elliston (Binghamton University, SUNY)
mana: translations and transformations of a classic concept in anthropology
- The Mana of Ku: Indigenous Nationhood, Masculinity, and Authority In Hawaii Ty P.K. Tengan (University of Hawai’i)
- Ai Afu [Eating Sweat]: The Mana and Ethics of the Fat Pastor’s Body In Independent Samoa Jessica A Hardin (Brandeis University)
- The Meanings of Mena In North Vanuatu: Ecology, Christianity and the Shifting Forms of Efficacious Potency In the Torres Islands Carlos Mondragon (El Colegio de Mexico and El Colegio de Mexico)
- Museums, Mana, and Sovereignty In Contemporary Oceania Ping Ann Addo (University of Massachusetts at Boston) and Christopher Fung (University of Massachusetts Boston)
- Restoring Codrington: Polynesian Influence On Central Melanesian Mana Thorgeir S Kolshus (University of Oslo)
- Discussant Bradd Shore (Emory University)
- Tracing the Translation of Mana In Fiji Matt Tomlinson (Australian National University and Australian National University)
- Historicizing Manama’s Mana Vicente M. Diaz (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
- The Grammar of Power: Mana and Possessions Alexander D Mawyer (Lake Forest College)
- From Mana to Anointing: Reformulating Indigenous Fijian Agency Through Global Pentecostalism Karen J Brison (Union College)
- A Tā-Vā [Time-Space] Critique of Tapu and Mana As Manifestations of Harmony and Beauty Tevita Orson Ka’ili (Brigham Young University Hawai’i) and ‘Okusitino Mahina (Vava’u Academy for Critical Inquiry)
- Discussant Niko Besnier (University of Amsterdam)
Pacific-related papers in other sessions
- “Fish Flow”: Hawaiian Subsistence Fisheries Fiona Elisabeth McCormack (University of Waikato, New Zealand)
- “It’s Not Something You Learn In School”: Practicing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy In Palau Rachana S Agarwal (Brandeis University)
- “Luv 2 Da Famz ‘I Tonga:” Transnational Identity and Linguistic Styles Among Tongan Youth Online Mary K Good (University of Arizona, Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology)
- A Society Divided: Death, Personhood and Christianity In Auhelawa, Papua New Guinea Ryan Schram (University of Sydney)
- Accumulation by Possession: Wealth In Surplus Social Relations and Their Environmental Consequences In Papua New Guinea Jerry Jacka (University of Texas at San Antonio)
- Addressing Cross-Cultural Delineations of Cultural and Historical Sites and Features In the Republic of Palau Suzanne S. Finney PhD (Bureau of Arts and Culture, Palau Historic Preservation Office), Calvin Emesiochel…
- Bags and Bilums In Transition: Circulating Identity and Status In Melanesia Kathleen Barlow (Central Washington University)
- Brokering Maori Indigenous Identity: The Transformation of Racial and Ethnic Boundaries In New Zealand Marama Muru.Lanning (The University of Auckland)
- Chilean Spatialization and Rapa Nui Borders In Easter Island Forrest W Young (University of Hawai’i)
- Coacting Empathy: Fieldwork Among the Langalanga, Solomon Islands Pei-yi Guo (Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica)
- Culinary Assimilation: The Politics and Pleasures of School Lunch In Postwar Hawai`I Christine R Yano (University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu)
- Cultural Aspect Affecting Human Relations At Work Place In Tonga Takuya Kitahara (Waseda University)
- Cultural Resiliency Among U.S. Mainland Pacific Islanders: An Examination of the Components and Processes of Cultural Assimilation Kadence Charmaine Maier (Washington State University)
- Decolonising Eurocentric Research Practices: Perspectives From Melanesian Methodologies Trisia Angela Farrelly (Massey University), David Gegeo (University of Canterbury) and Unaisi Nabobo-Baba (University of Guam)
- Denied Kin and Deprived of Care: Women’s Narratives of Dispossession In Goroka Town of the Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea Jennifer Tomoe Peachey (University of Manchester)
- Disclosure and (In)Visibility: Acoustic Navigation of the Gender/Sexuality Border In Houston Transmen Bethany A Townsend (Rice University) and Vica Papp (New Zealand Institute of Language Brain and Behavior)
- Educational Achievement, Lifestyle Status Inflation and Their Differential Effects On YOUTHS’ Mental Health In Micronesia Edward D Lowe (Soka University of America)
- Examining Discourses of Race and Cultural Alterity: American Football, Polynesian Players, and the Specter of Blackness F. Lisa Uperesa (University of Hawaii and University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu)
