SOCIETY FOR ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY BYLAWS

Adopted by the AAA Executive Board February, 2014
Amended June 2017

ARTICLE I – NAME

1.1.  The Society’s name shall be Society for Economic  Anthropology, abbreviated here as SEA.

1.2.  The SEA is a section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA).

ARTICLE II -PURPOSES

2.1. The purposes for which the SEA is formed are to stimulate interest, research, and teaching in economic anthropology.

2.2. To encourage discussion of economic anthropology, and to further the publication of studies in economic anthropology.

ARTICLE III – MEMBERSHIP

3.1. Membership in the SEA is open to all members in good standing of the AAA upon payment of dues.

3.2. A Member in good standing shall be eligible to hold elective or appointed office, participate in the scholarly program, receive publications and have one vote in electing officers. A Member has one vote in other transactions and business of the SEA.

3.3 For just cause, a Member may be deprived of membership by a two-thirds vote of the Executive Board subject to appeal to the Members at the Annual meeting.

ARTICLE IV – POWERS

4.1 The SEA shall be autonomous in all matters within its field except those reserved by the Bylaws of the AAA, or those inimical to the AAA’s interests, or those prohibited by law.

4.2 The SEA Executive Board shall have an elected President, President-elect, Secretary, five at-large members, one archaeology member, and one student member. All of the above shall be elected by the membership. These elected officers, at-large, archaeology, and student members shall constitute an Executive Board and each will have one vote.

4.3 The President in consultation with the existing Executive Board shall appoint a Treasurer, a General Editor of the SEA Journal, Economic Anthropology, and a Section Editor to the Anthropology Newsletter.

4.4 The Executive Board is empowered to establish membership dues.

4.5 The SEA shall determine voting requirements on all Society matters.

4.6 The SEA may engage in publishing and program activities, appoint editors, committees and other agents, and set publication and program policies appropriate to its purposes.

4.7 The SEA shall adopt and maintain Bylaws or Rules of Procedure consistent with the AAA Bylaws. SEA shall give the American Anthropological Association’s Secretary a copy of its current Bylaws, Rules of Procedure, current organizational structure, and current officers.

ARTICLE V – ELECTION

5.1 The President-elect and Executive Board members shall be elected by the SEA membership. The President-elect shall take the office of President at the conclusion of the President’s term of office.

5.2 The Officers shall be elected by mail or electronic ballot, in accordance with the procedures and timeline established by the American Anthropological Association.

5.3 Chairs of SEA committees shall be appointed by the Executive Board, except where the board delegates the election of the chair to the respective committee.

5.4 The term for President, President-elect, and Student Board member is two years. At-large and archaeology members serve for three years. Unless otherwise specified the term of office for SEA activities is for one year.

ARTICLE VI – NOMINATING COMMITTEE

6.1 A Nominating Committee chaired by the immediate Past-President and including two of the members-at-large and archaeology members of the Executive Board appointed by the President shall present to the board a list of suggested names for all offices which are to be filled by election.

ARTICLE VII – VACANCY

7.1 A vacancy occurring in any office shall be filled for the unexpired term by a person appointed by the Executive Board.

ARTICLE VIII – DUTIES OF OFFICERS

8.1 The President shall serve for a term of office of two (2) years. The President shall be the presiding officer of the SEA and chairperson of the Executive Board. The President shall exercise all the duties and responsibilities commonly associated with this office. Acting with the advice and consent of the Executive Board, the President shall appoint necessary committees and define their duties, and appoint representatives of the SEA to other societies or agencies. The President shall be the representative to the Executive Board of the American Anthropological Association, and, should the SEA be entitled, serve on the Executive Board. The President shall represent SEA in the AAA Section Assembly In the absence of the President, these duties shall devolve successively upon the President-elect, and upon the Secretary.

8.2 The President-elect shall serve a term of two (2) years. The President-elect will assume the duties of the President in the event of absence, death, resignation or the incapacity of the President, and shall succeed to the office of President at the expiration of the term as President-elect.

8.3 The Secretary will serve a term of three (3) years. The secretary shall perform the duties and have the responsibilities customarily associated with that office, including being responsible for the maintenance of proper records, which shall be open to inspection by the Executive Board. The secretary will additionally be responsible for all non-journal communications with the membership and with the American Anthropological Association, although the responsibility for maintaining the Section’s web site may be delegated to a member of the Executive Board.

