Welcome

The Ethics and Politics of Engagement

The Australian Anthropological Society Annual Conference 2009 will be hosted by the Macquarie University. It will comprise various panels, events, and plenary sessions 9 to 11 December.

The conference will begin on 9 December in the morning. The conference keynote address by George Marcus, Chancellor's Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine , will be held that evening, followed by a reception and the launch of the art exhibition, interventions, curated by Dr. Jennifer Deger of the University of New South Wales, in the Macquarie University Gallery.

Prior to the start of the conference, Ghassan Hage, the Future Generation Professor of Anthropology and Social Theory of the University of Melbourne, will give the first Australian Anthropology Society Distinguished Lecture on 8 December at the State Library of New South Wales.

On 10 December, the day will begin with a plenary session focusing on the work of Prof. Michael Jackson , Distinguished Visiting Professor of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School. The final day, 11 December, will begin with a plenary session on anthropology's politics of engagement with the Northern Territory Intervention and beyond, as a springboard to consider more broadly the question of anthropological responses to momentous state incursions into the lives of the people with whom we work. The plenary will include presentations by Professor Elizabeth Povinelli, Columbia University, and Professor Marcia Langton, Foundation Chair in Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, and is organised by Jon Altman and Melinda Hinkson of the Australian National University.

The conference dinner will be held the evening of 10 December; the AAS Annual General Meeting will be held before the conference banquet.

The conference will conclude at 5.00 PM on 11 December .

Conference program coordinator is Dr. Malcolm Haddon, and the conference committee chair is Dr. Greg Downey, both of Macquarie University. For more information, check back as this site is updated or contact Dr. Downey at greg.downey@mq.edu.au.