Roles of the committee

Chair

The Chair of the committee liaises with the Honorary Secretary over agendas for meetings, and chairs at least three Committee meetings per annum as well as the Annual Business Meeting of members. This also entails agreeing minutes with the Honorary Secretary, checking that action agreed in minutes is followed up, and writing an annual report on the Committee’s activities.

The role of Chair involves discussion with the Honorary Treasurer over decisions on spending matters, wherever possible in conjunction with the remainder of the Committee. There is also liaison with other Committee members over their various tasks and decisions.

The Chair is in touch with various outside bodies, including:

  • Heads of UK Anthropology Departments
  • Royal Anthropological Institute
  • Economic and Social Research Council
  • British Academy
  • Academy of Learned Societies for the Social Sciences
  • British Association for the Advancement of Science
  • HEFCE
  • Anthropology in Action
  • World Council of Anthropological Associations

The Chair responds to consultation documents and to requests for nominations for their committees, representing the ASA at joint meetings. This includes reading papers for and chairing meetings of the Radcliffe-Brown and Firth Funds joint ASA/RAI panel twice a year, and conveying the panel’s decision to the RAI administrator.

The role of Chair also involves giving support to members who are in dispute with their employers or have other problems connected with their professional work as anthropologists.

Honorary Secretary

The Honorary Secretary prepares Agendas for meetings, in consultation with the Chair, and writes up and distributes the Minutes of both committee meetings and the Annual Business Meeting. In collaboration with the administrator and Chair, the Secretary prepares the Annals and Directory of Members. The Secretary may also provide the RAI with appropriate items of ASA News for inclusion in ‘Anthropology Today’. Chair, Secretary, and Treasurer deal with matters arising between meetings of the ASA Committee, including ASA/RAI support to postgraduate students.

Honorary Treasurer

The Honorary Treasurer liaises closely with the Chair and Administrator to manage the ASA finances. The ASA's income derives from a range of sources: mainly subscriptions, royalties, the Firth Family Fund and sales. Its major expenditures are on conferences, donations and sponsorships, the Committee, taxes and royalties. The Treasurer also deals with the financial aspects of ASA correspondence, negotiations and special projects.

Administrator

The ASA Administrator provides general support for the Association, managing and updating the database and communicating information to the membership. The Administrator collects and collates information for the production of Annals, collects and records subscriptions, and presents new membership applications to the ABM.

Publications Officer

The Publications Officer coordinates relations between the ASA Committee and the ASA’s past and present publishers – since 2004, Berg. This has entailed overseeing publication of the ASA Monographs and ASA Methods series, and organising reprints, the fees from which subsidise ASA ventures, such as the Radcliffe-Brown Fund to support postgraduate students. The ASA has also produced a CD-ROM of the first ten volumes of the ASA monographs, which is available for purchase from the administrator.

Archivist

This committee post was established in 1999 to assist with the collation and maintenance of the ASA’s institutional records. The ASA's own archive, dating back to its first meetings in 1946, has been deposited at the British Library of Political and Economic Science (at the LSE), and will continue to develop as office-holders retire from duty. The aim was to ensure that each ASA office holder possesses, for reference purposes, the papers of the previous incumbent. As each officer’s term of office comes to an end, older papers have been handed to the archivist, whilst current papers are handed over to the new committee member. The archivist’s responsibility was to co-ordinate this process, to liaise with the library’s archivists and to ensure the accuracy of the historical record. From 2003 liaison was taken over by the secretary, and outgoing office-holders were asked to take responsibility for transfer of materials in their possession. With the exception of a few closed files, this archive is open access.

Postgraduate Network and Anthropology Matters representatives

The Postgraduate and Anthropology Matters representatives ensure that the ASA’s postgraduate network remains active, that its concerns are represented on the ASA Committee – not least by inviting a postgraduate student representative, and that its needs are promoted.

Equal Opportunities

The purpose of this role is to collect and analyse data concerned with Equal Opportunities on behalf of the ASA Membership and with regard to the profession as a whole.

ASA Courses

The ASA Courses Officer on the Committee ensures that applications are made to the ESRC for funding ASA Postgraduate Training courses, and ensures that such courses are set up nationally and regionally on a regular basis. The ASA Courses Officer – with help from an administrator – recruits tutors, arranges venues, liaises with course tutors, and ensures that courses are advertised. Together with the ASA Treasurer, the Courses Officer accounts for ASA course funding to the ESRC and reports to the ASA Committee on the design and development of courses.

ASA Networks

The networking officer promotes ASA contacts with anthropologists working either outside the academy entirely, or within the academy but outside university anthropology departments. The networking officer also encourages the formation of ASA Networks, brings formal applications to establish networks to the ASA Committee, and assists established networks to function.

Ethics

The principle responsibilities of this position are to monitor the use of the ASA’s Ethical Guideline, to encourage discussion of the ASA’s recommendations, and to propose revision of the Guidelines to the AGM when appropriate.

Media

The committee member responsible for relations with the media and with publicity both receives enquiries from the media and seeks ways to enhance the public profile of anthropology.