— Our Mission and Vision —

The Association of Anthropology Graduate Students (AAGS) addresses the concerns of all students interested in the field of Anthropology through colloquia seminars and lectures. As the governing body for graduate students in Anthropology, AAGS is also a unified forum for the presentation of suggestions and grievances regarding the intellectual atmosphere, working conditions, and other matters that affect those enrolled in the Anthropology graduate program at the University of Oregon. AAGS’ responsibility is to the students of anthropology, for whom we advocate with the political means garnered with and from community support. Our mission is to enhance the professional abilities of our wider university community through the development of social and cultural awareness and the creation of fair working arrangements essential to an innovative and successful educational atmosphere.

You can contact us at aags.uoregon@gmail.com

Download AAGS Bylaws

— A Statement on Recent Events —

June 05, 2020

Dear Anthropology community, 

We wish to take a moment to honor the lives of Ahmaud Arbery, Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, EJ Bradford Jr., Michael Brown, Philando Castile, William Chapman, Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., Jamar Clark, Stephon Clark, Jocques Clemmons, John Crawford III, Terence Crutcher, Deborah Danner, Jordan Davis, David Dorn, Samuel DuBose, Jordan Edwards, Jonathan Ferrell, Ezell Ford, Korryn Gaines, Eric Garner, Oscar Grant, Freddie Gray, Ramarley Graham, Akai Gurley, Dontre Hamilton, Patrick Harmon, Eric Harris, Anthony Hill, Meagan Hockaday, George Floyd, Jamel Floyd, Botham Jean, Atatiana Jefferson, Corey Jones, Aiyana Jones, Charley Leundeu Keunang, Joseph Mann, Trayvon Martin, David McAtee, Renisha McBride, Tony McDade, Jeremy McDole, Laquan McDonald, Markeis McGlockton, Natasha McKenna, Alfred Olango, Paul O’Neal, Jerame Reid, Tamir Rice, Jemel Roberson, Jamarion Robinson, Tony Robinson, Antwon Rose Jr., Timothy Russell, Keith Lamont Scott, Walter Scott, James Scurlock, Alton Sterling, Breonna Taylor, Anthony Weber, Malissa Williams, amongst countless other Black people  whose lives have been wrongfully taken at the hands of police, white supremacists and racialized structural violence. 

We fully stand with the #BlackLivesMatter movement and support the current protests that push back on the ongoing systemic racism in the United States and that push back on the unjust treatment of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). We recognize that it is Black peoples’ courage in the face of ongoing injustice and threats of death that is enabling and will continue to enable us to address the disproportionate burden of violence that is sustained by BIPOC and migrants throughout this country. We also understand that we have a responsibility to engage global anti-Blackness, at once a product of colonialism and new forms of structural violence. 

We recognize the racist origins of our discipline. Anthropology developed in the late 19th century in North America and Europe as a way to collect cultural and historical information on people living under colonial rule. This knowledge was used to further exploit resources, create institutions rooted in inequality, establish hierarchies within different societal organizations, and to undergird new technological and scientific advancements. Anthropology directly contributed to policies of eugenics, social Darwinism, IQ testing, exclusionary immigration laws, sterilization policies, educational policies, and racist scientific research. Historically governmental agencies have used data from the social sciences to marginalize and silence Black knowledge, organization, communities, and histories. The U.S. government used ethnographies as tools for the dispossession of indigenous lands in the West, and to sustain ongoing policies of Jim Crow throughout its territories.  

Anthropology has also had its own radical tradition. From the example of Franz Boas, who used Anthropology as a method to debunk racist ideologies to the work of Black Anthropologists and Sociologists who utilized ethnography and social theory to examine the production of race. There have always been Black Anthropologists who have resisted racism with their work. There have also always been Anthropologists who seek to undo the ideologies of colonialism and racism.

