EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR OCEANISTS (ESO)
The new society, ESO, addresses itself to researchers with a regional interest in Oceania. "Oceania" is defined as including the South Pacific Islands, Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya, Australia and New Zealand, i.e. Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia and Australia.
The society was established on the occasion of the First European Colloquium on Pacific Studies, which was organized by the Centre for Pacific Studies in Nijmegen in December 1992. The board of ESO consists of representatives from European countries where research in Oceania has a firmly established tradition, i.e. Scandinavia, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Spain/Portugal.
The ESO wants to be seen as an interdisciplinary organization; membership is open to anthropologists, linguists, historians, geographers, psychologists and other researchers in the social sciences and humanities. In the context of an increasingly integrated Europe (politically, economically and scientifically) this new society is intended to enhance the intellectual exchange and cooperation between individual researchers and between institutions (universities, museums), both within and outside Europe. This goal is to be achieved by publishing a newsletter, by establishing an information network, and by organizing biennial conferences in the alternating European countries.
We invite you to become a member of ESO. For the present, there is no annual subscription fee. Application forms are available from: Dr. Jürg Wassmann, Institute of Ethnology, University of Basel, Münsterplatz 19, Ch-4051 Basel, Switzerland. Fax: (41)-(61)-2665605.
Interdisciplinary Irian Jaya Studies: ISIR project
In November 1990 The Projects Division of the Department of Languages and Cultures of Southeast Asia and Oceania at Leiden University initiated an interdisciplinary workshop on Irian Jaya. This resulted in a project proposal entitled The Irian Jaya Studies: A Programme for Interdisciplinary Research. In December 1992 the project was accepted for funding by the Netherlands' Organization for Scientific Research and was given the status of a priority programme. Consequently, the programme of interdisciplinary Irian Jaya studies commenced in January 1993, with a budget of Dfl. 6.5 million, for a period of seven years.
The ISIR project has two major aims. Firstly, it aims to increase knowledge of the languages, cultures and history of the population of the "Bird's Head" area, and of the botanical richness and geographic and tectonic development of the area. Secondly, it aims to provide a substantial contribution to Indonesian studies, and to New Guinea studies.
It involves the disciplines of anthropology, archaeology, botany, demography, development administration, geology, and linguistics. From The Netherlands the universities of Amsterdam, Groningen, Leiden and Nijmegen are participating, along with the Cognitive Anthropology Research group at the Max Planck Institute in Nijmegen, the Geological Survey of the Netherlands in Haarlem and the Institute for Perception Research in Eindhoven. From Indonesia, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences and the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Cenderawasih University and the Irian Jaya Study Centre in Jayapura, Bogor Botanic Gardens and Puslitbang Biologi, Geographical Research and Development Centre in Bandung are participating in the project.
At the outset of the project, two working-groups were established: an Alpha-group encompassing anthropology, demography, development administration and linguistics and a Bèta-group encompassing archaeology, botany and geology. The two groups have worked closely together and have held several joint meetings, as well as a two-day workshop on 24 and 25 May 1993. The meetings explored the organizational and methodological interconnections between the various sub- programmes, while the workshop discussed intra- and inter- disciplinary theoretical issues. These discussions generated important insights into possibilities for and limitations of common research projects. The two working groups have so far found more common ground in methodological than in theoretical issues, though each group faces its own particular methodological difficulties. This has partly to do with the fact that geologists and archaeologists work with different time-horizons than, for instance, anthropologists and demographers, as well as the fact that some disciplines have a greater empirical familiarity with the area of investigation than others. In several disciplines, therefore, researchers will have to do more preliminary (intra-disciplinary) work before a more coherent common research strategy can be developed, whereas others can already deal with mutually recognized general theoretical issues, such as cognitive aspects of data in the field of anthropology - ethnobotany - linguistics, or migration considered as a transfer and 'transformation' of people, goods and ideas.
Further information about the project can be obtained from Jelle Miedema (project coordinator), DSALCUL Projects Division, project Irian Jaya Studies, Leiden University, Rapenburg 35, 2311 GG Leiden, The Netherlands.
Source: Jelle Miedema, ISIR Newsletter, No.1, September 1993.
The Year of the Pacific in Poland Andrzej Wawryzyniak, founding director and curator-in-chief of the Asia and Pacific Museum in Warsaw, informs us about a number of exhibitions and related events on the Pacific that will take place in Poland. In 1994 his museum will center its activities on Oceania and Australia. Following the "years" of Indonesia (1990), Mongolia (1991), China (1992) and India (1993), 1994 has been proclaimed 'The Year of the Pacific in Poland'. The programme for this special year includes:
* An exhibition of PNG arts and crafts, 'Papua New Guinea - The Land of the Living Ancestors', at the Asia and Pacific Museum's Nusantara Gallery in Warsaw.
* Two travelling exhibitions by Unesco Headquarters in Paris, 'The Pacific Ways' and 'The Art of Oceania', which will visit many Polish towns.
* 'The Second Australia Week' (following on the first one in 1993) with symposiums, lectures and films on Australia.
* Films and lectures on the Pacific, such as 'The Era of the Pacific', 'Mysticism and Magic in Polynesia', and 'The Mysteries of Easter Island', and a special programme for children called 'On the Wings of the Trade Winds'.
* Various events in remembrance of Polish explorers and ethnographers of the Pacific, including Bronislaw Malinowski, Pawel Edmund Strzelecki, and Jan Kubary. Wawrzyniak writes that the aim of the extensive Pacific programme in Poland is 'to popularise Pacific countries as a necessary precondition to a better and mutually beneficial cooperation and friendship'. He further hopes the 'initiative will open the way to the development of economic cooperation and tourism'. On behalf of the museum he would be very grateful to receive artifacts from the Pacific to enrich the museum's collection and/or publications on the Pacific to include in the library. The address is: Andrzej Wawrzyniak, The Asia and Pacific Museum, ul.Solec 24, 00.403 Warsaw, Poland. Tel. 296724.