AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONVolume 4 November, 1963 Number 9

ASSOCIATION AFFAIRS

Wanted: Improvements for a DinosaurBeginning on the evening of November 20 more than 1,000

anthropologists, students, and others will converge on theSheraton-Palace Hotel in San Francisco for the 62nd An-nual Meeting of the Association. Before retiring that nightthe average participant will probably have made about asmany plans as he will have time to carry out over the nextfour days. There will be a meeting that night, to honorPaul Fejos. Next morning there will be many people tomeet or look up. If he has been lucky enough to get regis-tered the night before, our registrant will have a chance tochoose from among 46 papers being presented in 10 simul-taneous sessions. Clutching a copy of the Abstracts, hemay try to make an intelligent choice of those he would liketo hear, and even to correlate the times at which they willbe read. But, even with the best of luck, at least two willbe on at the same time, and another one will have beenomitted from the program at the last minute. Anyway, onthe way to the meeting room he will run into someone hecame to the meeting to talk with. Perhaps after a half-dozen compressed conversations, and attempts to get mes-sages to people to arrange later meetings, he can start allover again to chart a course for the afternoon, when he willbe faced with the choice of 52 papers in 11 sessions. Bythe time 5 o'clock rolls around he will be ready for somewine-tasting. Then there are films at the hotel and, lateron, the parties begin. Next day, and the next, there willbe more of the same. And somehow, in all of this, he hasto get around to the Placement Service to register and setup appointments, or look over the folders of jobs or appli-cants for several hours; to drop in on the NSF. NIMH, PHSor Office of Education representatives to ask some questionsabout an idea he has in mind for research or training grants;and to get around to the book exhibits to find out about newbooks that he has missed, or to talk over an idea for a bookwith a publisher's representative. Sooner, rather than later,he will find himself in a position where he has to changeseveral appointments, or miss someone he has been longingto spend some time with, and he will have to apologize formissing a friend's paper and ask several other people if theyhave copies of their papers which he can read after he gets-home. If all goes well, he can expect to return home withhalf, at least, of his agenda for the meetings unmet. Hewill have attended a "convention" in which 287 papers wereread in 70 sessions, a meeting which cost 5 to 6 thousanddollars to run, and 4 or 5 hundred man-hours to plan andorganize, exclusive of participants' money and time.

Back in 1936 several hundred anthropologists and othersgathered at the Carlton Hotel in Washington, D. C. On thefirst morning all present heard A. Irving Hallowell discuss"Sin, Sex and Sickness in Saulteaux Belief," William Fentondiscuss Tonawanda Longhouse Ceremonies, Elsie Clews Par-sons present on "Human Sacrifice Among Pueblos and Az-tecs," Bernice M. King discuss form in the songs of JemezPueblo, and Mischa Titiev read a paper on "The Use of Kin-ship Terms in Hopi Ritual." Over a three-day period therewere meetings not only of the Council of the Association,but also the Councils of the American Folk-Lore Society,and the Society for American Archeology, all of which socie-ties met together. There were 8 sessions, all of them plen-ary, in which 47 papers were presented. There was time tomeet anyone, to converse, and even to think. Anyone couldfind out what all interested colleagues were doing, and forman impression about the entire range of interest? repre-sented in anthropology and its allied fields.

What has happened since 1936 has been largely a matterof addition, of quantity, of sheer cellular growth, with nochange in the basic pattern. The highly successful smallorganism has become a dinosaur, apparently incapable ofadapting to any but the original context.

Yet the signs of inefficiency in the meeting pattern werepresent even in that 1936 meeting. The program notes that,"Papers by vote of Council are limited to fifteen min-utes." This solution, like concurrent sessions, ultimatelyhas its limit. And so we reach the massive inefficiencywhich exists today. What can be done?

The Association has experimented with the rejection ofpapers as a means of cutting down on the size of the pro-gram. But this appears to be unjust as long as some peoplecan only attend if they present papers. This has led someto argue for a campaign to change the policies wherebyinstitutions provide travel funds only for participants whoread papers. Yet, anyone who has studied past campaignsto bring changes in graduate schools throughout the nationis bound to see the massive obstacles to such an effort as this.Others have suggested that the regional societies be en-couraged in a variety of ways so that author? will presentpapers there as an alternative to the national meetings.These smaller and more informal meetings certainly havean obvious attraction, compared with the annual meetingsof the Association. But there is a suspicion that the pres-entation of a paper at a regional meeting is not an effectivesubstitute for a presentation at the national meeting. Itwould certainly be most useful to know whether this is true,

Published by the American Anthropological Association, 1530 P Street, N.W., Washington 5, D. C. 10 times a year (monthlyexcept July and August) for the Fellows of the Association. Second class postage paid at Washington, D. C.Available to non-Fellows by subscription ($2.00 per year).News item* should be submitted by the 15th of the month to appear in the following issue.

Fellow Newsletter , 1968)

and, if so, what functions the regional meeting lacks. An-swers to these questions might point in the direction ofinnovations which could make the regional meeting morenearly equivalent in function to the national meeting. Re-cently, it has been suggested that some of the burden couldbe taken from the Association's annual program by workingout a division of labor with Section H of the AmericanAssociation for the Advancement of Science, such that an-thropologists would have two meetings a year, at which thescope and emphases of papers would be different, instead ofa single one. Even more radical solutions deserve somethought, such as, for example, a session at which detailedoutlines of papers are read in five minutes, and the wholepaper made available to those who request it by means ofsome inexpensive duplication process.

