Boycott and Open Forum at AAA

(forwarded)

Format for December 4th Members' Open Forum on Engagement with Israel
and Palestine

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Joslyn O.

Today's guest blog post is written by Ed Liebow, Executive Director.
Last July's Anthropology News mentioned a variety of ways in which AAA
leadership is trying to foster dialogue and information exchange among
AAA members on anthropologically relevant issues related to
Israel/Palestine. We mentioned there that anOpen Forum would be held
at the Annual Meeting; it has now been scheduled forThursday 4
December, from 13:00 to 14:15 in the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel,
Ballroom Salon 2. Our goal is to facilitate dialogue among AAA
Members, bringing to bear on the conversation the culture of inquiry
and analytical skills characteristic of our profession.
The frame for the discussion is: what issues related to
Israel/Palestine are relevant to us as anthropologists, as members of
a scholarly association, and to the AAA as an association of
anthropologists?
Here is what you can expect at the Open Forum. The hall will be
arranged with a number of tables; the hall is large and we can
accommodate many small groups. You will be encouraged to sit with
people you do not already know well. There will be introductory
remarks from Monica Heller, the AAA President, a brief update on the
work of the AAA Task Force on Engagement on Issues related to
Israel/Palestine by the Task Force chair, AAA Past-President Don
Brenneis, and a short explanation of the forum's format by our lead
facilitator, Tarek Maassarani. The process will include an opening
round to build trust and familiarity amongst participants; several
discussion rounds with prompts to share what questions, knowledge,
perspectives, and experiences participants bring to the table; and a
reflective closing round to share insights and their relevance beyond
this one event.
Participants will also be given index cards that they can place in
feedback boxes as they leave the room. Facilitators will be asked to
fill out a reflection form immediately following the dialogue to help
us better understand what happened at each table. If there is time, we
might be able to hear from some of the facilitators before we need to
vacate the room. Since the objective at this stage is to foster
dialogue among members, we will check badges at the entrance.
Executive Board members, Task Force members, Section Assembly
leadership and AAA staff will likely attend as observers. We will ask
the press to respect our privacy during the Forum, though we are happy
for participants to speak to the press (or blog or tweet) before and
after the event. We are also open to considering further such events,
whether open only to members or not.