We recognize the intergenerational and sustained privileges that many of us carry; this is a privilege that can and should be used to amplify BIPOC voices in solidarity and allyship. As anthropologists we need to critically analyze our own pedagogies and knowledge production, to ensure we are not reinforcing colonial narratives, and to critique systems of power that marginalize indigenous sovereignty, migrants, LGBTQ+ folx, and specifically Black peoples and communities. The Association of Anthropology Graduate Students (AAGS) firmly advocates for the challenging of racist institutions and behaviors, including within our own community; this is incumbent upon us all, and particularly upon our white colleagues, who have a responsibility to listen, and to utilize their privilege and training to promote equity. All of us have the capacity to seek out how racism, colonialism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and sexism shape our scholarship and teaching. All of us have the capacity to advocate within our own communities in service to justice, and towards the elimination of anti-Black violence. We must acknowledge that, without these conscious and improved strides in allyship, the burden of labor to educate and advocate continues to disproportionately fall upon the backs of individuals from marginalized and vulnerable populations. AAGS recognizes that this is an injustice in itself and that it is on all of us to build a just and equitable environment within our department and our communities, including a zero-tolerance policy for anti-Black racism.

Knowledge production that centers Black lives and experiences, voices and perspectives, ways of being and knowing combats colonial legacies that reinforce repressive concepts of race, gender, natural law, and inequality. Highlighting the importance of indigenous, and locally produced knowledge, and knowledge produced by Black people can change historical narratives, change how policy and law are created, and change how the next generation respects and protects people, human rights, cultures, and customs around the world. We need to have more conversations about racism and other inequalities in our community, on campus, in our fieldwork sites, and in our discipline. Police brutality and racism will not get fixed with a few conversations, but they need to be addressed on a regular basis. It is crucial that we recognize and uplift the power, resilience, and the well-being of Black communities.

We wish to create and collaborate upon a list of online resources that identify strategies to improve in our allyship, to educate ourselves (particularly non-BIPOC on BIPOC issues), and to donate to places that will directly benefit bail funds, mutual aid funds, and other means of supporting protestors and marginalized communities at this time.

Support in Black Owned Businesses and Organizations in Oregon:

 

Anti-Racist Resource Guide by Victoria Alexander Med, which includes a great compilation of bail and legal defense funds to donate to: https://tinyurl.com/antiracistresourceguide 

Please read up on amazing anthropological and archaeological work produced by Black authors and anthropologists:

  • The Association of Black Anthropologists
  • Transforming Anthropology
  • Lee D. Baker 
  • Kamari Clarke
  • Deborah Thomas
  • W.E.B. DuBois
  • Zora Neale Hurston
  • Henry Skip Gates
  • Irma McClaurin
  • Moya Bailey
  • Audre Lorde
  • And many, many others…

 

We hope this email is just the beginning of the discussion. Moving forward, we encourage you all to send AAGS suggestions, anonymously, regarding ways in which we in Anthropology can meaningfully produce changes in our department culture; through the following link. There is no room for complacency in our efforts.

We would also like to recognize the labor efforts of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation (GTFF). Your concerns can be shared in confidence with your Anthropology stewards, or more directly, the Equity and Inclusion Committee (equity@gtff.net) and allied caucuses. Caucuses create equity-based training events that continue to sharpen our ability to confront racism and implicit biases within our UO community. In addition to our efforts in AAGS, please consider sharing your ideas for future equity training and any concerns you have with these pertinent groups that we work closely with.

Sincerely,

Co-Directors of the Association of Anthropology Graduate Students (AAGS)

Colin Brand, Biological Anthropology (Outgoing AAGS 2020)

Tim Herrera, Cultural Anthropology (Outgoing AAGS 2020)

Alexana Hickmott, Biological Anthropology (Incoming AAGS 2020)

Philippa Jorissen, Archaeology (AAGS 2019-2021)

Kiana Nadonza, Cultural Anthropology (Incoming AAGS 2020)