The submission portal will accept Late-Breaking proposal submissions from August 11 through September 8 at 3 pm Eastern.
Start your submission in the submission portal.
Accept/decline notifications will be sent during the week of October 4.
Interactive Table of Contents
Late-Breaking Session Information Highlights
- Late-breaking submissions are topical, timely, and relevant to current events.
- A limited number of late-breaking sessions will be accepted, and the number of slots for Oral Presentation Sessions and Roundtables is dependent upon the Annual Meeting venue’s spatial availability.
- The Call for Proposals site will open on Wednesday, August 11 and will close at 3 pm ET on Wednesday, September 8.
- Accept/decline notifications will be sent to submitters during the week of October 4 (via email).
Submission Criteria
Abstracts are considered “late-breaking” if the submission meets the following criteria:
- The topic must be directly relevant to current events. This year’s topical themes are listed below.
- Presentations must offer findings that were not available until after the May 26, 2021, General Call for Papers submission deadline.
- Applicants may submit late-breaking abstracts even if they have had another abstract accepted for presentation, but abstracts submitted prior to the submission deadline may not be resubmitted.
Late-Breaking Themes
The topical themes for this year’s Annual Meeting Late-Breaking Sessions are below:
- Race and social justice
- Global health & infectious disease
- Global environmental change
- Migration and displacement
- Human rights
- Indigenous-settler relations
- Cultural heritage protection
- War, Conflict and Dispute Resolution
- Other* (*A scholarship-informed, late-breaking topic.)
Review Criteria
All Late-Breaking submissions will be reviewed using the following questions:
On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the least and 5 being the most, to what extent does the Late breaking session:
- Connect anthropological knowledge to current events with a newsworthy hook?
- Make a strong connection to the main Annual Meeting theme, Truth and Responsibility?
- Directly concern one of this year’s Late-Breaking themes OR make a compelling case for presenting insights concerning another category of current events?
- Promise a thoughtful, intellectually rigorous treatment of the subject matter from people with direct research experience OR a position of formal responsibility for the subject in question?
Eligibility and FAQs
- Membership and Annual Meeting registration:
- Again this year, AAA membership and Annual Meeting registration will not be required at the time of submission, but will be required if you are accepted onto the program.
- The deadline for all speakers/presenters to register for the Annual Meeting is October 15th at 3pm, ET.
- Failure to register by the deadline will result in forfeiture of participation and removal from the program.
- Nonmember guests for late-breaking sessions may be permitted to present under compelling circumstances.
- View meeting registration rates.
- Does the One-Plus-One Live and Two Prerecord Max Rules apply? No. Individuals may apply to participate on Late-Breaking Session submissions, even if they are serving in roles on accepted presentations. The presentation policy that limits Annual Meeting presenting individuals to one major role and one secondary role does not apply to Late-Breaking Sessions.
Timeline
- Wednesday, August 11: Submission portal opens for Late-Breaking Session submissions
- Wednesday, September 8 (3 pm ET): Submission portal closes for Late-Breaking Session submissions
- Week of October 4: Accept/decline notifications sent to submitters
- Friday, October 15 (3 pm ET): Deadline for accepted Late-Breaking Session participants to become a member and register for the Annual Meeting. Participants who are not registered by this date forfeit their participation in the Late-Breaking Session.
Proposal Categories/Submission Formats
There are five formats for Late-Breaking Sessions:
If you are submitting as an individual, you may choose either the in-person or virtual poster options.
If you are submitting as a group of four to seven people, you may choose either the Oral Presentation Session, Roundtable/Town Hall, or Conversation /Debate options.
Submission Options for Individuals
In-Person Poster
An in-person poster is submitted by a single individual and can be a traditional poster or related mode of visual display of content. Various modes of visual presentation are encouraged. If you are a poster presenter, this session type is the one for you. They are subject to review by the EPC. Poster presenters are encouraged to upload their posters to the Open Anthropology Research Repository for wider circulation.
Session format: In person, in Baltimore – Live
- Session length: Place-based: 120 minutes (presenters can engage with attendees at their posters)
- # of session participants allowed: 1
Abstracts?
- Does it allow for individual abstracts? YES.
