Wenner-Gren at the AAA’s : World Council of Anthropological Associations

Wenner-Gren is at the 110th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Montreal where over 6000 anthropologists are expected for five days of discussion and debate. Things start Wednesday, however the World Council of Anthropological Associations met Tuesday. This is a meta-association of 38 national anthropological associations worldwide
devoted to establishing a means for networking and communication for international anthropology. Over 20 presidents of these associations attended to discuss plans for WCAA symposia at future national meetings (see www.wcaanet.org for more information) and two new and exciting initiatives.

The first is the online compilation of 500 anthropological publications put together by Gordon Mathews of the Hong Kong Anthropological Society (HKAS). Many of these publications are open access and provide a great resource to discover what is happening in the field internationally (see http://www.wcaanet.org/publications.shtml).

The second is a new initiative, Anthropology Without Borders (Antropologos sem fronteras/Antropologos sin fronteras/Anthropologues sans frontiers). ASF is a non-profit organization and global network of anthropologists established in 2011 following deliberations by a task force of the WCAA. It aims to draw on knowledge and experience acquired by anthropologists around the world and connects groups seeking their expertise with specialist anthropologists able to serve as critical readers, examiners, and reviewers of reports and documents about which they may have substantial doubt.  More information will be available in the near future on the WCAA website.

The secretary general of the IUAES (International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences), Junji Koizumi, was also present. He urged everyone to become an individual member of IUAES and  plan to attend the next IUAES  Inter-Congress 2012 (Bhubaneswar, India) November 26-30, 2012 on “Children and Youth in a Changing World” and the next World Congress of IUAES in 2013 in Manchester, UK. Information about IUAES activities and membership can be found at  http://www.iuaes.org/ .