easa

Social anthropology student detained without charge in Egypt
EASA is deeply concerned by the detention without charge of Mr Ahmed Samir Abd El-Hai Ali, a Sociology and Social Anthropology Masters student at Central European University, Vienna, by Egyptian security services in Cairo. Read the full statement.

EASA Executive elections: voting is now closed.
1074 ballots were received from a constituency of 2561 members - a turnout of 42%. This is the largest turnout to-date for EASA. The results can be seen here.

EASA Members vote overwhelmingly to make Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale Open Access
The EASA Executive is delighted to report that more than 90% of members voting in the referendum on whether the association’s journal, Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale, should become fully open access voted "Yes."

EASA issues statement in support of PhD stipend extensions
EASA has noted with concern the wide-ranging negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on researchers' ability to carry out their work, and notably many PhD researchers whose funding is by definition short term. While all disciplines are impacted in unique ways, anthropologists are particularly hindered from carrying out their research...

Launch of the EASA & PrecAnthro survey report "The anthropological career in Europe"

At a webinar on 27th November, EASA launched the report of the survey conducted among EASA members in 2018, The anthropological career in Europe: A complete report on the EASA membership survey (Fotta, Ivancheva & Pernes, 2020).

The survey was a collaboration between EASA and members of the PrecAnthro Collective, who have worked together and mobilised since 2016 to raise awareness about the challenges of developing an academic career in anthropology. The themes explored in the survey reflect existing academic research on changes to the academic profession and the casualisation of labour in Europe and beyond. The report captures overall trends as well as regional differences in the anthropological profession in Europe.

Read a summary of the EASA & PrecAnthro survey report
or view the full report

Marcus Banks, RIP
We are deeply saddened to learn of the tragic and untimely death of Marcus Banks. Marcus was a member of the EASA’s Exec from 2017-19 and an EASA member for almost 20 years. Marcus was an inspiring lecturer, a talented ethnographer with a rich diversity of anthropological interests, and a skilful, multi-talented administrator. He gave generously to so many of us throughout his academic life, serving on numerous panels and juries and sharing his anthropological knowledge with magnanimity and commitment. Even after he stepped down from the EASA Exec he was always willing to help with thoughts and offer advice. Most of all, we will remember him for his calm wisdom, his modesty and his thoughtfulness. Our thoughts are with his partner Barrie and his family.

EASA Book series: call for proposals
From October 2020, a new editorial collective will take over Berghahn’s EASA book series from the previous editor Aleksandar Boskovic, who successfully curated the series for two terms. Annika Lems, Sabine Strasser and Jelena Tošić, want to continue expanding the book series’ key role in fostering and showcasing cutting-edge work produced by EASA members. The new editors are interested in proposals for both edited collections and monographs that deal with important social and political issues and don’t shy away from experimenting with new approaches to shed light on challenging questions. The books they envisage for the series have a strong ethnographic basis, are written vividly and spark widespread discussion. The editors encourage both senior and junior scholars to contact them to discuss their ideas for book projects. Read more.

EASA2020 online conference saw 1800 delegates meet, present and network in virtual Lisbon!
This was the largest EASA biennial to-date, with 200 panels, 1200 papers, a film programme and an art exhibition. About 40 of the panels opted to be recorded and delegates can watch panels they missed. All are welcome to visit the art exhibition, even now.
Learn more about the event .

EASA expression of solidarity with BLM; and time for us to act, too
The European Association of Social Anthropologists expresses solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States in the strongest possible terms. We join with the voices of our colleagues in the US and across the world in condemning the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Ahmaud Arbery, David McAtee, and so many others.
Read the full statement by EASA and the accompanying statement by the EASA’s Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity Network (ARE).

Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale: Covid-19 forum

The forthcoming issue of Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale carries an extensive forum on covid-19 that includes more than 100 contributions on research methodologies and fieldwork at the time of the pandemic. Parts of it already are available on the early view open access

Media network website imported: E-seminars updated
The EASA Media network's website has now been incorporated within EASA's site, and we'd like to draw your attention to the e-seminars archive which has been updated and holds PDFs of all 64 online seminrars they've held since 2004.

Fariba Adelkhah sentenced to 5 years in Iranian prison
Anthropologist Fariba Adelkhah, a researcher at the International Research Centre of Sciences Po Paris, has already been in prison for 300 days in Iran. We have just heard she has now been sentence to 5 years in prison. By posting her image on our website, EASA joins numerous academic institutions, learned societies, and research teams in Europe and elsewhere in showing the support of the scientific community to her case and urging the French government to do everything possible to secure her release. A support committee was recently created in Aquitaine (Bordeaux) for Fariba Adelkhah and Roland Marchal. Several events have been scheduled or have already taken place.

EASA supports demands that migrants and asylum seekers should be given equal treatment during Covid-19 pandemic
EASA fully supports recent efforts by anthropologists and other researchers, as well as humanitarian organizations to demand that all people should be treated equally in being given access to both self-protection and treatment during the Covid-19 emergency, whether or not they live in camps, reception centres or are seeking asylum.

Vintilă Mihăilescu (1951-2020)
It is with deep sadness that we inform you that Vintilă Mihăilescu, a leading Romanian cultural anthropologist and a member of EASA since the association was founded, passed away on 22 March 2020 after a long illness. He was a prominent figure in the anthropology of Eastern Europe and he played an important role in developing the discipline of anthropology in Romania by forming several generations of young anthropologists.

EASA echoes Academia for Equality’s concern about the neighbourhood of Isawiya
EASA wrote to the Hebrew University in concern about events involving the neighbourhood of Isawiya.

Florin Faje (1984-2020)
EASA is deeply saddened to hear the news of the unexpected and untimely death of Romanian anthropologist and sociologist Florin Faje.

EASA expresses deep concern against the planned higher education reforms of the Brazilian government
EASA has issued a statement in solidarity with the university community in Brazil against budget cuts, privatisation, and the attack on social sciences and humanities.

EASA statement in support of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
EASA has issued a statement applauding the Academy’s determination to protect academic freedom and independence in Hungary, while expressing concern about the wider changes the Hungarian government has both enacted and proposed in recent years aimed at institutional restructuring of the financing of research and higher education within Hungary.

EASA statement on precarious employment within academia
EASA has released a statement, coming out of two years of collaboration with the PrecAnthro Collective. Read more.

EASA statement on data governance
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect on May 25. The GDPR has introduced key provisos on how data for social scientific research is to be collected, archived, and used, including how to obtain consent, how long data can be held for, or what privacy precepts should guide storage. The GDPR comes in the wake of new calls for the inclusion of “data management plans” in research proposals to funding councils. These new data governance frameworks have profound implications for anthropology. The EASA’s Statement on Data Governance in Ethnographic Projects [PDF] outlines our Association’s position on these important developments. The statement describes some of the core methodical and ethical practices of ethnographic research. These practices have implications for the norms and forms of data management in ethnography. We issue this statement to help ethnographers respond to current mandates for data archiving, storage, and sharing from governments, universities, and funders.