In any event, it seems clear that we have reached a pointwhere truly innovative suggestions are needed if the presentvery inefficient meeting system is not to grow steadily worse.How much worse must it get before we are willing tp thinkabout possible solutions? S.T.B.•Retirement and Dues

First notices of 1964 dues have recently been mailed. Forsome members this will be the first time since retirementthat the dues notices have arrived, and the burden of keep-ing up membership in many organizations with a retirementincome can be severe. All are therefore reminded that anyMember, or Fellow, who has paid dues for twenty years,may upon retirement have his annual dues reduced to $5.00without loss of privileges, which include receipt of thejournal. All that is necessary is to write to the ExecutiveOffice giving information about retirement status and dateof joining the Association.

MEETING CALENDARNov. 14 'Seminar, Research Institute for the Study of Man.

Renee C. Fox, outstanding medical sociologist (BarnardCollege), will discuss: "Neither Nurses Nor Doctors: TheStory of the Medical Assistants of the Congo." Dr. Foxis planning continued research in the Congo. RISM,162 E. 78th Street, New York City, 8:00 P.M.

Nov. 19 Anthropological Society of Washington. Fredericade Laguna, "Childhood Among the Tlingit of Yakutat."Rm 43, U.S. National Museum, 10th and ConstitutionAves., Washington, D. C, 8:15 P.M. To receive regularnotices of monthly meetings send $1.50 to Dr. CliffordEvans, Division of Archeology, U.S. National Museum,Washington 25, D. C.

Nov. 21-24 * American Anthropological Association 62d an-nual meeting, Sheraton-Palace Hotel, San Francisco,Calif. Program Chairman, ̂ Bernard J. Siegel, Rm. R315-B, Edwards Building, Medical Center, Stanford Univer-sity, Stanford, Calif. Preliminary Program and hotelreservation cards have been mailed. (See SPECIALANNOUNCEMENT below.)

Nov. 25 Anthropology Division, New York Academy ofSciences, monthly meeting. For information write Rob-ert L. Heckefat the Academy, 2 E. 63d Street, NewYork City 21.

Dec 14-15 *Academy of Psychoanalysis, mid-winter meeting,Hotel Commodore, New York. "Experimental Approachto the Psychodynamics of Behavior." Speakers includeHarry Harlow. Officers this year include Franz Alex-ander, Leon Salzman, and Alfred H. Rifkin. Interna-tional in membership, the Academy is interested in hav-ing representation by qualified persons of other nations.

For information write Dr. Rifkin, Secretary, at theAcademy, 125 E. 65th St., NYC 21.

Dec. 3 * Anthropological Society of Washington. Kenneth E.Foster, Museum of Navajo Ceremonial Art, "NavajoCeremonial Art." Rm 43, U.S. National Museum, 10thand Constitution Aves., Washington, D. C, 8:15 P.M.

- Dec. 26-31 A.A.A.S. annual meeting, Cleveland, Ohio. (Forprogram, see below.)

Dec. 27-29 v American Folklore Society, annual meeting,Wayne State University, Detroit.

Dec. 27-30 American Economic Association, annual meet-ing, Boston, Mass. For information write Harold F.Williamson, Secretary, 629 Noyes St., NorthwesternUniv., Evanston, 111.

Dec. 28-30 .Archaeological Institute of America, annualmeeting, Pittsburgh. For information write ClaireveGrandjouan, General Secretary, at the Institute, 5 Wash-ington Square North, NYC 3.

0Dec. 28-30 Linguistic Society of America, annual meeting,Hotel Knickerbocker, Chicago. For information write*Arch A. Hill, Secretary, Box 8120, University Station,Austin 12, Texas.

•Dec. ' American Musicological Society, national meeting,Seattle, Washington. For information write Louise E.Cuyler, Secretary, 204 Hare Bldg., Univ. of Pennsyl-vania, Philadelphia 4.

1964v Jan. 1-10 ^26^ International Congress of Orientalists, New

Delhi, India. For information about the program writeProf. W. Norman Brown, Oriental Studies, Univ. ofPennsylvania, Philadelphia 4, Penna.

Jan. 20-26 • 5th Intl. Festival of Sociological and Ethno-graphic Documentary Film, Florence, Italy. Suggestionsof films are solicited. Applications for entry of filmsmust be received by Nov. 15. For particulars write

^Edoardo Speranza, General Secretary, Festival dei Pop-oli, Via Tornabuoni 1, Firenze, Italia.

v Jan. 27 * American Ethnological Society, Annual BusinessMeeting. Joint meeting with the 'New York Academyof Sciences. Victor W. Turner will address the meetingon "The Drums of Affliction: Social Analysis and SocialTherapy in a Tribal Religion." At the Academy, 2 E.63d Street, New York City, 21.

Mar. 16-18 'Society for International Development, VI WorldConference, Washington, D. C. Chairman: TheodoreGeiger. For information write the Society, 1720 RhodeIsland Ave. N.W., Washington, D. C. 20006.

Mar. 18-21 ^American Orthopsychiatric Association, annualmeeting, Chicago, 111.

Mar. 20-22 'Association for Asian Studies sixteenth annualmeeting, Washington, D. C. Program Chairman: 'Alex-ander Eckstein, Univ. of Michigan. Suggestions wel-come. For information write the Association, P.O. Box606, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Mar. 20-22 'Northeastern Anthropological Conference, fourthannual meeting, McMaster Univ., Hamilton, Ont. Allare invited. Conference Chairman is' Frank G. Vallee,Dept. of Sociology, McMaster Univ.

31ar. 27-28 * American Ethnological Society, Spring Meeting,Univ. of Pittsburgh. Symposium on "New Approachesto the Study of Religion," and a session of studentpapers, one of which will be selected to receive the ElsieClews Parsons Memorial Prize. Students and otherswishing to present a paper should send an abstract of200 words to the Program Chairman,'Melford E. Spiro,Univ. of Washington, Seattle 5, Washington.