8.4 The Treasurer will be appointed by the Executive Board for a term of three (3) years, with an option for a further [one- or] two-year term with the approval of the Executive Board. The Treasurer shall be responsible for the maintenance of proper financing, which shall be open to inspection by the Executive Board. The Treasurer works directly with the President in liaison with the Controller of AAA to prepare the annual budget of the Society.

8.5 The Section Editor to Anthropology News shall serve a term of two (2) years, with an option for a further [one- or] two year term with approval of the Executive Board and will be responsible for preparing SEA submissions to Anthropology News.

8.6 The General Editor of the Society’s journal, Economic Anthropology, will be appointed by the Executive Board for a term of four (4) years‚ observing that an Editor is responsible for three volumes of the journal in addition to a transition year with incoming and succeeding editors‚ with an option for a further [one- or] two-year term with the approval of the Executive Board. The Editor is responsible for the editorial duties of the journal. The General Editor will be assisted by the Program Chair(s) of the SEA annual meeting who will have responsibilities for editing the issue that is produced from that meeting.

8.7 The Executive Board shall have the right, by a two-thirds vote, to remove any member of the Executive Board it deems to have failed to perform the duties of the office.

8.8 The term of office of all members of the Executive Board and all officers shall commence at the conclusion of the Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. The General Editor’s term will begin on January 1 of the year prior to the year in which the Editor’s first issue shall appear.

8.9 The Executive Board shall possess the governing power of the SEA, except as otherwise specifically provided in these Bylaws. The Executive Board will meet at least once a year and additionally as required. It shall have charge of the general interests of the SEA, shall call the annual and special meetings of the SEA, appropriate money, appoint committees and their chairpersons, and name persons on the Board, though such persons shall not have the right to vote as members of the Board. It shall have the power to appoint SEA representatives to other organizations.

ARTICLE IX – MEETINGS OF THE SEA

9.1 There shall be at least one annual meeting of the Executive Board of the SEA, to be called by the Board.

9.2 There shall be an annual meeting of the SEA, generally held in the spring. The Executive Board shall appoint a Program Chair(s) to organize the annual meeting. The Program Chair(s) shall notify each member of the SEA of the arrangements for the annual meeting, at least one month prior to the date on which it is to be held.

9.3 The Agenda for the Annual Meeting shall include a report of the work of the Executive Board during the year prior to the meeting; the report of the Treasurer, including the annual financial statement of the SEA.

ARTICLE X – QUORUM

10.1. Five persons shall constitute a quorum of the Executive Board a majority of those in attendance shall control its decisions. Twenty percent of the members of the SEA shall constitute a quorum at SEA meetings, and a majority of those members in attendance and voting shall control its decisions.

ARTICLE XI – AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS

11.1. Amendments to the Bylaws may be proposed by the Executive Board, or by two members of the SEA notifying the Board in writing, at least six weeks before the annual meeting.

11.2. The Secretary shall notify the membership of the SEA of the proposed amendments through the SEA listserv and website.

11.3. Amendments to the Bylaws shall be adopted by two-thirds of the membership voting through mail or electronic ballot.

ARTICLE XII. FINANCES

12.1 The fiscal year of the SEA shall be that of the American Anthropological Association.

12.2 In June of each year the SEA shall submit an annual operating budget for the next calendar year to the American Anthropological Association which, when approved, shall govern SEA activities.

12.3 Revenues from annual dues and other sources shall constitute  a general fund, available, to the extent possible, for operations, publication, and current expenses consistent with the purposes of the SEA as the Executive Board may determine.

12.4 The collection of revenues and expenditure of funds will be administered by the Association Executive Office for purposes the Section may designate.

12.5. No financial obligation in excess of funds available in the treasury shall be assumed by the  Executive Board or by any officer on behalf of the SEA except that for the purpose of this section, estimated receipts from annual dues and other accounts receivable for the current year may be considered as available funds.

12.6 The SEA may request the establishment  of  endowment funds and may create quasi-endowments  for the purposes of awarding prizes, awards or scholarships to be administered by the American Anthropological Association. Such funds must  follow the AAA guidelines for the establishment of such funds.