Remembering, Forgetting, Denying: Can Anthropology Promote Social Justice?

Speaker:  Gretchen Schafft, American University
Date: Tuesday, 05 February 2019
Location:  Sumner School, 1201 17th St NW, Washington, DC
Time: 7:00 pm
Pre-meeting gathering:  5:30 (see details below; registration is helpful but not required)

About the talk:

Anthropology has dealt with the prehistoric and historical past in ways that differ from other disciplines who mine those fields.  We have used many approaches from digging in the earth, digging in archives, digging into social relationships, and digging through the fragments of literate and oral discarded scraps to find deep meaning of events and structures of society.  This talk will draw from Gretchen Schafft’s use of subaltern approaches to unusual historical visages and her experience in “hearing,” with an inner ear, stories told of discrediting events, particularly in regard to her studies of concentration camp history.

About the speaker:

Gretchen Schafft, a Public Anthropologist in Residence at American University, was a founder of WAPA along with Conrad Reining and Joan Volpe.  Her PhD in anthropology was granted by Catholic University and her post-doctoral Masters in Health Science from Johns Hopkins. She has written four books concerning this work, two of which are also published in Poland and Germany.  She was a pioneer in contracting research in the United States in areas of equity and civil rights.  Currently, she is doing research among the Amish in Pennsylvania.

ASL interpretation: Contact Erik Kjeldgaard at least 48 hours prior to the event if you require ASL interpretation or other accommodation for this event.

Before the meeting:  Join the speakers for dinner or snacks from 5:30  - 6:45 pm at the Edgar Bar and Kitchen, Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington, DC (3 minute walk to Sumner School).

Location:  The Sumner School is located at the corner of 17th St and M St NW.  The entrance to the meeting area is on 17th St through the double doors under the black metal stairway.  From the Farragut North Metro Station (Red Line), exit onto L St, walk one block east to 17th St, turn left, and walk 2 blocks north.  Registration is NOT required to attend the meeting, but picture ID Is required for entry to the building.