Prof. Geoffrey Braswell

Department of Anthropology, UCSD

Bio

Geoffrey E. Braswell is a Professor of Anthropology at UCSD and a Mesoamerican archaeologist. Although his research focus is the ancient Maya of Central America, he teaches up to three archaeological study-abroad programs per year in countries including Tunisia, Egypt, Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, and Turkey. For more than two decades, he has been concerned with growing antisemitism in US academia, particularly in the American Association of Anthropology.

The American Anthropological Association and Othering Jews

Abstract

The American Association of Anthropology (AAA) has been the voice of the academic fields of archaeology, biological anthropology, linguistics, and cultural anthropology in the U.S.A. for more than a century. Beginning with the 1919 censure of its founding member Franz Boas, the AAA has engaged in political action that others Jews. In this presentation, I focus on events leading to the boycott of Israeli institutions and scholars by the AAA.