Anthropologists Marshalling History: the American Anthropological Association’s Vote on the Academic
April 29, 2016
Anthropologists Marshalling History: the American Anthropological Association’s Vote on the Academic Boycott of Israeli Institutions
by Roberto J. González – David Price
The membership of the world’s largest professional association of anthropologists, the American Anthropological Association (AAA), is now in the midst of an election that will determine whether or not the Association will apply boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) to Israeli academic institutions.
This is the most challenging political issue facing American anthropologists since the Vietnam War, with both supporters and opponents passionately expressing their views in the media, at professional conferences, and in public forums. Strong language and accusations have characterized the debates surrounding the proposed academic boycott. There are good people on both sides.
The road leading to this vote has been long and complicated. Supporters of BDS organized a vibrant movement using grassroots mobilization, while opponents combined grassroots efforts with the sort of political tactics one associates with professional political campaigns—including the outlandish step of purchasing pop-up political advertisements that jammed the phones and tablets of attendees at the AAA’s conference last autumn.
It would be difficult to overestimate the vote’s significance. The AAA would not be the first professional association to support a boycott of Israeli academic institutions: since 2013, the Association for Asian American Studies, the Native American Indigenous Studies Association, the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies, the African Literature Association, and the American Studies Association all passed resolutions supporting BDS. If the Association’s rank-and-file members ratify the pro-boycott resolution, it will become the largest and oldest academic association to do so–the AAA has more than 10,000 members.
More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/04/29/anthropologists-marshalling-history-the-american-anthropological-associations-vote-on-the-academic-boycott-of-israeli-institutions/
