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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 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 2024.
Announcements
Published: Oct 27, 2023
A regularly updated list of books for review in Exertions.
Published: Nov 08, 2023
The Society for the Anthropology of Work joins workers and anthropologists around the world calling for an end to genocide, apartheid, settler violence, and displacement against Palestinians.
Published: Oct 16, 2023
Published: Oct 03, 2023
The meeting will take place in the Boston area, on the campus of Tufts University, on April 18–20, 2024.
Published: Nov 16, 2023
The Anthropology of Work Review (AWR) is proud to present a curated virtual issue that features a selection of the work we have published on labor unions and organizing over the years.
Published: Nov 15, 2023
The Society for the Anthropology of Work (SAW) would like to congratulate the honorees for the Conrad M Arensberg Award, the SAW Book Award, and the Eric R. Wolf Prize for Graduate Student Research.
Original Exertions
Published: Apr 26, 2023
Reflections on the special issue of Anthropology of Work Review, "Immunocapital and Capitalist Immunities"
Published: Apr 04, 2023
A videoessay on AI labor, authored by Dayna McLeod, drawing upon labor from an AI writer and AI voice actor. Additional commentary by Lisa Messeri.
Published: Jan 18, 2023
Brie Berry (Ursinus College) reflects on the emotional burdens of reuse economies and the problem of waste.
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.
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
SW
MS
Published: Nov 23, 2023
Book review of Muriam Haleh Davis's Markets of Civilization: Islam and Racial Capitalism in Algeria (2022)
IS
SW
Published: Oct 28, 2023
Book review of A. J. Faas's In the Shadow of Tungurahua: Disaster Politics in Highland Ecuador (2022)
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DI
Published: Sep 05, 2023
Book review of Johan Soderberg and Maxigas's Resistance to the Current: The Dialectics of Hacking (2022)
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AC
Published: Aug 22, 2023
Book review of Edward F. Fischer's Making Better Coffee: How Maya Farmers and Third Wave Tastemakers Create Value (2022)
