AAA 2016 papers relating to Oceania

The programme for the 115th annual meeeting of the American Anthropological Association (16-20 November) in Minneapolis is now available. I have compiled a list of sessions, papers and meetings that will be of interest to people working in Oceania. Unfortunately I don’t have access to the abstracts or list of venues (this content is restricted to those paying to attend the AAAs), but this is a good general guide to some of the interesting work being presented this year.

If I have missed anything please let me know so I can add it!

Wednesday, November 16

The Persistence of Memory among Maring in Papua New Guinea
Allison Jablonko, Society for Visual Anthropology
Wednesday 11:15 am
(part of the Society for Visual Anthropology’s Visual Research Conference)

Contextualizing Malnutrition: Health Discourses of Childhood Malnutrition and Food Insecurity in Vanuatu
Chelsea Wentworth, High Point University
Wednesday 2:00 pm

The Māori ‘Point of Difference’: Indigeneity and Racial Respectability in Aotearoa New Zealand Professional Rugby Culture
Desiree Barron, Callaci New York University
Wednesday 2:15 pm

The Resistance of Recovery: Rebuilding after an Earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand 
Steven Kensinger, University of Minnesota
Wednesday 2:30 pm

PANEL: THIS IS NOT A GIFT: AVOIDING RECIPROCITY IN INTERACTIONS AND THE NATURE OF VALUE
Wednesday 4:00 – 5:45 pm

• 4:00 pm The Rawa Gift – Douglas Dalton, Longwood University
• 4:15 pm Obligation and Evasion in Samoan Social Life – Jeannette Mageo, Washingotn State University
• 4:30 pm Avoiding Giving Money: Modalities of ‘the Gift’ in Urban Melanesia – Arne Berg, University of Oslo, Norway
• 4:45 pm Avoiding Marriage, or, the Infelicity of Alliance – Ryan Schram, University of Sydney, Australia
• 5:00 pm Ignoring Signs of Possession: Collaborative Acts of Avoiding Giving in the Marshall Islands – Elise Berman, University of North Carolina, Charlotte
• 5:15 pm The Ethics/Politics of Reciprocity and Its Refusal in Comparative Perspective: Melanesia and Academia – Rena Lederman, Princeton University
• 5:30 pm Discussant: Courtney Handman, University of Texas

Saved/Healed: Samoan Pentecostalism and Metabolic Evidence
Jessica Hardin, Pacific University
Wednesday 4:00 pm

Yapa, Yapa, and Yapa-Kari: Humans, Monsters, and Strangers in Central Australia
Yasmine Musharbash, University of Sydney, Australia
Wednesday 4:15 pm

Race, Rage and Racial Borders – the Evil Eye As Monster in Fiji
Geir Presterudstuen, University of Western Sydney, Australia
Wednesday 4:30 pm

Flying Gardens and Their Magic: An Ethical Provocation
Katherine Lepani (Australian National University) and Debbora Battaglia (Mount Holyoke College)
Wednesday 5:00 pm

Thursday, November 17

POSTER SESSION IN ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Are These “Traditions” Valuable Lessons from the Past?: Values of Utilizing the Satoumi Theory and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) for Marine Conservation and Resource Management in Moorea, French Polynesia
Risako Sakai, University of Memphis

“Yebowaine Is a Lie, Your Kitom Must be a Lie”: Youth Rebellion after Revival in Papua New Guinea 
Jordan Haug, University of California, San Diego
Thursday 8:00 am

Pacific Islander Latter-Day Saints in the Desert: A Case Study from Iosepa, Utah 
Kaila Akina, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Thursday 8:15 am

Rainbow Walks: Alternative Approaches to Suicide Prevention in Oahu, Hawaii
Lauren Krishnamurti, University of Pittsburgh
Thursday 8:30 am

Knowing the Forest: Biangai Guides and Scientists
Jamon Halvaksz, University of Texas, San Antonio
Thursday 10:45 am

A Trinity of Destinies: Faith, Ethno-Nationalism and Raw Talent in Fijian Professional Rugby Aspirations
Daniel Guinness, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Thursday 10:45 am

Reproductive Anxieties: Racialized Papuan Identity in the Context of Indonesia’s National Family Planning Program  
Maryani Rasidjan, University of California, San Francisco and Berkeley
Thursday 11:00 am

Strongerthanwinston: A Community and Communitas in Post-Cyclone Fiji
Heather Horst (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia) and Lucas Watt (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia)
Thursday 11:00 am

Digicel Complaints Group: The Moral Economy of Data in Papua New Guinea
Robert Foster, University of Rochester
Thursday 11:30 am

Greenwashing Easter Island
Forrest Young, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Thursday 11:30 am

Rediscovering Salvage Ethnography: The Case of the Elsdon Best’s Mythopoetics
Frederico Rosa, Centro em Rede de Investigacao em Antropologia, Portugal
Thursday 1:45 pm

Good Intentions and Unintended Consequences on Anuta, Solomon Islands
Richard Feinberg, Kent State University
Thursday 2:00 pm

