Message from the SWAA President
Erin Stiles, SWAA President 2009-2010
Greetings from Reno!
I am delighted to be the new president of SWAA, and I find myself looking forward to a busy and exciting year at the helm of the association. This year, SWAA will be addressing a number of important issues, many of which center on increasing membership and expanding our presence throughout the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. In an initial effort to enhance publicity, we have recently launched a Facebook page for SWAA, which has already attracted a great deal of interest from anthropologists in the region and beyond. The page will not replace the website or newsletter, but will rather serve as an informal means of updating interested parties on SWAA activities and events, and it is our hope that “fans” of SWAA on Facebook will consider formally joining the association and becoming active members.
Another goal of SWAA is to reestablish the association’s commitment to four-field anthropology and to increase conference participation across the sub-disciplines and among practicing anthropologists. With that in mind, and in keeping with the broadly appealing themes of the last few meetings, the theme for the 2010 conference is Place, Space, Environment, Climate: Humanity and a Changing Planet. Our changing climate is the most critical issue of our time, and it is our conviction that anthropologists can make an important and unique contribution to understanding the human factor in and human response to environmental change both today and in the past. We thus invite submissions that touch on this theme in any way. The dates for the 2010 conference are April 29–May 1. Preparations are well under way, and the call for papers will be out within the next month or two; we will also be announcing the banquet speaker soon.
Best wishes to all for a fruitful fall!
Erin Stiles
SWAA President 2009–2010