For Who: the AAA Boycott and Critical Social Justice Activism
Much has been written in the way of praxis and theory in anthropology on how scholars can better take part in addressing contemporary sociocultural issues of many marginalized communities created by colonialism, patriarchy, heterosexism, and imperialism. This work addresses the boycott of the 2024 annual AAA meeting in Tampa, Florida, and centers key debates and activism that motivated this call in protest of anti-trans, anti-Critical Race Theory, and anti-abortion legislation. Supporters of the boycott claimed that the AAA's decision to move forward with its meeting location was a “profound error” and that relocation would have been a productive act of resistance by the AAA. But, for who? Which anthropologists and community members were the boycott of the AAA conference for? Critically analyzing the contexts of these arguments in an interrogation of power, privilege, and identity within anthropological theory and praxis, I argue that this boycott, like many other summative acts in Anthropology, failed to consider its full impact and was called for groups it did not fully represent. I show how these issues are nuanced by considering those most impacted by them.
Neoliberalism and Work-Life Balance Among COVID-19 Nurses
The COVID-19 pandemic presented new challenges to healthcare workers: with rising COVID-19 cases, constantly changing guidelines, and an uncertain and rapidly unfolding situation, stress and burnout among nurses rose as well. In response, many hospitals and healthcare workplaces instituted measures designed to help nurses maintain their “work-life balance.” This concept, under scrutiny here, suggests that there exists a separation between the “work” self (existing within the workplace) and the “life” self (existing outside the workplace) and that the worker should maintain this separation. We argue that narratives of increased stress, work and social challenges, nurse subjectivity, self-care, and burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic, exemplify the neoliberalized construction of "work-life balance." This neoliberalization is revealed through nurses’ lived experiences of their work interacting with their lives outside. We show how this construct and the nurses’ employers emphasize individual responsibility rather than structural responsibility. By making visible these subtleties, better intervention into the conditions under which nurses are employed may be possible.
Current Works in Progress
Robbins, J., Deubel, T., Amayous, N., & Naughton, C. (2026). “I Get the Full Impact”: Ethics and Methodological Reflections on the Experiences of Interpreters in Research. Qualitative Research. (Submitted, under review)
Robbins, J., Stevenson, R., Satardekar, A. & McCracken, J. (2026). Building Trauma-Informed Sex Education. Sex Education. (In progress)
