Advisory Council, again

[Kira Hall]

Dear IGALA-ites:

It was nice seeing some of you at the AAA meeting in Chicago.  Now on to
new business!

I realize that the list has been quiet lately, but I think it's time that
we revive discussion regarding the constitution of the IGALA advisory
council.  If you remember, at the end of August we voted in two steps that
(A) "yes, we want some kind of advisory council," and (B) that this
advisory council would have "some slots reserved, whether based on
scholarship, underrepresented group, or other factor to be decided if this
option is approved."

Since the (A) option was approved, we now need to decide on what we want
the advisory council to look like.  We had a number of opinions earlier on
this subject that I will attempt to summarize here.

Some IGALA members argued that slots should be reserved for members of
particular groups underrepresented in the field.  Suggested categories
included: (1) graduate and undergraduate students; (2) members in
non-traditional employment situations (for example, independent scholars,
part-time and adjunct faculty, scholars working in the industry); (3)
members of color;  (4) non-native speakers of English, or members outside
the US, Canada, and the UK; (5) lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transsexual
members; (6) men; and perhaps even (7) feminists.  There was some
discussion that category (6), in particular, might be unnecessary.

Others argued that slots should be reserved for representatives of
particular concerns or theoretical/research perspectives, who would not
necessarily have to be "members" of the identity category associated with
these perspectives.  Suggested categories here, paralleling those above,
included: (1) representative for graduate and undergraduate issues; (2)
representative for scholars in nontraditional employment situations; (3)
representative for issues/research in gender and ethnicity/race; (4)
representative for geographic or linguistic diversity; (5) representative
for language and sexuality research/issues; (6) representative for language
and masculinity research/issues; and (7) representative for feminist
research/issues.

I cannot possibly summarize the many interesting arguments made in support
of each of these perspectives, but I hope you that you can either remember
some of the debate or consult the list archives.  I'm thinking that with
this message, we'll open the discussion back up for a period of 10 days,
until December 8, after which we'll vote on the issue.  I invite all to
participate freely in the discussion.

Kira



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Kira Hall
Assistant Professor of Linguistic Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
51 Hillhouse Avenue
Yale University
New Haven, CT  06520-8277
Office phone:  203-432-3689
E-mail address:  kira.hall at yale.edu
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