Call for panels/roundtables

The call for panels and roundtables closed on 20 May.

The call for papers and the call for labs will open on 2 June.

All session lengths will be 105 minutes (that’s 1 hour and 45 minutes!)

Session formats

The AAS encourages the submission of session proposals in three types of format:

Panels structured in the traditional manner of five papers per session, or as a multimodal combination of conventional text-based papers with performative, visual, poetic or interactive interventions.

Panels will be limited to a maximum of two consecutive 105-minute sessions, each of which can include a maximum of 5 papers/presentations. Consequently, panel convenors may accept a maximum of ten papers/presentations in their panel (and at the other end, may accept only four papers per session). This allows the conference to accept shorter panels giving more choice to both paper proposers and delegates.

Roundtables in which a group of scholars (no more than 5) discuss particular themes/issues in front of (and subsequently with) an audience. While a roundtable can include short (5-10 min) provocations/presentations, the main idea is to create a lively debate, not to focus on any one presenter. In your roundtable proposal, you can list/name the participants in your long abstract, or you can leave the list open and take in 'contribution' proposals during the Call for Papers/Contributions and choose five of those to be on the roundtable.

Roundtables will be limited to one 105-minute session. Please indicate your proposal is a roundtable by selecting that format in the form.

Laboratories (for which the call will open on 2 June) are characterised by experimentation, collaboration, interaction or improvisation. They bring a focus to methods and process. Rather than exhibiting already finished work, the aim of laboratories is to organise collective research activities that are open-ended and cultivate possibilities for surprise, novelty and learning. Laboratories will be designed as interactive, reflexive sessions that prioritise exploration, rather than the discussion of already established research results. They can be used to tackle practical problems, to re-evaluate concepts, to find new theoretical and political directions, or to understand emergent cultural dynamics. Whether concerned with possibilities and limitations in current anthropological practice, or with cultural and political problematics in an unequal world, labs can provide space for addressing any themes in creative, interactive, and open-ended fashion.

Submission process

All session proposals must be submitted via the respective forms on the conference website

Proposals should consist of:

• A panel/roundtable title
• Format selection
• A short description of no more than 300 characters
• An abstract of no more than 250 words

A proposal may also include the names of any chairs or discussants, although these can be added later.

On submission the proposing convenor will receive an automated email confirming receipt. If you do not receive this email, please first check the login environment (click login on the top right) to see if your proposal is there. If it is, it simply means your confirmation email got spammed/lost; and if it is not, it means you need to re-submit. Your co-convenors, chairs and discussants will also be notified by email and have to confirm their roles by following the link/button in those emails.

Proposals will be marked as pending until Local Committee decisions are published on 27 May, when the conference administrators will inform you of the decision.

Rules

• The AAS requires all accepted panels (both traditional and combined formats) to be open to paper proposals through the website, therefore panels should not be organised as 'closed' sessions (however, roundtables can be)
• All panels/roundtables must have at least two convenors, so as to avoid session cancellations if one convenor cannot attend the event
• Delegates (those attending the conference) may only make one presentation each (please note that a roundtable contribution counts as being a discussant, not a presenter). You may be a co-author on multiple papers if you are not the one presenting them. In addition, a delegate may also convene once (be that a plenary, panel, lab or roundtable); and be a discussant or a chair in one plenary session, panel, or roundtable.
• You do not have to be an AAS member to propose a panel, roundtable, paper or lab. However, conference registration for members will be notably lower than for non-members, so there may be a financial incentive to join the Society.
• All those attending the conference, including discussants and chairs, will need to register and pay to attend.
• The Local Committee will decide which panel, roundtable and lab proposals to accept.

Convenor responsibilities

It is the convenors' responsibility to ensure that all session participants are well briefed and that panels, roundtables and labs meet AAS2022 requirements. To that end, convenors should not only communicate their decisions about proposals to their session, but also later in the process email the participants to: inform them of the speaking order (this will also be displayed on the website panel page), inform them as to how much time they have been allocated, remind them to register to attend the conference (the registration status of participants can be seen in the login environment), inform them of any late changes or additional chairs/discussants, and any other information related to the session. If participants withdraw, convenors should mark these withdrawals in the login environment.