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How to Submit a Proposal for a Symposium

All suggestions for Wenner-Gren International Symposia should be sent in the form of a letter to the Foundation's president. Anthropologists who wish to propose a symposium to the Foundation should take note of the following guidelines:

  1. Timing. Proposals for symposia should be received by the Foundation no less than two years before the proposed date for the symposium.
  2. Goals and Objectives:
    • Symposia must aim to make major theoretical or methodological interventions in current issues within anthropology, broadly construed.
    • They must also advance the Foundation's goal of fostering an international community of anthropologists by drawing participants from around the world.
    • The Foundation prefers two organizers for a symposium, ideally from two different countries.
    • The objectives of the symposium should be to coalesce and advance knowledge on the issue, to present and address divergent viewpoints, and to mark out directions for future research.
    • Symposia should show the relevance of basic research in anthropology to analyzing the human condition, past and/or present.
  3. Logistics:
    • Wenner-Gren International Symposia take place twice a year, usually in early March and mid-September.
    • Organizers choose the location from a list of suggested sites provided by the Foundation.
    • The Foundation pays all costs related to the symposium and actively manages it, including sending out invitations and making travel arrangements.
    • The Foundation also works with the symposium organizers and with Berg Publishers to produce the published results of the symposium in the Wenner-Gren International Symposium Series.

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