Inclusiveness and ASAO Membership Categories

Abstract

When the author first encountered the Association for Social Anthropology in Oceania (ASAO) as a graduate student in 1982, she had a sense that new people were embraced and that status differences were minimally visible. Furthermore, since that time the organization has grown to include and welcome people other than anthropologists and other than scholars, and innovative types of sessions have been allowed at the meetings. Pacific Island scholars have been encouraged to participate, and the number of international members has grown. Nonetheless, there has been tension over the years regarding inclusiveness, especially with regard to categories of membership and the rights accorded various types of members. As the association has grown, voting rights have expanded from the relatively small category of Fellow to all individual members.