AABA Webinar Series
AABA’s webinar programming serves a range functions, as a way to communicate about Association business and planning, to promote discourse on important issues that shape our community’s best-practices, to provide a source of professional support, and to provide over-views of exciting topics within the science of biological anthropology.
Most recently, we have hosted two series, highlight below. Be sure to check out our other webinar content on the Past Webinars page.
Or, better yet, go peruse the offerings that extend beyond these webinars on our YouTube channel!
Towards A Publicly Engaged Biological Anthropology
The field of biological anthropology encompasses a range of fascinating but often socially contested concepts and issues such as human origins and evolution, genetics, race and racism, sex, gender and sexuality, and other dimensions of human difference. Some elements of the discipline, including common practices of fieldwork and local collaboration (or lack thereof), continue to reinforce harmful patterns of behavior grounded in colonialism, racism, and Eurocentrism. The US and the world at large face a social climate of growing polarization and distrust of science and scientists, and (in some cases) active political censorship and sanction. Given these challenges, how can biological anthropologists engage with their students and diverse communities about the work of our discipline in ways that are inclusive, equitable, just, and impactful?
This webinar will highlight examples of impactful education and public engagement activities by AABA members as well as voices from beyond our discipline. The session will include an open discussion as well as a breakout session for attendees to share and learn with other members. We will also invite attendees to share resources and reflections on a shared “Miro” board. This webinar is co-organized with the AABA Education Committee.
Date/time: January 30, 2024, 1:00 pm EST
Register here
Webinar panelists:
- Dr. Kathryn (Katie) Ranhorn (she/her). Assistant Professor, School of Human Evolution and Social Change & Research Scientist, Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University
- Dr. Elaine Guevara (she/her). Lecturer, Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University
- Dr. Eshe Lewis (she/her). Project Director, Public Scholars Training Fellowship Program, SAPIENS Magazine
- Dr. Rob O’Malley (he/him) (moderator). Public Engagement Associate, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School & AABA Education Committee Co-Chair
AABA Task Force for Ethical Study of Human Remains and AABA Committee on Community Partnership
The AABA Task Force for Ethical Study of Human Remains is focused on developing a roadmap for determining what constitutes ethical study and disposition of human remains and biological samples with consent when research is warranted. This roadmap is to be based on the desires and attitudes of descendant communities and feedback from members of the AABA. The Task Force will also release a white paper with an overview of survey results from a survey focusing on how members of the AABA work with human remains. Survey data were collected in March during our conference. The white paper will be made available in advance of the webinar.
The webinar will expand on results from the survey. In addition, members of the Task Force will be available for dialog, questions, and discussion. The webinar will provide opportunities to discuss next steps and activities for future project phases. We encourage AABA members to respond to the ideas, perspectives, and insights presented during the webinar.
Discussion with the AABA Task Force for the Ethical Study of Human Remains Webinar Recording
Task Force Co-Chairs: Drs. Fatimah Jackson (Howard University), Ben Auerbach (University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
Additional Panelists:
- Drs. Jennifer Caldwell, assistant professor, Louisiana State University, Pennington Biomedical Research Center,
- Carter Clinton, postdoctoral scholar, Pennsylvania State University, Department of Anthropology,
- Joseph Jones, lecturer, William and Mary, Department of Anthropology,
- Carmen Mosley, NAGPRA Repatriation Manager, Museum of Us.
Understanding Genetic Ancestry and Its Implications
What can genetic ancestry tell us about our ancestors and disease risk? How might it influence the ways people identify themselves and communities? What are the promises and pitfalls of commercializing genetic ancestry technologies? This month, the American Association of Biological Anthropologists (AABA) is partnering with the American Association of Anthropological Genetics (AAAG) to bring a panel of three experts working in industry and academia who will discuss the broader implications of genetic ancestry for researchers, society, individual health, and identity. Join us to discuss this fascinating topic and examine the meaning and nuances of the concept of genetic ancestry.
Organizer: C. Eduardo Guerra Amorim (California State University Northridge)
Panelists:
- Graham Coop (University of California, Davis)
- Gen Wojcik (Johns Hopkins University)
- Janina Jeff (Population Geneticist & Host/Creator of In Those Genes Podcast)
Co-Sponsored by AABA and AAAG
Understanding Genetic Ancestry and Its Implications Webinar Recording
Supplemental information: Please view this work by Graham Coop, which covers the webinar topics and includes some additional details.
For a list of past webinars and links to the videos, visit our past webinars through this link.
You can find our Covid-19 pandemic professional support webinars from the summer of 2020 through this link.
If you have questions, comments, or a suggestion for a future webinar topic, please get in touch with AABA Program Committee Associate Chair Kevin Hatala at kevin.g.hatala@gmail.com.