And so the AAA – held this year at the Chicago Hilton – came and went, leaving behind a flurry of experiences and sensations. Undoubtedly one of the highlights of the anthropological scholarly calendar, the event awakened the usual anticipation of panels to attend, both those of one’s own and those of scholars ‘to watch’. Some of our fellow bloggers have already began the aftermath – with Savage Minds leading the back by concluding ‘the Ontological turn’ as dominating the scene this year – and Allegra will soon follow by reporting on the most exciting and cutting edge, as well as the crowded and the deserted.
In addition there was, of course, the informal social mingling, which, we suspect, most participants would say is at least minimally as important. Although it is difficult to estimate this with any certainty, we guess that informal gatherings put up quite the convincing challenge for participant numbers. Certainly they are the site of the oh-so-delicious conference gossip. Again, our watchful eye was alert, and we will soon report on just what was the talk of the days – and whether it was shared via email (remember that?), Facebook or Twitter (you guessed it)!
What about the job center – inhabited by hordes of nervous young scholars clutching their CVs as if hoping that, at any moment, the documents would transform into golden tickets, thus removing the lucky winners from a desperate adjunct reality into one of tenured certainty? Allegra having eyes and ears everywhere, we’ll report on this too.
And just what does the hyped up American sociality look like to the unaccustomed ‘European’ eye? All this and much more arriving soon – all embedded in the glitz and glamour of this beautiful and massive luxury hotel (in which finding actual racial diversity to match the diversity of anthropological scholarship proved surprisingly laborious. We finally learned that taking the stairs connected to the service quarters usually did the trick…).
MUCH MORE SOON!
