This year, the Society for Medical Anthropology will be hosting our annual conference in June with the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) in Tarragona, Spain at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili. Unlike a traditional conference, the ADTSG will not be able to submit panel proposals. Instead, we encourage you to submit individual proposals.The following is taken from an email from the SMA president, Doug Feldman:

“Please go to: http://www.medical-anthropology-urv.cat/ to submit paper or film abstracts. To submit an abstract, press “Call for papers” or “Call for films,” and complete the abstract submission form. The deadline for abstract submissions is February 15, 2013. Also, on the website, is valuable information about skills-sharing workshops, participations of senior and junior scholars, challenges for the future, accomodations (including a map with the exact locations, and room prices in euros), conference venue information, and the organizing committee (under “credits”). Registration to pay for the conference fee (120 euros for regular registrants, and 60 euros for student registrants) will open on or about December 20th.  All registrants (whether giving a paper, showing a film, or just attending) will need to pay the registration fee beginning at that time.”

For more information about the conference click here.

Also, please comment on this post if you are planning to attend this conference. That way we know whether to set up a business meeting or at least a group outing. Thanks!

I hope everyone is getting excited for San Francisco! We have updated the information on the conference page to include details about the ADTSG business meeting as well as room numbers for all three of our panels so make sure to download a fresh copy.

Also our social coordinator, Roland has suggested we plan out group outing for Saturday night at 8:00pm for Lefty O’Douls (333 Geary). It is a large establishment that serves food and drinks of various kinds. We will plan on congregating in the back corner. If you would like to walk over with the group, we will most likely meet up at the Hilton Hotel Lobby a little before 8pm.
If for some reason this venue or time changes, we will post something on the website.

Finally, if you haven’t done so already, make sure you subscribe to this blog to get updates sent directly to your email! Its super easy.

1. Click on this link: http://feedburner.google.com/fb/a/mailverify?uri=ADTSG&loc=en_US
2. Enter your email address and verify you are a human being
3. Check your email and click on the approval link from feedburner

That’s all for now, see everyone in San Francisco!!

Taz Karim
ADT Study Group, Chair

Dear ADT Study Group Members

I am so pleased to write this message to you on our brand new website. A special thanks to Roland Moore, Stacey McKenna and Allison Schlosser for their contributions. This year has been an exciting one for our group. We had the pleasure of organizing two panels for the Society for Applied Anthropology conference last spring in Baltimore and had a very productive special interest group meeting.  Next week at the American Anthropological Association meetings, ADTSG is planning a big presence so I wanted to give everyone a heads up on what you can expect from us.

First, with the hard work of Roland Moore, Gilbert Quintero, Daniel Lende, and Lee Hoffer, we were able to organize three paper panels which examine the moralized dimensions of alcohol, drugs and tobacco use across cultures. I am proud to say the panels reflect the full spectrum of our membership including professors, graduate students, researchers, and applied anthropologists.  For a schedule of our panels, please visit the conference page.

We will also be holding our special interest group meeting on Friday, November 16, from 12:15 PM-1:30 PM. The room hasn’t been announced yet, but please check back on our website for updated information. If you can’t make the meeting, we will be posting our agenda and minutes on the site so you can stay up to date. One of the points on our agenda will be to establish some more officer positions including secretary, social media coordinator, as well as a committee on the SMA takes a Stand policy initiative. If you are interested in getting more involved in the group please come!

As usual, we will also plan a social outing for group members, most likely on Saturday night. We will announce the details at the SIG meeting and of course, post information on the site. If you are on twitter, I will be tweeting live from the conference on all of the ADTSG activities (#adtsg) so feel free to follow me @PharmaCulture to keep up to date.

A final point, we are currently trying to build a roster of our membership to include on the website. Not only will this help us establish our presence, but hopefully it will encourage collaborations within the group. Please send the following information to adtstudygroup@gmail.com

1. Name
2. Title
3. Department
4. Institution
5. A brief bio with research interests
6. Contact information
7. A headshot

Thank you for your continued engagement with our group. See you in San Francisco!

 Taz Karim

ADT Study Group, Chair

Welcome to our new group blog! This blog will serve as an informal but scholarly treatment of issues related to the socio-cultural context of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. This presents the opportunity to increase the accessibility of scholarly approaches to studying drugs in context and to encourage collaboration among anthropologists and between disciplines. We will look to experts across disciplines and topics to offer diverse perspectives on the meaning and use of various drugs across cultures. Blog posts will cover a number of topics, such as reflections on ongoing research, discussions of methodological challenges, or responses to contemporary policy changes.

If you are interested in contributing to our blog, please send an email to adtstudygroup@gmail.com . We would love to hear from you!