Welcome back: The return of the Panafrican Congress

Abstract

It was indeed a pleasure to attend the Congress of the Panafrican As sociation for Prehistory and Related Studies, which met in Harare, Zim babwe, from 18 to 23 June 1995. The pleasure arose from a number of factors: first, the papers provided abundant evidence of the health of Af rican archaeology; second, Gilbert Pwiti, Innocent Pikirayi, Webber Ndoro, Robert Soper, and others had done such a good job of organizing it at the University of Zimbabwe; third (and perhaps most important), it was good to see it back again, for this was the first Panafrican Congress since the one in Jos, Nigeria, in 1983. The Zimbabwean authorities are to be con gratulated on the success of the Congress, and the University of Zimbabwe, in association with the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, deserves particular thanks for its hospitality. The "Panafrican Congress," as it has become known for short (its full name was always long, was usually in French as well as English, and has changed over time), first met in Nairobi in 19472 and subsequently met at intervals of approximately 4 years: at Algiers in 1952, at Livingstone m 1955, at Leopoldville (Kinshasa) in 1959, at Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1963, at Dakar in 1967, and at Addis Ababa in 1971. The intervals then length ened considerably, with meetings at Nairobi in 1977, at Jos in 1983, and now at Harare in 1995. The Congress always provided a major opportunity to see where the subject was going and to meet and talk with friends and colleagues from many parts of Africa and from other parts of the world.