Pre-College
Anthropology
Dialogues
Proposal under review
Intergenerational Dialogue on Pre-College Anthropology
This session proposal was submitted for the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting '26 and is currently under review. If accepted, this session will engage members of the professional anthropological community building on the results of our first online consultation with pre-college anthropologists.
Organizers
Anna Ovchinnikova (Oakland School for the Arts); Vaishali Alapati (The Madeira School)
Presenters (Hosts)
Fiona Allendorf (Horace Greeley High School); Rachel Pierce (Sparkman High School); Cecilia Caliguiri (The Pingry School); Avery Chiang (The Nueva School)
Primary AAA Section
SANA - Society for the Anthropology of North America
Secondary AAA Section
NAPA - National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
Categories
Practicing and Engaged Anthropology; Cultural Change
Purpose & Learning Outcomes
This workshop creates a structured space for dialogue between professional anthropologists and high school students with demonstrated interest and experience in anthropology. It aims to generate actionable insights and a broader perspective on how better integration of top pre-college talent can shape the future of the discipline.
By the end of the workshop, participants will:
Understand key patterns, challenges, and opportunities identified by pre-college anthropologists across North America.
Gain practical strategies for engaging high school students in research, mentorship, and academic pathways.
Develop concrete ideas for integrating pre-college scholars into existing institutional and disciplinary structures.
Strengthen their ability to design inclusive, intergenerational learning and collaboration spaces.
Workshop Description
Join this 2-hour workshop on pre-college anthropology, organized by high school students with college-level research experience. If you mentor or teach high school students, are interested in attracting more top students to your undergraduate program, or care about shaping the future of anthropology through better integration of pre-college scholars into the professional anthropological community, we invite you to join us.
In preparation for this workshop, participants will receive an overview of key insights, reflection questions, and actionable ideas on how professional anthropologists can engage high school talent. These materials will be based on discussions among dozens of pre-college anthropologists from across North America. This creates an opportunity to hear the voices of students who may not have the means to attend AAA Annual Meetings but are actively engaged in the discipline.
During the session, participants will work in small groups to reflect on the pre-read materials, share ideas and experiences, and explore ways to better integrate pre-college scholars into the professional anthropological community. We will use the World Café process and the Collective Narrative Methodology to facilitate and document these discussions.
A public report from the workshop will be made available. Contributions will not be attributed to individuals. We expect this report to inform both pre-college scholars and professional anthropologists working to build stronger intergenerational connections within the discipline.
Advancing the Discipline of Anthropology
Anthropology’s long-term vitality depends on how effectively it cultivates future practitioners and expands participation in the discipline. This workshop addresses a largely underdeveloped area: the systematic engagement of pre-college scholars who are already contributing to anthropological thinking.
By bringing structured insights from dozens of pre-college anthropologists into conversation with professionals, the workshop introduces new perspectives on how anthropological knowledge is learned, practiced, and transmitted across generations. It highlights gaps in access, mentorship, and institutional pathways that limit the field’s ability to fully benefit from emerging talent.
Advancing this work supports the professional interests of anthropologists by strengthening recruitment pipelines, increasing diversity of thought and background, and fostering earlier exposure to anthropological methods and frameworks. It also contributes to broader discussions on pedagogy, knowledge production, and disciplinary sustainability by positioning pre-college scholars as active participants rather than passive recipients of anthropological knowledge.
Active Learning
Learning Methods
The workshop is designed as an interactive, participant-driven experience centered on active learning. Rather than a lecture format, it uses structured small-group dialogue through the World Café process.
Participants will engage with a real-world “case” represented by the context-setting document, which synthesizes experiences and insights from pre-college anthropologists. In small groups, they will reflect on this material, identify key challenges, and collaboratively generate solutions. Participants will build on each other’s ideas across rounds, enabling cumulative learning and pattern recognition.
The Collective Narrative Methodology will be used to capture and synthesize insights across groups in participants’ own words. This approach supports sense-making, encourages diverse perspectives, and allows participants to see an overview of the knowledge they co-create.
Materials & Resources
Before the session, attendees will receive a context-setting document summarizing key findings, themes, and reflections from dialogues with pre-college anthropologists. This document will include guiding questions and preliminary recommendations from the younger generation.
After the workshop, a publicly available report will synthesize the collective insights generated during the session. This report will include emergent themes, actionable ideas, and suggested approaches for integrating pre-college scholars into research, teaching, and professional spaces.
Additionally, participants interested in the World Café process and the Collective Narrative Methodology will receive recommendations on how to get trained in these methods and apply them in their own practice.
Broader Relevance
Educators, program designers, nonprofit leaders, and researchers from other disciplines will find relevance in the workshop’s focus on how to identify and support early-stage talent, design intergenerational learning environments, and create pathways into specialized fields.
The methods used, such as the World Café process and the Collective Narrative Methodology, are widely applicable across disciplines that value participatory engagement and collaborative sense-making. The workshop also addresses shared challenges across fields, including how to diversify participation, lower barriers to entry, and connect emerging scholars with professional communities.
About the Initiative
Pre-College Anthropology Dialogues (PCAD) is a student-led initiative that facilitates dialogue between members of the professional anthropological community and pre-college scholars with a demonstrated interest in anthropology, with the goal of better engaging the next generation of anthropologists.
PCAD was co-founded by seven pre-college members of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) from Alabama, California, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia. Our research interests span biological and sociocultural anthropology and our experience includes doing college-level coursework, attending an AAA Annual Meeting, doing an AAA internship, receiving the AAA Junior Anthropologist Award, preparing submissions for peer-reviewed journals, and publishing a book of short stories related to anthropological principles. We all recognized significant untapped potential in building stronger connections between pre-college anthropologists and the professional community, especially compared to other fields, and came together to address this opportunity.