History of Anthropology Network (HOAN)

The History of Anthropology Network (HOAN) is based within the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) and set up to facilitate research among and communication between anthropologists, historians and other scholars interested in the history of anthropology – a topic that in principle has no boundaries, in scope, era, or regions covered. The network’s aims are to organise panels during the biennial conferences of EASA, as well as mid-term workshops of network members and associates during intervening years, to share information about research on the history of anthropology among the network’s members, to set up a circle of correspondents across Europe, to list and evaluate anthropological archives, and to publish news about events and publications in an independent newsletter or in the History of Anthropology Review (HAR) published online in the USA. Contacts with colleagues in other parts of the world will be encouraged. The Network has (at least) two convenors from different countries, one of whom acts as secretary, as well as an advisory board and a circle of correspondents. Every two years network members elect the network convenors during a business meeting at the biennial EASA conferences.

Background

The History of Anthropology Network (HOAN) was relaunched in 2016 after the 14th biennial EASA conference held at Milan, 20-23 July 2016. It was preceded by the History of European Anthropology Network (HEAN), founded during the 2nd EASA conference at Prague in August 1992. After panels convened on the “History of European Anthropology” at the EASA conferences in Coimbra (1 September 1990), Prague (29-30 August 1992) and Oslo (24-27 June 1994), the network became inactive. Panels on the subject were organised at the 8th conference in Vienna (2004) and the 9th in Bristol (2006), which were both published, as were the results of the Prague workshop. But it was not until the 13th conference, which took place at Tallinn in 2014, before a panel on the history of anthropology was convened again, by David Shankland and Andrés Barrera-González. At the conference in Milan, two panels on “Themes in the History of Anthropology” were convened by David Shankland and Aleksandar Bošković on the one hand, and Andrés Barrera-González and Han F. Vermeulen on the other. Plans were made by both teams of convenors to re-activate the history of anthropology network and 48 colleagues attending the sessions signed a letter of support. A proposal to EASA’s Executive Committee for reviving the previous network under a new, more general name, dated 2 November 2016, was approved on 9 December 2016.

Scope

Given the rising interest in the history of anthropology, in Europe, the Americas and Russia, and its clear relevance for current theoretical debates in anthropology, the time is right to provide the subject with an institutional base and facilitate ongoing research initiatives in Europe. The History of Anthropology Network (HOAN) within EASA is set to work alongside: (1) the online History of Anthropology Review (HAR); (2) the History of Anthropology Interest Group within the American Anthropological Association (HOAIG); (3) the Histories of Anthropology Annual series (HOAA), edited by Regna Darnell and Frederic W. Gleach and published by the University of Nebraska Press; (4) the Critical Studies in the History of anthropology series, edited by Regna Darnell and Robert Oppenheim; (5) the Anthropology’s Ancestors series, edited by Aleksandar Bošković, Berghahn Books; the World Anthropologies Network (WAN), founded by Gustavo Lins Ribeiro and Arturo Escobar in 2002–03; (6) scholars presenting HoA-related papers during the biennial conferences of Russian ethnographers and anthropologists; (7) members of the History of Anthropology Working Group within the German Anthropological Association (DGSKA), covering Germany, Austria, and Switzerland; (8) historians of anthropology in the United Kingdom, participating in David Shankland’s conferences on the history of the Royal Anthropological Institute; (8) scholars contributing to the Methodology & History in Anthropology series, edited by David Parkin, David Gellner, and Nayanika Mathur and published by Berghahn Books; (9) BEROSE International Encyclopaedia of the Histories of Anthropology, which includes the series of e-books Les Carnets de Bérose; (10) the History of Anthropology Working Group, an outgrowth of HAR within the Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine. From 2020, HOAN is also connected to the "Historical Approaches in Cultural Analysis Working Group" (HACA) within SIEF International Society for Ethnology and Folklore, with Hande Birkalan-Gedik as liaison between HOAN and HACA. The History of Anthropology Network (HOAN) was reestablished within EASA in 2016.

HOAN Advisory Board

Alan Barnard † (UK)
Regna Darnell (Canada)
Nélia Dias (Portugal)
Fabiana Dimpflmeier (Italy)
Virginia R. Dominguez (USA)
Andre Gingrich (Austria)
Ulf Hannerz (Sweden)
Grażyna Kubica-Heller (Poland)
Adam Kuper (UK)
Benoît de L'Estoile (France)
Herbert S. Lewis (USA)
Gustavo Lins Ribeiro (Brazil)
Frederico Rosa Delgado (Portugal)
David Shankland (UK)
Petr Skalník (Czech Republic)
John Tresch (USA)
Han F. Vermeulen (Germany)
Rosemary Lévy Zumwalt (USA)

Circle of Correspondents

Georgios Agelopoulos (Greece),
Sergei Alymov (Russia),
Dmitry Arzyutov (Arctic and Siberian Studies),
Synnøve Kristine Nepstad Bendixsen (Norway),
Alina Branda (Romania),
Michael Edwards (Australia),
Katja Geisenhainer (Germany),
Ivan Grkeš (Croatia),
Sergei A. Kan (USA),
Ildikó Kristóf (Hungary),
Christine Laurière (France),
Patrícia Ferraz de Matos (Portugal),
Marko Pišev (Serbia),
Peter Rohrbacher (Austria),
Vida Savoniakaitė (Lithuania),
Peter Schröder (Brazil),
Ali Sipahi (Turkey),
Peter G.A. Versteeg (Netherlands),
Filip Wróblewski (Poland),
Filippo M. Zerilli (Italy),