Deborah Reed-Danahay
President of the SAE, 2010-12
The Society for the Anthropology of Europe will soon reach its 25th anniversary, and it seems like only yesterday that a small group of us were talking about forming an association among anthropologists who studied a part of the world that was not frequently used in the same sentence with the word anthropology (linked more often with the study of nonwestern societies). Things have changed dramatically over these two decades, and our activities and research interests continue to shift along with both our discipline of anthropology and our research context of Europe. As I write these words in November 2010, Europe and the nations within it are suffering from financial woes and conflicts over immigration, and dealing with the recent expansion of the European Union. There are debates about what constitutes “Europe” and what it means to be “European,” about what the future might bring, and about the articulation of regions, nations, and the European Union. Anthropologists of Europe are interested in the implications of these issues and others for the everyday lives of people living in villages, towns and cities in Europe. But they also do research on wider structural and institutional contexts. Topics for study are as broad-ranging as ever in Europeanist anthropology.
The SAE is the section of the American Anthropological Association that promotes the anthropological study of European societies and cultures and encourages connections between scholars working in Europe. Its activities include publication projects, H-SAE listserv, an annual book prize, student paper prize, predissertation research fellowship, sponsored panels and networking luncheons at the AAA meetings, and networks based on topical and geographic interests. We are also currently exploring some new initiatives. SAE has connections to the Council for European Studies (CES) and the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA). We encourage transatlantic collaborations and welcome student members. Let me personally extend an invitation to anthropologists worldwide whose work focuses on Europe to join SAE and to sign up for the H-SAE listserv.
Deborah Reed-Danahay
Professor of Anthropology
University at Buffalo
State University of New York
