Charles Susanne

In 1973, a number of anthropologists from different European countries gathered together in an informal meeting (during the IXth International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, held in Chicago at that time), and exchanged their first thoughts on the development of a European Association for Anthropology.
But, the very first initiative to explore the possibility of creating a new society, took place in Saint Germain-en-Laye (Paris) on April 25-26, 1975, during a meeting organised by B. Chiarelli. This meeting was attended by J. Dastugue, A. Eriksson, G. Olivier, J. Palsson, P. Riquet, F.W. Rösing, P. Rudan, T. Sjovold, C. Susanne, A. Thoma and J. Wind (photo). During that meeting it was concluded that it was time to create better facilities for communication among European anthropologists, to stimulate more intense cooperation between European anthropologists and scientists of related disciplines, and to provide a better dissemination of European Anthropology over the world.

In order to stimulate cooperation between scientists and institutions, the participants started with agreeing upon the publication of a Newsletter, twice a year. In the very first Newsletter, edited by C. Susanne, the goals were stated as follows: "This Newsletter is expected to be a successful tool in an international scientific cooperation among physical anthropologists and scientists of related disciplines, but it could not be successful without your cooperation ". This statement appears to be, nowadays, even more actual than ever.

The second meeting occurred during the same year on November 19, 1975 during the 14th Yugoslav Congress of Anthropologists organised in Zagreb by H. Maver and P. Rudan. Sixteen colleagues were present and adopted a motion proposed by F.W. Rösing concerning the Newsletter. Among others, the resolution stated, "The Newsletter project is a very good step towards a better communication among European anthropologists. This effort for more open means of communication certainly ultimately aims at an integration of the members of our science. The aim we would keep in mind is a stimulation of cooperation among physical anthropologists and an integration of European sciences. Rösing also thought that the next step towards the realisation of this aim was the formation of a European Society of Physical Anthropology. A Commission was established to examine the feasibility of the creation of such an association. This commission was composed by: B. Chiarelli, G. Olivier (President), J. Palsson, A. Poulianos, D. Roberts, F.W. Rösing, P. Rudan, T. Sjovold, C. Susanne, and N. Wolanski.

A third meeting took place in Brussels on May 14-15, 1976. The possibility for establishing a constitution of a European association was examined, and the essential goals were further defined. The results of a questionnaire, filled out by 39 institutions, were analysed. It was further decided to have periodical meetings, every two years, to promote the Yearbook through the Journal of Human Evolution, to patronage schools (i.e. School of Biological Anthropology in Zagreb, International School of Human Biology in Erice), and to promote workshops and symposia organised by European institutions.

The nominated committee met on October 7, 1976 in Zagreb under the Presidency of G. Olivier, who, after discussion, declared the foundation of the European Anthropological Association. The EAA was born, and a first draft of the statutes was published in the 4th Newsletter.

Organisational meetings followed, such as on February 25, 1977 in Paris, and on April 18-20 in Fiesole (Firenze; photo). But the first Congress, as well as the first General Assembly of the EAA, took place on September 1-3, 1977 in Zagreb (photo), where the link with East European countries was discussed, and where the principles of Local Treasurers / National Representatives for these countries were accepted. With a unanimous vote, the GA elected the first Board: President: G. Olivier (France) – Vice-Presidents: J. Huizinga (the Netherlands), H. Maver (Yugoslavia), D. Roberts (UK), N. Wolanski (Poland) - General Secretary: B. Chiarelli (Italy) – Adjunct-Secretaries for the EYPA: R. Knussmann with the cooperation of G. Olivier, for the European section of the Journal Human. Evolution: R. Knussmann (Germany), and for the Newsletter: C. Susanne (Belgium) - Treasurer: C. Susanne (Belgium).

In the 7th Newsletter (February 1978), the list of the 103 founder members, as well as the statutes, were published.

• In the beginning of the life of our association, many Council meetings were organised, i.e.:
  June 19, 1978 in Paris where the decision was taken that English would the official language of the EAA (it was initially thought to use English, French and the local language of the congress organiser). It was also decided in Paris that national meetings would occur in odd years, alternating with the EAA congress in the even years, in order to avoid overlap.

• October 3, 1978 in Zagreb, where essentially minor changes of the statutes were accepted.

• September 4, 1979 in Humpolec, where a new Board was elected for 1980-1981.

The second congress of the EAA was organised in Brno by J. Jelinek (photo). The congress was essentially dealing with human evolution as well as with secular trends. From this moment on, the EAA was starting a more "regular life" with:

• Congresses every 2 years (see Table 1): (photos)

• Councils elected by mail every 2 years and Board elected by the council (see list of successive Boards in Table 2).

• Council meetings and GA during each EAA congress.

• Council meetings in the odd years during a national congress; (photos)

• Election of O. Eiben en D.F. Roberts as Honorary Members (see also Table 3; photo).

G. Olivier's dedication and zeal were certainly of utmost importance for the start of our association, and also during the first meetings in which many common research projects were discussed and collaboration was reinforced.
Within the ambit of the Journal of Human Evolution, the Association then promoted a Yearbook of Anthropology in Europe, as well as an issue exclusively dedicated to the contributions of European anthropologists. A Committee of European Anthropologists, whose Chairman was Georges Olivier, took the responsibility of this publication.
Numerous activities were related to the EAA, or organised within the framework of the EAA:

• From 1987, the Erasmus programme on Human Ecology (Presided by C. Bernis).

• From 1988, the Erasmus programme of Departments of Biology (Presided by C. Susanne)

• Collaborations granted by the EU as well as, later on, with Tempus programmes.

At anthropological level, we could organise

• Three Summer Schools of Anthropology (coordinated by M.-D. Garralda).

• A Master in Anthropology and Human Biology (coordinated by C. Susanne).

• Many colloquia, such as in Jena (still DDR at that time) (coordinated by Uwe Jaeger), in Brno (coordinated by Jan Benes), and many other seminars.

The link has always been kept through the newsletters which were edited by C. Susanne from 1975 till 1990, by R. Hauspie from 1991 till 1998, and by E. Bodzsar since then.

A useful tool of the EAA is of course the website, which was started up in 2002 (the database is in fact already of 1990) and is maintained by R. Hauspie since then. An important part of this website is the interactive list of our membership containing full information on our member’s affiliation, but also on their fields or research.
A goal of the EAA remains also the link with the different national organisations, and with “daughter “ groups such as Global Bioethics (http://utopia.duth.gr/~xirot/BIOETHICS/), or the group GRANDI (groupement latin d’anthropologie didactique (www.didac.ehu.es/antropo)

We are confronted with a new Europe, and we have the responsibility to make the future EAA as successful as it has been in the past decades, such as shown in this short history.

This history is dedicated to two friends who passed away during the year 2004 (photo).