Hello all,
At the last SHAs in Baltimore I met a fellow Italian who was presenting in one of the maritime/underwater sessions. In talking about the reach of the organization, he mentioned that there is a significant number of historical archaeologists across Europe who follow SHA but rarely have had the funding to participate. For the coming meetings in Leicester, he was committing himself to organizing a southern Mediterranean session and to encouraging as many archs as possible to attend. 
I think the trans-Atlantic tension (expensive meetings for whichever side has to do the crossing) will always be there, which is why it is important for the Society to commit to meetings on both sides of the pond. We are not WAC, but judging from the number of discussions on HISTARCH about the "meaning" of historical archaeology, to deny that there are common origins and processes between us is to deny the deepest themes of our discipline - from diasporas to Atlantic World trade, to identity and beyond. Some of the current limitations in North American histarch, and similar isolationist tendencies in European archaeology, can only be ameliorated by this exposure. 

Giovanna Vitelli








-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alasdair Brooks
Sent: 05 May 2012 05:02
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: SHA Session on Traveling

As both an SHA officer and the Program Chair for Leicester I'm obviously exceptionally biased, but I would reiterate what Philip Levy notes (see below).

On a purely personal 'speaking only for myself' level, I recognise that the Leicester conference represents a significant expense for many North American colleagues.

But while holding the SHA conference in Leicester may present challenges for some of our North American members, it represents an excellent opportunity for British and continental European colleagues to participate in an SHA conference, and for North American and European colleagues to engage with each other in a manner that's usually impossible at a North America venue that usually represents a significant - often impossible - expense for Europeans.

Given that this is only the second time that SHA has left North America (I'm imperfectly including Jamaica as 'North American'), I hardly think that 2 non-North American conferences in the almost 50 year history of our society represents a wholly unfair geographical balance given the international nature of our discipline.

And historical archaeology is genuinely international.  On a personal level I've just returned from the truly excellent Argentinian Historical Archaeology Congress in Buenos Aires, SPMA often travels outside the UK (including conferences in North America), I'm presenting in a historical archaeology session at the EAA meeting in Helsinki this September, and I always enjoyed ASHA conferences when I was living and working in Australia.

We look forward to warmly welcoming as many as possible of our North American colleagues in Leicester this coming January, and hope you'll enjoy the extensive opportunities to network with colleagues from other continents.  We've already received several excellent symposium submissions from colleagues in both North America and Europe, and this promises to be an exciting conference for everyone who attends.

If nothing else, we can promise you significantly better beer than we usually get at an SHA conference ;)

Alasdair Brooks

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Date:    Fri, 4 May 2012 14:56:13 -0400
From:    "Levy, Philip" <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: SHA Session on Traveling

And, to be fair--it is cheaper this year for our British friends and colleagues who normally have to pony up more than we Americans do year by year. 
PL