AAA business meeting resolution on part-time academic labor

[Nathaniel Dumas]

Hi All,

I think another issue that is currently not being addressed right now but does need to be is how the contingent faculty issue is actually connected to another area that the AAAs have been recently focused on: race and racism in anthropology as a profession. Some of you may know that the AAA just did a survey study on to selected members on this very topic, asking about mentorship practices and inequality in the profession. The AFT report on diversity and higher education, with the link posted below, illustrates how these two issues (contingent faculty and racial/ethnic diversity) are linked, but because the discussion is currently phrased in a single-axis mode, rather than taking into account intersectionality (a la Kimberle Crenshaw and Patricia Hill Collins), we may inadvertently end up reproducing inequality without even knowing it. For instance, if one is from an underrepresented minority group as a PhD AND a current contingent faculty member, how does one know the source of one's discrimination and exclusionary practices are (particularly in hiring processes for tenure-track positions where many contingent faculty face what Barker 1998, in her study on contingent faculty, refers to as 'cumulative disadvantage')?

The link to the AFT study below (esp. the demographics and chart on p. 13-14):
http://www.aft.org/pdfs/highered/facultydiversity0310.pdf

Just some food for thought and enjoy the report. It's a very interesting read and makes us wonder what the strengths and limitations are of our current thinking on this issue :-)

Be well,
Nate

On Nov 13, 2013, at 6:08 AM, Laura Ahearn wrote:

> Dear All,
> 
> Here are a couple of charts from AAUP depicting the dramatic changes in faculty labor that make the resolution so important:
> 
> http://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/Faculty_Trends_0.pdf
> 
> Laura
> 
> *****************************
> Laura M. Ahearn
> Associate Professor, Rutgers University
> Department of Anthropology
> Series Editor, Oxford Studies in the Anthropology of Language
> (703) 241-4127
> Twitter: @AhearnLaura
> http://www.anthro.rutgers.edu/fac/department-undergrad-a-grad-faculty/laura-ahearn
> 
> On Nov 13, 2013, at 7:57 AM, Leila Monaghan <leila.monaghan at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
>> Thanks for passing the resolution about part time faculty on, Steve, and I
>> urge all my colleagues to attend the business meeting on Thursday night at
>> 6:15!
>> 
>> all best,
>> 
>> Leila
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Nov 13, 2013 at 5:27 AM, Steven Black <stevepblack at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>>> Dear all,
>>> I'm writing to share some information that was forwarded to me that is
>>> likely of interest to many listserv members, about a resolution being
>>> raised
>>> at the American Anthropology Association business meeting about adjunction
>>> and part-time academic labor:
>>> 
>>> "Sharryn Kasmir has asked me to get the word out re: the CoLR resolution on
>>> adjunct rights. For it to pass, supporters will need two things: a quorum
>>> at
>>> the AAA business meeting and plenty of supportive voters to be present. The
>>> business meeting is Thurs. Nov. 21 at 6:15. Try your best to be there if
>>> you
>>> can!!
>>> Take care,
>>> 
>>> Jeff Maskovsky"
>>> 
>>> Here is a link to Savage Minds, which has the resolution posted:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> http://backupminds.wordpress.com/2013/11/10/aaa-to-hear-resolution-on-contin
>>> gent-and-part-time-academic-labor/
>>> 
>>> I can't wait to see friends and meet new people!
>>> 
>>> Best,
>>> Steve Black
>>> 
>>> Steven P. Black
>>> Department of Anthropology
>>> Georgia State University
>>> P.O. Box 3998
>>> Atlanta, GA 30302-3998
>>> 
>>> Phone (404) 413-5168
>>> Fax (404) 413-5159
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Leila Monaghan, PhD
>> Department of Anthropology
>> Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Nathaniel Dumas, PhD
Research Associate, Department of Anthropology
University of California, Santa Cruz
nadumas at ucsc.edu