Robert L Schuyler wrote:

>         I like the comments, both open on the List and private, about
> possible overseas SHA meeting venues. However, there is a MAJOR problem.
> Over 90% of the SHA membership is, I think, in North America and a large
> unit of this membership are our Student Members. They can not afford too
> expensive airtickets. For example, even places like Alaska and, probably,
> Panama are out for that reason.

This was an issue that at some point we would have had to acknowledge if
we had gone ahead with a York bid.  In the long term, the theory was
that increased European student participation at such a major
international conference would have compensated somewhat for the lack of
North American student participation.  From another perspective, North
American students have a far more regular opportunity to attend SHA
conferences than their European counterparts.  This is only right as
such a high percentage of the membership is based in North America - but
an occasional overseas (other than the Caribbean) conference (once every
10-15 years?) might well address the wider issues.

From purely practical terms, if I remember the figures correctly, East
Coast SHA conferences are better attended than their western
counterparts.  In my experience, flying to Britain (and other parts of
Europe) from New York can sometimes be cheaper than flying to the West
Coast.

In the long term, our Australasian, African, Asian and South American
colleagues may well have something to say about this as well.

Also in the long term - and I know I can harp on about this at times -
if overseas meetings were to become a reality, the SHA would need to
consider whether it wanted to be a continental or international
organisation.  If the latter, then international membership would need
to be far broader than it is now.

Actually, and this is purely off the top of my head, a better solution
might be for a "World Historical Archaeology Conference" hosted every
five years (or so) by a different continental or national society.  This
would remove the vexed issue of making sure societies weren't stepping
on each others toes, would remove the possibility of the charge of
academic/intellectual imperialism being levelled against any
organisation, and would provide a genuinely broad-based framework for
propagating and spreading historical archaeology.  The three
organisations best placed to help organise such a conference in the
short term (and I stress I'm having this idea as I type) would be the
SHA, SPMA, and Australasian SHA.  Perhaps there could be a four part
rotation... North America, Europe, Australasia, and then any one of
Africa, South America, and Asia filling up the fourth spot.

Just an idea - and North Americans would have to be prepared to interact
with a lot of archaeologists who don't quite understand this strange
obsession with anthropology if they came to this side of the pond...
(joke! joke!)

>         This factor is a real problem. However, I agree SHA IS international,
> as is the discipline, and so we should explore meetings outside of Greater
> North America. What about Bermuda (part way inbetween?)? Are tickets to
> London that bad in the Winter (and from there to York or Dublin etc. via
> local systems)?

Ticket prices are also increased from this side of the Atlantic by a 60
pound (US$96) tax on tickets to the USA (and possibly Canada).
I imagine most Irish attendees would choose to fly straight from Dublin
or Shannon Airports rather than through London.  Scots would probably
choose to fly from Glasgow. From York I fly from Manchester whenever
possible - a ticket from Manchester to Montreal costs c.US$550.  My
ticket to DC (from Manchester) next week is about US$350 - but that's a
special fare on Air France via Charles de Gaulle (Paris Airport)

> I find it odd that York would not have a large enough hotel
> (William Wallace?).

You're not the only one - appropriate facilities was also an issue.
Most major academic conferences here are actually held on campus - but
the standard of accomodation (and lack of en-suite facilities) there is
not quite what SHA conference attendees have come to expect.  And for
the record, the sacking of York is just one of the gratuitous historical
errors in "Braveheart" - Wallace actually sacked Durham.  So there. ;-)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alasdair Brooks
Department of Archaeology
University of York
King's Manor
York
YO1 7EP
England, UK
phone: 01904 433931
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Buffalo tastes the same on both sides of the border"
Sitting Bull