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Society for the Anthropology of Work
Welcome
The Society for the Anthropology of Work (SAW) is a section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). Our goal is to advance the study of work, in the broadest sense, and to communicate that knowledge to the world.
SAW is especially committed to centering the contributions of scholars of color and to advancing an antiracist, decolonial anthropology of work. Stay tuned for information about SAW’s activities in 2022.
Announcements
Published: Dec 10, 2021
A regularly updated list of books for review in Exertions.
Published: Mar 06, 2022
SAW is now accepting nominations for its 2022 Book prize.
Published: Nov 08, 2022
Check out the SAW-sponsored events at the 2022 annual American Anthropological Association conference in Seattle
Published: Nov 02, 2022
SAW names Vanessa Díaz as the winner of its annual book prize, and recognizes books by Megan Styles and Daniel Tubb with honorable mentions.
Original Exertions
Published: Feb 11, 2022
The recent media focus on whether Supreme Court justices mask in hearings shows all the ways in which Supreme Court justices are part of a workplace that shares many of the same dilemmas that other US workplaces facein the pandemic.
Published: Dec 15, 2021
A review essay examining two recent ethnographies by Erik Henningsen and Felix Stein.
Published: May 27, 2021
In the context of foreign-owned industrial farms in Brazil, the concept of the Plantationocene shows the racial dynamics of power and capital but obscures the fighting back of people, plants, and soils.
Published: May 28, 2020
How does refugee labor figure as both neoliberal resilience building and a hopeful attempt to find a viable livelihood?
Published: Nov 17, 2019
This photo essay both documents new forms of worker publicity and seeks to respond to the representational gaps that these forms have revealed.
Thematic Collections
Teaching Tools
SI
JF
ZS
Published: May 28, 2022
A reflection on teaching time and labor in the classroom, building Marx's insights on class struggles over the working day.
Book Reviews
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SI
Published: Dec 01, 2022
Book review of Limor Samimian-Darash's Uncertainty by Design: Preparing for the Future with Scenario Technology (2022)
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MN
Published: Nov 30, 2022
Book review of Jacob Doherty's Waste Worlds: Inhabiting Kampala’s Infrastructures of Disposability (2022)
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DI
Published: Nov 30, 2022
Book review of Creticos et al.'s The Many Futures of Work: Rethinking Expectations and Broadening Molds (2021)
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TS
Published: Nov 28, 2022
Book review of Raja Swamy's Building Back Better in India: Development, NGOs, and Artisanal Fishers after the 2004 Tsunami (2021)
