The 2009 AGM will be held during the second half of September, on a date to be announced. It will be followed by the 2009 Curl Lecture, to be given by Dr Joost Fontein of Edinburgh University. Dr Fontein’s provisional title is ‘Graves, ruins and belonging in southern Zimbabwe: Towards an anthropology of proximity’. We expect to announce full details of the AGM in the June and August issues of AT.
The Huxley Lecturer and Medallist for 2009 will be Professor Ian Hodder (details tba).
The seminar series ‘Reviewer meets reviewed’, co-organized by the RAI and the Centre for Anthropology at the British Museum, was inaugurated on 12 February at the Centre. The idea behind the series is to bring together the authors of books reviewed in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute and their reviewers, for a discussion with an invited audience. See above for a report on the inaugural event.
The RAI’s Educational Outreach Programme contributed to the 2009 ESRC Festival of Social Science by organizing two public events: ‘The social life of plants’ and ‘Exploring food: Connecting communities’, held at the Royal Botanic Gardens (Kew) and the British Museum on 7 and 8 March respectively. Both events attracted large and responsive audiences drawn from the general public. A series of related film screenings (‘upstairs@therai’), also open to the public, followed the events.
The Educational Outreach programme has also produced two useful brochures: Discover anthropology! A guide and Careers in anthropology: A guide. Copies can be obtained by contacting the Education Officer on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Preparations are in full swing for the 11th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film, to be held in Leeds on 1-4 July (see announcement in this issue of AT). For all enquiries please contact the Film Officer on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The 2009 London Anthropology Day for Schools, organized by the RAI in association with the British Museum, will take place in the Museum’s Clore Education Centre on Thursday 9 July. For details please contact the Education Officer on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Library news and request. The Centre for Anthropology Library and RAI are now able to post regular lists of new book acquisitions on the RAI website. Updated lists will appear monthly. All are encouraged to visit the site on http://www.therai.org.uk for this new service. RAI Fellows may borrow books donated by the RAI. The Library also asks all RAI Fellows who publish books to remember the Library when considering recipients for copies of their work donated by the publisher. Books for donation can be mailed to the Library at: Centre for Anthropology Library, British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG. Copies may also be delivered to the Library between 10.00 and 16.45 (Monday-Wednesday, Friday) and 12.00 and 19.00 (Thursday). Alternatively authors might ask their publisher to donate a copy directly to the Library, as this brings excellent publicity to the publisher.
We have been advised that the second-hand department of Waterstone’s bookshops is always interested in acquiring academic libraries, however large or small. For details contact Philip Youren on 0207 636 1577 x 243, or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
