Second Circular
The Society of Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA) 11th Biennial conference organizing committee invites you to the next SAfA conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
June 20th to 23rd 2012
'Exploring Diversity, Discovering Connections'
Deadline for abstract submissions is December 15th, 2011
Please only submit one first-authored presentation per individual
The program includes a pre-conference day on Wednesday, June 20th that offers the options either attending the student session or going on a local excursion. The student session will be run by the graduate student representatives of SAfA, Justin Pargeter (Justin.pargeter@gmail.com) and Adrienne Daggette (daggetta@gmail.com) if you wish to contact them for further details.
Pre conference excursion
Beginning at 8 am on Wednesday, June 20th we will tour the local heritage and natural wonders of southwestern Ontario. First we will visit the reconstructed Crawford Lake Iroquoian Village for a guided tour of Pre-European maize horticulturists, including their famed longhouses. We will proceed to the beautiful Niagara region for lunch at the Queenston Heights restaurant, with a view of the Niagara River flowing into Lake Ontario. After lunch we will visit Old Fort Erie, where commemoration of the 200 year anniversary of the war of 1812 will be underway. Our final destination is one of the wonders of the world, Niagara Falls. We plan to return to Toronto by 7 pm. Cost will be $80per person, with printed materials, admission to attractions and lunch included. Registration for the excursion will be through the www.uofttix.ca website.
Poster Presentations
We encourage participants to consider submitting abstracts for posters. A space will be provided at the venue for the posters to be mounted so that they can be visited during tea breaks. Information on maximum size of posters will be available soon.
Plenary and Post-Conference Event
During the SAfA meeting, a distinguished panel of Richard Lee, Nancy Howell, John Yellen and Alison Brooks will be discussing archaeological applications of Kalahari fieldwork, harking back to the 1960s. Inspired by our colleagues' willingness to share their thoughts, we have arranged for Sunday, June 24th 2012, immediately after the SAfA conference, to be a reunion (to be filmed) of the Harvard Kalahari cohort. Details of this exciting event will be posted on the website shortly. Please consider prolonging your stay in Toronto to join the audience (free) at "Kalahari Reflections."
Banquet
The traditional conference banquet will be held on the evening of Friday 22nd, 2012. It will be hosted by Victoria College in their very impressive Burwash Dining Hall.
Registration
You can now register and pay online at www.uofttix.ca. We urge people to first become a member of SAfA http://www.safa.rice.edu/membership.cfm for the nominal fee of $15 in order to obtain the reduced member registration fee of $169.50 and student fee at $84.75 (Provincial and federal taxes included).
Travelling to Toronto
There are several options for flying into Toronto. Many international flights arrive and depart from Toronto's Pearson International Airport (YYZ). Travel through Buffalo International Airport is also feasible, and flights can be much less expensive. Buffalo is about 100 miles from Toronto, and is in the United States. If you decide to fly in to Buffalo, you can reserve the bus trip to Toronto ahead of time with Niagara Airbus (niagaraairbus.com). It will take about two hours,perhaps a bit more. For non-Americans, this route will require entering the USA prior to entering Canada, with suitable documents.
North Americans who live near Chicago, New York, Boston, Montreal and a few other hubs should consider flying with Porter Airlines, who operate out of the Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ) on the Toronto Islands. Porter Airlines have agreed to offer our conference attendees a 20% discount off of their flights when bookings are made online at www.flyporter.com with the Promotional Code "SAAC12". Billy Bishop Airport is a simple streetcar ride from the conference venue and as such, is a convenient option. Air Canada also offers some flights into this airport.
Accommodation
We have booked blocks of rooms at two different facilities with different price points:
The Holiday Inn on Bloor Street is modestly priced by Canadian standards, is a comfortable full service hotel, located about six blocks from the conference site. http://www.holidayinn.com/hotels/us/en/toronto/yyzbs/hoteldetail
Please complete this sheet and submit it to the hotel in order to obtain discounted conference rates. Note that the rooms will be released if not booked by May 19th 2012: Download Form
Victoria College student residences are on site, and so offer great convenience. They are clean and comfortable. Bookings can be made either through the 24-hour Residence Services desk by phone (+1 416-585-4524) or online using a booking form that will be available by the end of January. Please remember to mention the conference to get these rates.
