A Letter of Invitation from the Leadership of IUAES

Beijing, May 2007

Dear Members of IUAES，Colleagues and Students of Anthropology & Ethnology Worldwide:

        The purpose of this letter is to invite you to join us in the XVI International Congress of our Union, to be held in Kunming, China from the 15th till the 23rd of July, 2008.

        We propose to you the main reasons to attend this Congress:

        a)  Have your research or teaching results exposed and published in English and Chinese in China, where the anthropological and ethnological community is very large.

        b)  Enable you to meet important scholars and potential students working in your field.

        c)  Enhance your academic network for the future within the IUAES Commissions and with colleagues from many parts of the World, in an event that only happens every 5 years.

        d)  Experience China, its minorities and its development.

        e)  Get to know Kunming City and Yunnan Province, a most interesting part of China, where 40,000,000 people belonging to 56 ethnic groups live within varied and very beautiful landscapes.

        We have recently visited Beijing and Kunming and have now the direct knowledge and experience to convey to you on what to expect from this Congress, and complete the information that appeared in our Newsletter 68 of May 2007 which is available in our website (www.leidenuniv.nl/fsw/iuaes/index.htm), with a link to the website of the Congress (www.icaes2008.org ), which is being up-dated.

        Our meetings in China with the authorities of the China’s Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Ethnic Affairs Commission of Yunnan Province, Central University of the Nationalities, Yunnan University, The Yunnan Nationalities University, Yunnan Nationalities Museum, and Yunnan Ethnic Park, who are members of the National and Local Organizing Committees of the Congress or the major participants, and our personal visit to the sites where the Congress will be held, allow us to share with you the following conclusions:

        1.  The city of Kunming and the Province of Yunnan offer exceptional connections to arrive from different parts of the World, without passing by Beijing, which may be difficult a few weeks before the Olympic Games that begin on August 8th. The air routes will be posted soon in the Congress webpage. In addition, the city is of medium size, with excellent internal communications, and is located in the beautiful Yunnan province, where a large number of China’s ethnic minorities live. The normal climate is mild and not hot during the week of the Congress. In addition, the city is safe and assures medical assistance in case of emergency.

        2.  The physical spaces offered locally surpassed our expectations, the halls and rooms where the plenary sessions, the conferences, seminars, round tables, meetings of the Commissions, social activities, etc. are to be held are well equipped with very comfortable seating, facilities for video and computer projection, and are very attractive.

        3.  Kunming has excellent and varied housing, going from luxury hotels to accessible and clean dormitories within the Universities campus. A wide choice can be made, and special prices have been fixed. We urge you to reserve, as soon as the offer is made in the Congress website.

        4.  The academic activities of the Congress will be held in one place, the Yunnan University, where there are also housing and meal facilities. This will promote personal interactions between all of us. The inaugural and closing session, plus some social activities will be held respectively in The Kunming International Convention and Exhibition Center and in the Yunnan Ethnic Park, where adequate and attractive facilities and convenient transportation will be offered.

        5.  A special effort is being made to facilitate the participation of under and postgraduate students of Anthropology and ethnology, in order to provide them with the material and economical conditions that will enable them to go to China. Further information will appear soon on the Congress website, but we consider that this is a unique opportunity that only comes every 5 years for students to get in touch personally with distinguished scholars of the Anthropological World, who may only be familiar to them as authors of books or articles.

        6.  It is almost needless to add that on the short and long term, we expect this Congress to promote academic and personal contacts between scholars from all over the World who have little opportunity to meet elsewhere. The Organizing Committee is making an effort to invite and promote the interaction of colleagues and students from Third Word countries, especially those from South East Asia.

        7.  Every possible effort is being made to have very experienced anthropologists and ethnologists as key note or distinguished speakers for the Congress and their names will appear on the website.

        8.  Please check the Congress website to see the modalities of academic participation. Some of the sessions that will be posted soon are open for more participants.

        9.  An anthropological or ethnological film festival and several exhibitions will be held as part of the Congress, and we encourage those interested in submitting materials for them to get in touch with the Organizing Committee. A prize will be awarded to the best anthropological or ethnological film.

        10.  As you can verify in our website, IUAES is organized in Research Commissions. The Congress will provide the opportunity for each one of you to join one or several of them, and assure contact with colleagues from many countries in the field of your interest. Each Commission has set its rules for joining them, but it is a very open and accessible procedure to take part.

        11.  We urge all of our colleagues to prepare their participation in the Congress. This not only means bringing your paper and joining or continuing your activities within the Research Commissions. Business meetings of the Union will be held, and by paying your fees for the congress you will become a member of IUAES. We need you to organize the group that will represent your country in our discussions, and you will be able to nominate candidates to become officers or honorary members of the Union.

        12.  The rules of IUAES state that the Research Commissions must have a business meeting at least during every Congress. Very comfortable rooms have been assigned for them, but we need the chairpersons of each Commission to request their use to the Organizing Committee.

        13.  We also ask members of IUAES, the Research Commissions and national organizations to propose places where the 2013 World Congress and the Intercongresses between 2008 and 2013 may be held.

        14.  We also encourage you to bring two copies of your books and publications to be donated to the libraries of Yunnan University and Yunnan University of the Nationalities.

        The results that the Chinese Organizing Committees of the XVI Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences have achieved so far are excellent. Care has been taken to grant the best possible facilities to make this meeting and exceptional one. We publicly recognize their effort and thank for it in name of all the anthropological community.

        We have witnessed the impressive effort that has been made by our Chinese colleagues to make this Congress a success from the academic, institutional and personal points of view. It is now the task of each and all of us, anthropologists and students of Anthropology, to fulfill this goal. Please cooperate very actively with us.

Sincerely

Dr. Luis Alberto Vargas                            Dr. Peter J.M. Nas
President of IUAES                                   Secretary General  of IUAES