Congratulations to the 20 AAA members selected for this year’s “Write to Change the World” OpEd Project! The finalists include members with diverse backgrounds, a representation of the four subfields, and geographically located across a broad spectrum of the United States. Their expertise covered a range of topical issues, including the Indian fashion industry, matchmaking and online dating in Japan, and yes, even the global social lives of a cocktail – the Singapore Sling.
The OpEd Project’s mission is to increase the range of voices and quality of ideas we hear in the world. Their one-day workshops are based on time-tested models of transformational learning. Participants explore the source of credibility, the patterns and elements of persuasion, the difference between being “right” and being effective, and how to think bigger about what they know and have a greater impact in the world. They emerge with concrete results and access to a national network of journalist mentors for individual follow-up.
The 20 members selected for this round of AAA-sponsored attendance are:
Fethi Keles
Sayema Khatun
Jason Scott
Matt Artz
Erika Alpert
Joshua Babcock
Sarah Richardson
Lissa Caldwell
Sisi Yang
Morag Kersel
Grace Cooper
Joshua Brown
Amanda Bressack
Veronica Sousa
Bethel Albe
Ellen Badone
Matthew Webb
Tashi Ghale
Triston Brown
Sam Victor
Chip Colwell, Maria Vesperi, Paul Stoller, Bharat Venkat, Laura Wangsness Willemsen, Robin Valenzuela, Martha Lincoln, Alex Hinton, Kate Graber, and Tara Schwegler have all agreed to share the wisdom accrued through their own public writing experiences by serving as mentors to this year’s cohort of participants.
The overarching idea is to publish our anthropological scholarship and expertise so that our leaders and the public get the information and ideas they need to make the best decisions. Op-eds aren’t the only answer, but they’re a great start to an increased public awareness of the important contributions made by our field.
Keep an eye out for their op-eds- coming soon to a publication near you!