Places, Beings and Bodies: The Rock Art of Wulibirra and Kamandarringabaya
(no author details available)
Thursday 2:00 pm

“Mipela Stap Olsem”: Life, Logging, and the Continuing Pursuit of Development on New Hanover Island (Lavongai), Papua New Guinea
Jason Roberts, University of Texas at San Antonio
Thursday 2:30 pm

The Politics of Property Rights & Resources: The Livelihood Consequences of Agricultural Conservation in Fiji
Delilah Griswold, Yale University
Thursday 3:00 pm

ImPossible Refuge: The Control and Containment of Refugee Futures
Georgina Ramsay, University of Newcastle, Australia
Thursday 3:00 pm

Return Migration, Adolescent Cultural Competence, and Psychosocial Well-Being: The View from Samoa
Harold Odden, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
Thursday 4:00 pm

The ‘Special Relationship of Indigenous Peoples to the Land’ and the Culturalization of Indigenous Rights
Jonas Bens, Freie Universitat Berlin, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Germany
Thursday 4:00 pm

MELANESIA INTEREST GROUP (MIG) BUSINESS MEETING
Thursday 6:15 PM-7:30 PM

Friday, November 18

PANEL: LOST IN SPACE, OR, RETAINING LIVELINESS AGAINST THE ODDS
Friday 8:00 – 9:45 am

• 8:00 am On Fiji Time: The Unequal Distribution of Time over Space – Matti Erasaari, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
• 8:15 am ‘I Knew Everything’: Papua New Guineans’ Comparative Insights into Their Lives in Australia and in Papua New Guinea – Karen Sykes, University of Manchester, United Kingdom
• 8:30 am Law As Encompassment and Kastom As “Place-Holder” in Vanuatu Land Legislation – Benedicta Rousseau, University of Waikato, New Zealand
• 8:45 am The Lawscape of Jurisdiction in Papua New Guinea – Melissa Demian, Australian National University, Australia
• 9:00 am Finding Roads: Situating Ni-Vanuatu Approaches to Seasonal Work Opportunities, and Uncertain Futures – Rachel Smith, Stanford University
• 9:15 am Stories-so-Far: (re)Creating, (re)Narrating Space in the Killing Fields of Cambodia – Caroline Bennett, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
• 9:30 am Discussant: Sarah Green, University of Helsinki, Finland

Conflicting Discourses of Samoan Identities
Matori Yamamoto, Hosei University, Japan
Friday 8:00 am

Sites and Recognition: An Australian Perspective
Francesca Merlan, Australian National University, Australia
Friday 8:15 am

Expert Opinion, Ethnographic Analysis and the Romance of Anthropology: Does Engagement in Legal Cases Compromise or Expand the Richness of Understanding in Aboriginal Australia?
David Trigger, University of Queensland, Australia
Friday 8:30 am

Balanced Decisions: Ageing and Dying in Chinese Migrant Families in Adelaide, South Australia
Tanya Zivkovic, University of Adelaide, Australia
Friday 8:30 am

“You Are Choosing GMO By Default If You Don’t Educate Yourself” – Education on Land and Agricultural Biotechnology on Kauai/Hawaii
Mascha Gugganig, The University of British Columbia, Liu Institute for Global Issues, Canada
Friday 8:45 am

Bringing Back Individualism: Diasporic “Discoveries” and Women’s Pursuits of Good Health in Nuku‘Alofa, Tonga
Zakea Boeger, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Japan
Friday 10:15 am

The Interior(s) of Colonial New Guinea: Cutting Linguistic Paths through Lutheran Mission Territory
Courtney Handman, University of Texas
Friday 11:00 am

Order, Informality, and Structural Injustice at the Porgera Gold Mine
Alex Golub, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Friday 1:45 pm

Biomedically Unhealthy but Happy: Rediscovering the Relationship of Happiness and Health Among Ngyiampaa Aboriginal Australians
Daniela Heil, University of Newcastle, Australia
Friday 2:00 pm

Digital Identity, Indigenous Collections and Young Aboriginal People: Reconnecting with Culture through a Digital Storytelling Framework
Fran Edmonds, University of Melbourne, Australia
Friday 2:15 pm

The Gift of Not Understanding and the Value of Confusion: Some Offerings from Papua New Guinea
James Slotta, University of Texas, Austin
Friday 2:30 pm

Makarrata: Can Museum Collections Become Evidence for Reconciliation?
Louise Hamby, Australian National University, Australia
Friday 2:30 pm

American Samoa and the Embodiment of Inequality in the Age of Zika
Michelle Pieters (University of North Carolina, Wilmington) and Michaela Howells (University of North Carolina, Wilmington)
Friday 2:30 pm

Negotiating Meaning and Significance in the Preservation and Interpretation of Museum Collections – Recovering the Gupapuyngu Legacy!
Lindy Allen, Museum Victoria, Australia
Friday 2:45 pm

The Politics of Childbirth in New Zealand
Rea Daellenbach, Ara Institute of Canterbury, New Zealand
Friday 2:45 pm

“Plant Yams with a Full Moon!” Tongans and Nature
Giovanni Bennardo, Northern Illinois University
Friday 4:00 pm

