American Men's Studies Association
.jpg) Logo of AMSA | |
| Formation | 1991 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters |
22 East Street |
| Robert Heasley, PhD | |
| Website | http://www.mensstudies.org/ |
The American Men's Studies Association (AMSA) advances the study of men and the development of teaching, research and clinical practice in the field of men's studies.
History
Origins
AMSA’s origins started in the National Organization for Changing Men (NOCM), an organization which has existed since the early 1970s. From its beginning, the National Organization for Changing Men (now National Organization for Men Against Sexism) encouraged its membership to form affinity groups composed of people with similar personal and/or professional interests. NOCM organized Men and Masculinity (M&M) conferences, which over the years have become annual events attended by mostly men supportive of an anti-sexist political and personal agenda. At these conferences, NOCM members affiliated with the various task groups could meet and share their work and common interests.
In 1991, some of MSA's leaders became convinced that a separate conference should be held during the academic year, not only to accommodate a growing number of its long- standing NOCM/NOMAS-MSA members, but also to attract those men's studies scholars who were not particularly interested in other M&M activities, or in the explicitly pro-feminist stance of NOMAS and MSA. That fall, a separate American Men’s Studies Association (AMSA) was established, while MSA continued in association with NOMAS. In May 1992, the new group’s leaders drafted a mission statement outlining a number of crucial issues fundamental to its academic and professional heritage, and made plans for its first AMSA conference.
Conferences
Each year since 1993, AMSA has held an annual conference. Its conference is the largest annual men's studies conference in the United States. The conference is an open and affirming event featuring scholarship and dialogue on the study of men and masculinity.