The SAE was first conceived in 1986 and its first elections as a section of the AAA were held in the Fall of 1987. The purposes of the organization, as announced in the organizing letter that went out to colleagues in 1986, were:

• Strengthening national and international networks between colleagues.
• Providing forums for discussion and debate
• Encouraging comparative research
• Enhancing the visibility and legitimacy of Europeanist anthropology, both within the discipline and among other Europeanist groups
• Facilitating dissemination of information about employment opportunities, grants, visiting European scholars, and other resources
• Promoting the professional integration of students specializing in Europe.

Anastasia Karakasidou
Current President of the SAE

Even as the European Union unifies much of the continent, the peoples and states of Europe retain their cultural variety and social and political differences. In some countries churches are being reconsecrated after decades of state atheism; in others, churches are being converted into bars, restaurants and clubs as societies move towards secularism. Newly immigrant Muslim populations in France, Germany, Holland and Great Britain outnumber the long established ones of the Balkans. Issues of belonging and othering, of social justice and market economics, of cultural innovation and conservative nationalism, are central to understanding Europe, and at the heart of key theoretical debates in anthropology globally. The SAE is the section of the American Anthropological Association that promotes the anthropological study of European societies and cultures, in its own journal and other publication projects, through discussion on H-SAE, and through sponsored panels at the AAA meetings. We encourage anthropologists worldwide whose work focuses on Europe to join in our efforts.

Anastasia Karakasidou
Associate Professor of Anthropology
Wellesley College
SAE President 2006-08

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Last revised 04/10/08