- Fates Worse Than Death: Destruction and Social Attachment In Timor-Leste Gabriel Tusinski (University of Chicago)
- Fish Out of Water: Gutting Indigenous Fisheries’ Protection In Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada Andie D Palmer (University of Alberta)
- Glimpses of Eternity: Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints In New Zealand Talk about Disability and Genetic Testing Kristin Clift (University of Otago and University of Otago) and Ruth P Fitzgerald (University of Otago)
- He Hawai’I Nō Wau!: Ideologies of Hybridity and Performativity Among Hawaiian Language Learners Alicia Snyder-Frey (University of California San Diego)
- Imaginary Communities: The Reintroduction of Portuguese In East Timor and the Postcolonial Lusophone Fantasy of a Transnational Speech Community Aurora Donzelli PhD (Sarah Lawrence College and Sarah Lawrence College)
- Individual Narratives of Modern Identity In Rural French Polynesia Laura C Jarvis (Southern Methodist University)
- Kaupapa Maori: Contextualizing Indigenous Knowledge Theories and Methodologies From Aotearoa, New Zealand Paul Whitinui (University of Canterbury), Kierin Mackenzie (University of Canterbury) and Angus Hikairo Macfarlane (University of Canterbury)
- Landscapes of Fear and Social Memory On Erromango, Vanuatu James L Flexner (Washington and Lee University)
- Looking for Kalaupapa: A Study of Leprosy and Coercion In the Context of Hawaiian Tourism David Ritter (University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu)
- Mahogany Intertwined: Enviromateriality Between the Maya Forest, Fiji, and the Gibson Les Paul Jose E Martinez-Reyes (University of Massachusetts, Boston)
- Mambai Cosmologies and the Lively Extractive Frontier of Southwestern East Timor Prash Naidu (University of Michigan)
- Navigating Adolescence Through Social Change In Fiji: Ambition, Demoralization, Social Adversity, and Resilience Anne E Becker (Harvard Medical School)
- Our Sea of Protected Areas: The Cook Islands Marine Park and the Emergence of Large-Scale Marine Spatial Planning In the Pacific and Beyond Trevor J Durbin (Rice University)
- Representations of Indigenous Epistemologies In HIV/AIDS Policies of Papua New Guinea David M Bennett (University of Saskatchewan)
- Roads to Recovery: Traversing the Border Between Health and Illness In Tautu, Vanuatu Ashley M Vaughan (University of Hawaii at Manoa)
- Roads to Recovery: Traversing the Border Between Health and Illness In Tautu, Vanuatu Ashley M Vaughan (University of Hawaii at Manoa)
- Sailing Into the Unknown: Re-Connecting with An Oceanic Worldview In the Pacific Joseph H Genz (University of Hawaii and Cultural Surveys Hawaii)
- Semiotics of Tattooed Personal Identities: Border-Crossings In Hawaii Local Culture Mie Hiramoto (National University of Singapore)
- Sepik People, Sepik Places: The Dead Among the Living Nancy Sullivan (Papua New Guinea) and Ann L Stodder (The Field Museum)
- Strategies for the Defence of Masculine Power and Prestige In Samoa Penelope Schoeffel (National University of Samoa and National University of Samoa) and Malama Meleisea (National University of Samoa)
- The Differential Racialization of Transnational Language Flows In a Local California High School Christine Malsbary (University of Hawaii-Manoa
- The Forest Has a Story: Cultural Ecosystem Services In Kona, Hawai’I Rachelle K. Gould (Stanford University), Ulalia Woodside (Kamehameha Schools), Neil Hannahs (Kamehameha Schools), Nicole Ardoin (Stanford University) and Theresa A Satterfield (University of British Columbia
- The Reproductive Bodies of Transnational Women: Chuukese Reproduction In Guam Sarah A Smith (University of South Florida and University of Guam)
- Touring America’s Good War: Transnational Memory-Making In the Landscapes of D-Day Geoffrey White (University of Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu and University of Hawai’i)
- Translating the Colonial In the Post-Colonial: “Malai” As a Core “metaphoric link” Between Past and Present in East-Timor Paulo C Seixas (CAPP/ISCSP – UTL – Portugal)
- You Just Have to Wait: The Impact of Marital Status On the Pregnancy Outcomes of Samoan Women In American Samoa Michaela E Howells (University of Colorado, Department of Health and LBJ Tropical Medical Center), Richard L Bender (Univerisity of Colorado – Boulder), Darna L Dufour (University of Colorado-Boulder), …
A business meeting of the Melanesian Interest Group was also held during the AAA Meeting.
