The AALS meeting will be held in conjunction with the 45th Annual Conference of the Western Social Science Association. Las Vegas is an ideal meeting locale for our international AALS meeting -- a vibrant desertoasis metropolis that draws visitors from around the globe. In keeping with the character of our host city, the theme for the upcoming meeting is "Desert Identities -- Indigenous, Imported, and Invented."

Presentations can address this theme from many perspectives ­ for example, historical, economic, geographical, sociological, political, hydrological or meteorological. However, like Las Vegas itself, the AALS meeting theme is very eclectic and flexible; therefore, papers on any topic relating to the study of arid and semi-arid lands worldwide are invited.

Anyone interested in presenting a paper, and/or proposing an entire session on any aspect of arid lands studies, should direct all enquiries, and submit proposals, to the address below.

The deadline for all paper and session proposals is November 15th, 2002. Electronic submissions can be sent to the email address below. Abstracts are published for the meetings. Please contact the Program Chair for an electronic format for abstracts, or for a paper copy of the abstract format.

Registration with the Western Social Science Association should be completed by March 15, and completed papers should be sent to the AALS program chair by March 25, 2003. Further conference details will be forthcoming on the WSSA website.

Papers presented at the conference are eligible for publication in the Forum of the Association for Arid Lands Studies, now in its 18th volume, provided they meet the deadlines and editorial standards through a double-blind review. The journal is published by the International Center for Arid and Semiarid Land Studies (ICASALS), Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX.