Anthro Boycott 2.0
Responding to the petition members submitted on March 3, the American Anthropological Association has scheduled a vote on the boycott of Israeli academic institutions from June 15-30. Make sure your AAA membership is active and watch your email for information about how to vote.
In 2015 a similar resolution “narrowly missed adoption in the subsequent full membership vote by a margin of only 39 votes (2,384 in favor and 2,423 opposed; 49.6% – 50.4%).” This one will be close again. The best resource for information is the AnthroBoycott website, which has links to the Resolution, Resources, a FAQ, Myths and Facts, and even a “But, what about…” section.
In addition, we covered this issue very closely on our old blog and the archives can be found here. Personally, I wrote three posts about my own support for the boycott:
– Why I’m Voting for the Boycott Part 1: David vs. Goliath
– Why I’m Voting for the Boycott Part 2: SQUIRREL!
– Why I’m Voting for the Boycott Part 3: It’s in the Resolution
As well as a Chinese language summary posted to the Taiwanese anthropology blog, Guava Anthropology. That included a brief addition, which can be found in English on my personal blog, entitled “Explaining Israel to Taiwanese.”
Because I am simply too busy to moderate comments on a highly controversial subject right now, and because I’ve already said pretty much everything I have to say on the topic, I will be turning comments off on this post.
P. Kerim Friedman is a professor in the Department of Ethnic Relations and Cultures at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan. His research explores language revitalization efforts among indigenous Taiwanese, looking at the relationship between language ideology, indigeneity, and political economy. An ethnographic filmmaker, he co-produced the Jean Rouch award-winning documentary, ‘Please Don’t Beat Me, Sir!’ about a street theater troupe from one of India’s Denotified and Nomadic Tribes (DNTs).