The Association for Queer Anthropology (AQA) has approved a non-binding boycott of the AAA annual meeting in Tampa, Florida in 2024. The AQA Business Meeting will be held on Friday, November 22 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. EST on Zoom at the following link: https://beloit.zoom.us/j/3330608785. Along with other section leaders, AQA leadership met with the AAA Executive Board and the 2024 Executive Program Committee to express our concerns with the meeting being held in Tampa. We provided various suggestions, such as the cancellation of the 2024 meeting or moving the 2024 meeting online. However, AAA leadership moved forward with the conference as planned despite the concerns we raised. We are thus asking other sections and AAA members to boycott this year’s annual meeting by 1) not renewing their registration and 2) not registering for the conference.
Our concerns are the following:
- Florida has passed a number of laws that are directed against transgender persons, legislating against the discussion of trans and non-heterosexual identity in public school classrooms (FL H1069), forbidding the use of gender affirming pronouns for trans people in public schools (FL S1320), prohibiting the use of gender appropriate public restrooms for trans people (FL H1521), and classifying gender affirming medical care as child abuse and thus permitting state custody over trans children (FL SO254).
- As a result of many of these laws, AQA members feel unsafe going to Florida for a conference. Trans and genderqueer members of AQA and AAA have noted that if they were to have an emergency, they might not be able to access medical care, that there might not be safe places for them to use a bathroom outside of the direct conference site, and that generally being in a place that has legislated so intensely against their identity and personhood increases the likelihood of (possibly state sanctioned) physical violence.
- Florida’s government suppresses academic freedom. FL S0266 institutes Board of Governors oversight in higher education in order to forbid curricula that teach material having to do with trans and queer identity and life. The limiting of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs has already meant the end of queer conferences that have historically been held in Florida.
- Based on various laws passed by the Florida legislature as well as a “culture of fear, bullying, and intimidation by public officials” toward Black people the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has issued a travel advisory to the state.
- In July, 2023, AAA membership voted to boycott Israeli academic institutions as a wider international call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions. Florida is an anti-BDS state, which since the passing of SB 86 in February 2016, blacklists organizations and for-profit companies that boycott companies and prohibits public entities from entering into contract with any blacklisted company or any others who boycott Israel. Whether or not this is a legal issue for the AAA, it is our responsibility as an organization that supports the BDS movement to boycott anti-BDS states.
- Florida is not an exceptional state. However, Florida’s “war on wokeness” has been the testing grounds for many extremely harmful policies against LGBTQ people, immigrants, and people of color, setting precedent for other states.
- Anthropologists in Florida have stated that they feel it important for AAA members to go to Florida to support them in their struggles. But AQA does not find any merit to the argument that our association’s presence in Florida for four days would offer any political possibility. Boycott has been proven to be an effective political tool. These calls to continue with the conference in Florida disregard that it is unsafe for many AAA members to travel to Florida, effectively excluding some of the most marginalized scholars within our organization.
What non-binding boycott means for us:
As a section, we will be holding our annual AQA Board and Business meetings online. We are encouraging our members as well as other members of AAA to not renew their memberships or register for this year’s conference. However, we sympathize with junior scholars as well as graduate students who feel a professional need to attend this year’s meeting, whether in person or online. We will not hold back anyone who would like to attend the meetings from doing so. Our AQA Program Committee will continue to do their work in reviewing and programming for the annual meeting for those who choose to submit papers and presentations.
For AQA graduate students! We are planning a mentoring/publication workshop to be held in December 2024. Please look out for a Call for Papers and a Save the Date to attend that workshop.
Conference Programs from Past Meetings: https://queeranthro.org/meeting/past-meetings