As a matter of policy, AAA leadership acts as the voice of the Association and ordinarily only the Executive Director and the President are authorized to speak on AAA’s behalf. However, members, committees, task forces, and Sections may recommend position statements that are consistent with AAA’s mission and, in the view of the originator, ought to be amplified by the full weight of AAA’s reputation. Members may do so, but only through their representative Sections. A set of procedural steps is necessary to ensure statements issued in AAA’s name and directed to audiences outside the AAA represent a consensus of AAA members, reflect relevant anthropological scholarship, and are not inimical to the AAA’s interests.
Procedures
The following are the procedures for considering requests by AAA members and units to issue letters and advocacy and policy statements. Members are required to issue statement letters requests to their respective Sections. AAA Sections may then either decide to issue the position statement themselves, provided it is consistent with AAA’s overall mission, or recommend it be issued by AAA as a whole and be amplified by the full weight of the organization’s reputation.
As with statements issued by the AAA, a set of procedural steps is necessary to ensure Section statements issued in their name and directed to audiences outside the AAA reflect relevant anthropological scholarship and are not inimical to the AAA’s interests. It is also important to note:
- The AAA requires that sections issuing their own statements notify the Senior Director/External Relations of their intended wording, for two main 1) To allow the AAA to offer legal advice if it seems to be needed. 2) To allow the AAC and Executive Officers to suggest other Sections and/or key member experts who might wish to communicate with the initiating Section.
- Sections with concerns about policy statements can propose these concerns for discussion in the regularly scheduled zoom meetings of Section presidents.
- A Section’s decision to issue a statement should be consistent with a statement writing procedure incorporated into their Sections must articulate how they determine member support (e.g. by majority vote, by consensus vote, or by board leadership vote).
Statement from the AAA as a whole – In the cases where a Section, interest group, committee, commission, or task force is involved in making a request for a statement from the AAA as a whole, a draft statement will need to be approved by a 60% majority of that membership or body before being submitted to the Anthropology Advocacy Council (AAC) through the AAA Senior Director, External Relations.
The AAC will review the statement according to the procedure described herein, then consult with the AAA President, EB officers, key member experts on the issue, and AAA’s legal counsel as needed before statements are forwarded to the addressees or published on the AAA website. In most cases, advocacy and policy statements will be given expedited review and signed by the President (or their designee) or returned to the signatories by the AAA President within two weeks of their submission
AAA’s long-standing guidance has been that for the Association to take a public position on an issue, the issue is expected to be one of public policy (a) for which there is a clear majority agreement in the anthropological literature, or (b) is related to matters concerning the well-being of the discipline and the profession. The general principles we follow in considering whether to publicly engage in an advocacy effort in the Association’s name include:
- Public statements should address matters of clear common professional interest and concern to the Association’s membership or matters about which the Association’s members have special knowledge and or expertise.
- The statement itself should include language that demonstrates such special knowledge. Thus, to the extent possible, the statement should present anthropological findings, conclusions or recommendations on the matter being