Karen-Sue Taussig

Events of the past year have upended settled practices in anthropology, disorienting understandings of education and intellectual pursuits across academia. As we try to regain our bearings after witnessing the spectacle of an attempted authoritarian coup and the rising urgency of Black Lives Matter activism in the context of global pandemic shut down, we have a distinctive opportunity at this moment to work to reimagine a more engaged, humane, and liberatory vision of anthropology both as a discipline and as an institution. This workshop brings together a small group of anthropology department chairs for two full days of intensive collaborative discussion focused on sharing experiences of leadership in these challenging times, and thinking collectively about the role, responsibility, and future of anthropology departments at this particular historical moment. This initiative is structured as an iterative process through which we anticipate a variety of possible publications in diverse fora. The workshop will focus on strategizing about the specific responsibilities department chairs may bear in reconceptualizing pedagogy, power, and ethics in this arena. This work will address the positionality and experiences of all members of our academic and larger communities, including the geographic spaces where our institutions are located and those in which we conduct research but especially adjuncts, pre-tenure faculty, minoritized students, and students and scholars from the global south.