1969 was a memorable year. Humans first walked on the moon; the Miracle Mets won the World Series; Richard Nixon became President; a dairy farm in New York was host to a seminal concert in rock and roll history; and the Anthropology Department at UMass Amherst began operations. As part of our 50th Anniversary celebrations, we invite colleagues and collaborators, current students and alumni, faculty past and present, and scholars, practitioners, and activists near and far to join us for four days of conversation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

At this moment of escalating precarity and deepening inequalities, of resurgent nativisms, social dislocations, and ongoing colonialism—and with climate change threatening life as we know it—how can we approach anthropology and mobilize anthropological theory and methods to help us make sense of and respond to these conditions? How do we identify and work towards alternatives?