World Council of Anthropological Associations

Stumbling around the anthrosphere, I accidentally discovered that there is a World Council of Anthropological Associations:

The World Council of Anthropological Associations (WCAA) is a network of national and international associations that aims to promote worldwide communication and cooperation in anthropology. Its primary objectives are: to promote the discipline of anthropology in an international context; to promote cooperation and the sharing of information among world anthropologists; to promote jointly organized events of scientific debate and cooperation in research activities and dissemination of anthropological knowledge.

Judging from their website it doesn’t seem like they have done much since their founding in 2005, although a few new members have recently joined. But I’m glad to know that they exist! From their charter it seems as if they would be natural supporters of Open Access. They could do a lot to promote “worldwide communication and cooperation in anthropology” if they simply added an rss feed for their website and updated the news section a little more often. I’m all for a more global anthropology!

4 thoughts on “World Council of Anthropological Associations

  1. Thanks for the post about this organization; I seem to remember around 2001 or so the AAA having as a strategic goal the development of closer relations with other national anthropological associations. When I was a column editor, I remember that AN, for example, was to feature contributions from people representing other anthro associations. Maybe this is an outcome of this strategic goal.
    But what is the difference between the WCAA and the IUAES, the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences? The IUAES has been around for a long time, and is active especially through its international congress taking place every five years. (Next meeting is in Kunming, China, in 2008). I’ve only attended one ICAES (in Florence), but I had a sense that the IUAES was heavily European (maybe because that meeting was in Europe! – but the ongoing “commissions” reflected more of a European flavor).

  2. As I understand it IUAES is an international association, whereas the WCAA is a meta-organization linking the various national associations. I’ll bee at IUAES in Kunming next year, so I’ll find out more when I’m there!

  3. Does it make anyone else thing of the Justice League from DC Comics? THEN does it make anyone think of who from anthropology would be cast as Superman, Batman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman?

    About 100 years ago when I was first in grad school for a MA (at a really fun school with fun student colleagues who were, unlike my PhD program colleagues, able to joke around a bit) we used to have weekly “casting sessions” in the student lounge. Someone came up with a TV show or Movie from the 70s or 80s and we cast it with the faculty in our department. It was amazing and hilarious and made me think that my interactions with colleagues would always be that fun and playful.

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