Paper short abstract:

Why could the IUAES not deliver what the WCAA’s founders sought and what was the IUAES offering a decade ago? What has been the consequence for the IUAES of the WCAA’s establishment? How might two organisations reinforce the face of anthropology in a 21st century globalising world?

Paper long abstract:

When, a decade ago, the World Council of Anthropological Associations (WCAA) was established, the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) had already been in existence for over fifty years. The paper considers some of the reasons for the appearance of what some regarded as a 'new boy on the block' - both contextual, in terms of the specifics then of globalising processes, and specific as regards the then functioning of the IUAES and its public face. It considers some of the concerns that the 'new boy's' appearance created and discusses the processes through which the relationship between the two organisations has slowly been developing. In doing that, it also discusses the value for attempts to strengthen and reinforce the public face of anthropology in the contemporarily globalised world of having two organisations working in parallel, as well as the challenges that that circumstance brings.