Sponsored by the AAPA Committee on Diversity. Day/time: Thursday, April 12, 12:15 PM - 2:15PM  Venue: Zilker 4. Organizer: Rick Smith (Dartmouth), Deborah Bolnick (U of Texas, Austin) and Agustín Fuentes (Notre Dame U)

No Pre-registration is necessary for this event. 

At the 86th annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in New Orleans, the symposium entitled “Beyond Visibility: How Academic Diversity is Transforming Scientific Knowledge” brought together a wide array of researchers to consider how underrepresented scientists are reshaping knowledge in biological anthropology. Building on the efforts of the Committee on Diversity, gAyAPA, #SAFE13 and others, this panel explored how our collective efforts to change “who we are” is transforming “what we know”, highlighting the ever-growing contributions of historically marginalized scientists. Across more than three hours of presentations, every seat in the conference room was filled, with attendees crowding onto floors, along walls, and into hallways. The symposium was received with tremendous support and enthusiasm in part because it created a space to explore connections between academic representation, research ethics, methodological practices, and knowledge production in biological anthropology. During the meeting in New Orleans and in the months that followed, the symposium was called a turning point for our association. But where do we go from here?

In this two-hour moderated discussion, we reflect on the ongoing impacts of the Diversity Symposium and begin to address some of the questions that it raised about the future of our disciplines and our association. The discussion will be introduced and moderated by Dr. Deborah A. Bolnick (University of Texas at Austin). We will start with a roundtable of six biological anthropologists, including Dr. Susan Antón (New York University), Dr. Agustín Fuentes (University of Notre Dame), Dr. Julienne Rutherford (University of Illinois, Chicago), Dr. Rick W. A. Smith (Dartmouth College), Shay-Akil McLean (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), and Savannah Martin (Washington University), who will each provide brief remarks to help frame the discussion. We will then have a short, moderated discussion among the panelists before inviting questions and remarks from attendees.

This event is designed for all AAPA members.