The International Organization of Anthropology

Abstract

THIS survey of the international organization of the science was prepared initially as a workpaper for the Committee on International Anthropology of the Division of Anthropology and Psychology, National Research Council.1 It was later circulated at the Committee's suggestion to a number of anthropologists in the United States with interest in the international facets of the science. In turn, as a result of requests that the materials be made widely available, they are presented here. The prime object is to evoke interest and raise questions relating to the participation of American anthropologists in crossnational affairs of the science. The Committee on International Anthropology, at its initial meeting in the fall of 1957, discussed in a preliminary way the international organization of anthropology with a view to uncovering ways and means of strengthening United States participation. It was realized, however, that the members did not have the necessary background information. The Committee office subsequently corresponded with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris and with other agencies which could supply relevant data. The writer also took the opportunity to make a sabbatical trip abroad in 1957-58 in order to discuss problems of international organization with scholars in a number of countries in Europe, south Asia, and the south Pacific. Various anthropologists in and outside the Committee supplied useful information, and library materials relating to the international organization have been examined. The concern in this paper will be primarily with nongovernmental scholarly organizations, but references will be made in passing to international governmental bodies which sometimes act as their sponsors, give financial subventions, or otherwise encourage their work. It will also be understood that this is a personal statement, and not a formal report on this topic by the Committee. Undoubtedly most familiar to American anthropologists are the various international Congresses. Central here is the International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, founded in 1933, and meeting every four years. (The Sixth Congress will be held in Paris, July 31 to August 7, 1960.) This body has as parent the International Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology, founded at La Spezia in 1865. At its Basle meeting in 1932 the decision was made to divide its activities between two Congresses, one for the Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, spoken of here, the other for the Prehistoric and Protohistoric Sciences, to be noted later. Additionally, there are a number of other Congresses which deal with topics or regions and which draw anthropologists to their meetings; in some in-