Marumpu Wangka: Kukatja Hand Talk
William Lempert, University of Colorado, Boulder
Friday 4:15 pm

That Old College Spirit
Matt Tomlinson, Australian National University, Australia
Friday 4:15 pm

Alerts and Transmissions: Political Technologies and Mobilization in Contemporary West Papua
Veronika Kusumaryati, Harvard University
Friday 4:30 pm

The Laws of Radioactive Effect: Genetic Politics, Distributed Agency and Contested Illnesses
Catherine Trundle, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Friday 5:00 pm

Temporal Refusal: Kanak Youth and the Colonial Present in New Caledonia
Tate LeFevre, Franklin and Marshall College
Friday 5:15 pm

Saturday, November 19

PANEL: ANTHROPOLOGY OFF THE FENCE: REMEMBERING THE ACTIVISM AND SCHOLARSHIP OF NANCY SULLIVAN – Melanesia Interest Group Sponsored Session
Saturday 8:00 AM – 9:45 AM

• 8:00 am On or Off the Fence? Activism, Critical Ethnography and Objectivity in the Case of Ramu Nickel, Madang Province, Papua New Guinea – Laura Zimmer-Tamakoshi (Retired), Truman State University
• 8:15 am Being at Home in Papua New Guinea (PNG) – Frederick Errington (Trinity College) and Deborah Gewertz (Amherst College)
• 8:30 am Nancy Sullivan, Mobile Phones, and Optimism When the Chips Are Down – Dan Jorgensen, University of Western Ontario, Canada
• 8:45 am On the Fence—and Off the Volcano: Scientific Evidence, International Aid, Political Paralysis and the Fate of the Manam Islanders As Environmental Refugees – Nancy Lutkehaus, University of Southern California
• 9:00 am The Anthroblogger, the Facebook Minister, and Me: Gendered Violence and Social Activism in Papua New Guinean (Cyber)Space – Derek Milne, Pasadena City College
• 9:15 am Discussant: Ryan Schram, University of Sydney, Australia

After ‘innovation’: Media and the Future in Northern Australia
Daniel Fisher, University of California, Berkeley
Saturday 8:15 am

Tongan and English in the Tongan Supreme Court: The Evidential Status of Whole Languages in Contact Situations
Susan Philips, University of Arizona
Saturday 8:30 am

Dreaming Down the Track: The Mediation of Aboriginal Futurisms
William Lempert, University of Colorado, Boulder
Saturday 8:30 am

Transformations in Elite Ritual-Political Power in the Society Island Chiefdoms:  Spatio-Temporal Network Analysis
Jennifer Kahn, College of William & Mary
Saturday 9:00 am

Sustainable Seabed Mining: Corporate Geoscientists’ Visions of Seabed Mining in the Solomon Islands
Lindsey Harris, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Saturday 10:45 am

Human Landscapes: Time, Habitat and Change in the Eastern Highlands of New Guinea
Kerry Pataki-Schweizer (University of Washington) and John Cole (University of Washington)
Saturday 4:00 pm

The Sociocultural Dynamics of Indigenous Multilingualism in Northwestern Australia
Alan Rumsey, Australian National University, Australia
Saturday 4:00 pm

A Prince and a Baptism: How a Religious Conversion Sparked Discussion Amongst Commoner Tongans
Carolyn Howarter, University of Virgina
Saturday 4:15 pm

Keeping Small Languages Going Is No Accident: Receptive Multilingualism at Warruwi Community (Australia)
Ruth Singer, University of Melbourne, Australia
Saturday 4:30 pm

Dimensionalisation and Evaluation of Dialectal Variation in a Multilingual Indigenous Community in Arnhem Land, Australia
Jill Vaughan, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Saturday 5:00 pm

Modeling Country: How Individual Decisions of Aboriginal Foragers Produce Complex Emergent Phenomena
Rebecca Bliege Bird (Pennsylvania State University), Kate Magargal (University of Utah), Douglas Bird (Pennsylvania State University), Brian Codding (University of Utah)
Saturday 5:00 pm

The Warrior, the Player, and the Man: Recognition, Precarity and Subjectivities in the Transnational Mobility of Māori Rugby Men
Domenica Calabrò, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Saturday 5:15 pm

Sunday, November 20

Reanimating Traditional Crafts, Reactivating Visual Archives: Materiality, Belonging, and Difference in Indigenous Australia
Sabra Thorner, New York University
Sunday 8:15 am

“We Are Living Our Culture and Learning Our Culture”: Material Culture, Community, and Meaning in Aboriginal Tasmania
Christopher Berk, Auburn University
Sunday 8:45 am

The Axiom of Enmity: a Papua New Guinea Example
Thomas Strong, Maynooth University, Ireland
Sunday 10:15 am

The Day I Downloaded Matplotlib:a Reflection on Epistemological Infrastructures
Charlotte Cabasse, University of California, Berkeley
Sunday 10:45 am

Caring for Country: The Management of Indigenous Land and Culture in Central Australia
Noah Pleshet, New York University
Sunday 11:00 am