http://www.vicu.utoronto.ca/Hospitality_Services/Summer_Accommodations.htm
Note that they are shared suites; please review their features prior to booking, to avoid surprises
Adult
$59.50 (+ taxes) per single room/per night
$80.50 (+ taxes) per double room/per night
Student/Senior (with proof)
$54.50 (+ taxes) per single room/per night
$75.50 (+ taxes) per double room/per night
Also located very nearby (Bloor Street, closer to the venue than the Holiday Inn) is the Hotel Intercontinental, a popular choice of visiting dignitaries and movie stars http://toronto.intercontinental.com
Proposed Conference Sessions
Note that there are lots of sessions. Please consider whether one of these sessions will provide a suitable venue for your presentation. Contact the chair of any session for further information.
1. Diverse cognitive interpretations of the MSA, chair Lyn Wadley
2. Zooarchaeology in African contexts, chair Genevieve Dewar
3. Northwest African prehistory: recent work, new results and interpretations, chair David Lubell
4. Post-Conflict Archaeology in Africa: Restrictions, Responsibilities and Responses, chair John Giblin
5. Cultural heritage management African in the next 15 years, chair Scott Maceachern
6. The Archaeology of the Iringa region, southern Tanzania, chair Pamela Willoughby
7. Science and Archaeology: Studies Presented in Honor of Nikolaas van der Merwe, chair David Killick
8. Making Meals, Producing Pots: Comparing Craft and Culinary Practice in Africa, chairs Cameron Gokee and Amanda Lee Logan
9. The archaeology of the Maloti-Drakensburg region, chair Peter Mitchell
10. Human bones and teeth in African Archaeological record, chairs Lesley Harrington and Wendy Black
11. Decoding the cultural and biological diversity of the peoples of Kenya, chair Chap Kusimba
12. Ceramic traditions from the Bend of the Niger to the Black Volta, chairs Barbara Frank, Nafogo Coulibaly and Daouda Keita
13. Imaginary Lines: Late Holocene Population Interactions Across Forest and Savanna Boundaries in West and Central Africa, chair Christoopher Kiahtipes
14. The African past 2.0: Approaches to digital Archaeology on the continent, chair Jeff Fleischer
15. GIS applications for Landscape archaeology in Africa, chair Adrianne Daggett
16. People, power, and prejudice in Nineteenth Century Southern Africa, chair Amanda Esterhuysen
17. The Archaeology of the Northern Cape, South Africa, chair David Morris
18. Experimental Archaeology, chair Justin Pargeter
19. The western stream of the Bantu expansion throughout Central Africa: from Brooks to major rivers, papers in honour of Michele Deineuf, chairs Bernard Clist and Pierre de Maret
20. Recent research and findings in Uganda, chair Asmeret Ghenreigziabiher Mehari
21. Mobility and interactions in Africa's recent past, chairs Abigail Smith and Helina Solomon Woldekiros
Themed discussions
1. Nic David: Sub-Saharan iron smelting as Intangible Cultural Heritage and the question of recognition of past cultural achievements under the 2003 UNESCO convention
2. Pete Robertshaw: Teaching African Archaeology to undergraduates
3. Sarah Croucher: Women's and gender Africanist Archaeology Network:
Applying for funding
After the December 15th 2012 abstract deadline we will send an inquiry to those who have indicated on the abstract submission form that they wish to be considered for financial support. Weighing each applicants' locale, status, need and the quality of the abstract submitted we will quickly make an assessment of how to disperse our limited funds and inform each applicant. Costs will be reimbursed. We regret that we cannot disperse funds in advance of the meeting.
Letter of invitation
If you require a letter of invitation for visa purposes, please contact us at the email address given below, providing your name, affiliation, and the intended nature of your participation in the conference.
Website: www.archaeology.utoronto.ca
Email address: safa@utoronto.ca
The Organizing Committee
Committee Chair : Michael Chazen (michael.chazen@utoronto.ca)
Program Committee: Susan Pfeiffer (susan.pfeiffer@utoronto.ca) and David Lubell (dlubell@uwaterloo.ca)
Communications: Genevieve Dewar (genevieve.dewar@utoronto.ca)
Local Arrangements: Michelle Cameron (me.cameron@utoronto.ca)