- Length of individual abstracts: 250 word maximum (and a 50 word minimum)
Role limits:
- Poster presenter: 1 (min) to 1 (max)
Virtual Poster
A virtual poster is submitted by a single individual and can include a single PDF version of the body of research, with a voice (not video) recording attached (10 minutes maximum) describing the work. Alternative modes of visual presentation are welcome (but should not be multi-slide slideshows) but must be provided in an accessible format. Session content will be collected after acceptance onto the program. Only an abstract is necessary at time of submission. Poster presenters are also encouraged to upload their posters to the Open Anthropology Research Repository for wider circulation.
Session format: Virtual – On-demand
- Session length: Virtual: Recordings have a maximum of 10 minutes.
- # of session participants allowed: 1
Abstracts?
- Does it allow for individual abstracts? YES.
- Length of individual abstracts: 250 word maximum (and a 50 word minimum)
Role limits:
- Poster presenter: 1 (min) to 1 (max)
Submission Options for Groups of Four or More
Oral Presentation Session (In-Person ONLY)
A lecture-based panel WITH seven (7), 15-minute timeslots for paper presentations and/or moderated discussion.
Session format: In person, in Baltimore – Live
- If your session doesn’t match this format, please consider submitting another type of group session type.
- Session length: 105 minutes (divided into 15-minute timeslots for paper presentations and/or discussants)
- # of session participants allowed: 6-13**
Abstracts?
- Does it allow for individual abstracts? YES. These must be provided by the individuals designated as paper presenters.
- Length of individual abstracts: 250 word maximum (and a 50 word minimum)
- Length of overall session abstract: 500 word maximum (and a 50 word minimum)
Role limits:
- Organizers: 1 (min) to 2 (max)
- Chairs: 1 (min) to 2 (max)
- Discussants**: 0 (min) to 2 (max)
- Paper Presenters**: 4 (min) to 7 (max)
**Oral Presentation Session note: There are only seven (7), 15-minute timeslots designated for Oral Presentation sessions. Organizers and chairs do not have timed roles, and therefore do not count toward the timeslot limit. Discussant and paper presenter roles are timed, so you cannot exceed seven (7) total discussants or paper presenters for this session type.
Roundtable/Town Hall
A discussion-based panel WITHOUT papers or timed 15-minute presentations.
Session format: In person, in Baltimore OR Virtual – Both Live
- Session length: 105 minutes
- # of session participants allowed: 6-13
Abstracts?
- Does it allow for individual abstracts? NO.
- Length of individual abstracts: N/A
- Length of overall session abstract: 500 word maximum (and a 50 word minimum)
Role limits:
- Organizers: 1 (min) to 2 (max)
- Chairs: 1 (min) to 2 (max)
- Discussants: 0 (min) to 2 (max)
- Roundtable Presenters: 4 (min) to 7 (max)
Conversation / Debate
Conversations or Debates are engaging sessions WITHOUT papers or timed 15-minute presentations. Participants engage in a traditional-style debate led by one or two moderators, followed by a brief question and answer session for audience members. No papers are presented in this format, and participation in a conversation or debate session is weighted equally to that of delivering a paper presentation. These submissions are reviewed by the EPC.
Virtual Conversations or Debates will be presented, recorded, and captioned in real time. Participants must agree to be recorded, and to have their recordings posted online through the end of December 2021.
Session format: In person, in Baltimore OR Virtual – Both Live
- Session length: 105 minutes
- # of session participants allowed: 2-6
Abstracts?
- Does it allow for individual abstracts? NO.
- Length of individual abstracts: N/A
- Length of overall session abstract: 500 word maximum (and a 50 word minimum)
Role limits:
- Organizers: 1 (min) to 1 (max)
- Moderator: 1 (min) to 2 (max)
- Speaker: 2 (min) to 4 (max)
Submission Portal
Deadline: 3:00 pm Eastern on Wednesday, September 8.
Only the submitter will be able to access group submissions through the button to the submission portal below. If you are named on a submission, you must use the link you receive in your email from that submission to log in.
The submission portal for Late-Breaking Sessions is now open.
Deadline
- Wednesday, September 8, 2021 – 3 PM Eastern Time
- New submissions not accepted after this time.
Accept/decline notifications will be sent during the week of October 4.