Newsletter: December 2005
Janelle S. Taylor, Contributing Editor
Thoughts from the New SMA President
by Marcia C. Inhorn
It is a great honor and privilege to be assuming the SMA presidency. Over the past decade, I have been fortunate to interact with a series of terrific SMA presidents, including Carole Browner, Bill Dressler, Mark Nichter, and Craig Janes. I have watched each of them contribute to the strength and vitality of SMA through important new initiatives. Furthermore, I am indebted to Craig Janes for ensuring a smooth presidential transition and for his skillful planning of the upcoming SfAA/SMA meeting in Vancouver. There, Craig will join me and four other senior scholars in the SMA plenary session on “Reproductive Disruptions: Gender, Technology, and Ethics in the New Millennium.”
I hope to continue the good work of all of my predecessors, as well as forge ahead in the following new directions:
1) Serving SMA Students. SMA needs to do more to incorporate students into our professional community, and to help them transition into the medical anthropology workforce, in both the academy and applied settings. Fully one-third of SMA’s membership consists of students—the very “life blood” of our organization, who will take SMA into the next generation. I plan to work closely with SMA student members to create an official “Medical Anthropology Student Association” (MASA), which will be represented on the SMA Board and will have its own student-run governance structure. To get this organization going, we will hold our first MASA meeting in Vancouver, to which all SMA student members are invited. I have also organized an SMA-sponsored student event for Vancouver called “Meet the SMA Presidents.” Students will have the opportunity to engage in a discussion with all of the aforementioned SMA presidents about the future of the discipline, including emerging career paths in medical anthropology.
2) Globalizing SMA. SMA needs to strengthen its links to the global world of medical anthropology. In my own scholarship, I interact regularly with medical anthropologists from Europe, the Middle East, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Many of these medical anthropologists do not belong to either the AAA or SMA, because of the high membership fees and costs of travel to our meetings. However, in an increasingly global world, it is important to develop a truly global community of medical anthropologists. That means breaking down provincial and contentious barriers between the U.S. and the rest of the world. To that end, SMA needs to move forward with a searchable, on-line directory, not only of SMA members, but of foreign affiliates. Such a directory should become an invaluable, updatable resource for a more global medical anthropology.
3) Forging Interdisciplinary Ties. SMA’s ties also need to extend across disciplines. Many SMA members are working at the intersections of medical anthropology and such fields as public health, public policy, medicine, nursing, science and technology studies, and women’s studies, to name only a few. First, we should explore the extent of interdisciplinary affiliations through a survey of our own membership. Then, we should work creatively to create alliances, either through our own meeting structure, or through collaborative initiatives across fields and organizations. The “SMA Takes a Stand” initiative, a policy focus begun by Bill Dressler and formalized by Mark Nichter, is a major step in this direction. During my presidency, I hope to form an SMA “Science, Technology, and Medicine” special interest group, to capitalize on the exciting developments in the growing field of science and technology studies.
4) Initiating a “New Millennium” Book Award. Finally, we need a new book award. The Eileen Basker Prize for outstanding work in gender and health has recognized the tremendous scholarly achievements in the anthropology of reproduction and women’s health. However, books outside of this domain are ineligible for the coveted Basker prize. SMA should create an annual award to recognize the best “New Millennium” book in medical anthropology. This seems like an important way to recognize the growth, vitality, and considerable heterogeneity of a discipline that is entering its fourth decade.
In conclusion, I am deeply gratified to be a part of the great field of medical anthropology. I look forward to working with you over the next two years as your SMA president, and I welcome your ideas and advice about these and other initiatives.
Please send column contributions to the SMA Contributing Editor, Janelle Taylor (jstaylor@u.washington.edu)