The College of Ethnologists and Social Anthropologists A.C.

The College of Ethnologists and Social Anthropologists A.C. is a professional organization created by the Constitutive Assembly of July 25, 1974. Legally recognized as a professional college by the General Profession Direction of the Public Education Secretary (Mexico) since 1976, the College has an official place in Mexico City, judicial personality, its own patrimony, and indefinite duration.

The main objectives of the COLLEGE are:

• To watch over and procure professional exercises.
• To promote and divulgate basic and applied research of social anthropology, ethnology, and ethnohistory.
• To advocate that its members obtain fair economic retributions for their professional work.
• To serve as arbiter between professionals in the discipline.
• To promote relationships among professional colleges and associations, national and international.

According to the statute that governs it, the superior authority of C.E.A.S is the General Assembly, whose decisions should be respected and performed explicitly by the members of the College. The other two authorities responsible for its administration and guidance are the Vigilance Committee and Principal Council.

Additionally, C.E.A.S. has several internal commissions - some permanent and others lasting only until fulfilment their objectives. A few of the permanent commissions are: the Human Rights Commission, created in 1989 principally to defend the rights of indigenous people; the Commission of Visual Anthropology, which reunites anthropologists interested in the development of this form of communication in our profession; and the Commission of Expertise, which has contributed to the recognition and utility of specialized knowledge of anthropologists to solve legal issues.

Since its foundation 30 years ago, C.E.A.S has registered three hundred members (Mexicans and foreign residents in Mexico) who are professionals in ethnology, social anthropology and ethnohistory. Members work in teaching and research institutions and different branches of public administration.

Distinguished members of the College have accomplished a significant and important role in old and new fields of anthropology, and they have created and lead research institutions for the social sciences research in Mexico. Among our founding members who constitute the foundation of this College, we remember the late Ángel Palerm, Guillermo Bonfil, Arturo Warman and Luis Reyes.

ACTIVITIES AND RECENT GOALS OF C.E.A.S.

In the last three decades, the College has undertaken several activities related to the vigilance, defense, support and promotion of the exercise of academic ethnology, social anthropology, and ethnohistory.

The College has organized several academic events and discussion forums worth mentioning:

• Research and discussion forums on the activities of the Summer Linguistics Institute.
• Roundtables for the discussion of the professional practices of anthropology.
• A seminar on indigenous rights and anthropological expertise.
• Roundtables and discussion forums on genocide, ethnocide of different world cultures, indigenous people and public politics, indigenous autonomy confronting peasant realities, and new problems and definitions of indigenous people.
• The seminar “Rethinking Anthropology: Professionalization, Research, Scholarship and Ethics in Contemporary Anthropology.”
• A diploma (intensive course) about Western indigenous people, public politics and development.
• Promotion and organization of the inter-institutional cathedra “Arturo Warman” in coordination with six academic institutions.
• The meeting on visual anthropology and homage to Jean Rouch, “The Camera as Poetry and Truth.”

Some of these meetings, to which the College contributed, constitute the axis of implementation of transcendental measures. Others include:

• In September 1979, the cancellation of the contract between the Mexican Government and the Summer Linguistics Institute.
• In 1990, participation in the creation of the Latin American Association of Anthropology in Brazil.
• In 1992, the modification of article 4 of the Mexican Constitution acknowledging the country’s multiethnic characteristics, which recognized the cultural rights of different ethnic groups.

The College edits and periodically publishes a bulletin, an informative medium which contains articles about themes relevant to professional praxis. The College also publishes the electronic bulletin VOCEAS: “Las voces “ (The Voices) of the College of Ethnologists and Social Anthropologists, which is a medium to divulge news of interest to the guild.

Some of the published books are: Dominación ideológica y ciencia social. El I.L.V. en Mexico [Ideological Domination and Social Science. The I.L.V in Mexico], (1979); El patrimonio cultural nacional, su convservación y protección [The National Cultural Patrimony, its conservation and protection], (1987, in collaboration with El Colegio Mexicano de Antropólogos); Anuario de Etnología y Antropología Social. Vol. I y Vol. II [Yearbook of Ethnology and Social Anthropology] (1988 and 1989); and, Foro y Discusión de la propuesta de reforma constitucional para reconocer los derechos culturales de los pueblos indígenas de México [Forum and Discusión of the proposal of constitutional reform to recognize cultural rights of indigenous people of Mexico] (1989, in collaboration with El Colegio Mexicano de Antropólogos and Escuela Nacional de Antropología.

Other publications are printed under the name Serie Biografías: Los maestros de la antropología Mexicana [Biographical Series: Professors of Mexican Anthropology]. The collection was planned for new generations of anthropologists so they can know the trajectory and importance of relevant anthropologists who have contributed to theory, method, and practice in the discipline. The total number of biographies is six: Ángel Palerm Vich, by Jorge Alonso Sánchez; José Luis Lorenzo, by Lorena Miranbell y Jaime Litvak; José Lameiras, by Andrés Fábregas Puig; Henry Valencia Valencia, profesor comprometido [Henry Valencia Valencia, compromised professor], by Ángeles Uriega Ponce de León; Larissa Adler Lomnitz. Antropóloga Latinoamericana [Larissa Adler Lomnitz. Latin American Anthropologists], by Guillermo de la Peña Topete; and, Mercedes Olivera, etnohistoriadora propositiva, by María de los Ángeles Romero Frizzi.

By agreement, thanks to the support of Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS), the College has an established place in the building of that institution.


ADVISORY BOARD

2005 - 2007

President: Fernando Salmerón Castro
Vicepresident: Laura Valladares de la Cruz
Secretary of Organization: Guadalupe Escamilla Hurtado
Substitute: Ángeles Uriega Ponce de León
Technical Secretary: Luis Alfonso Ramírez
Substitute: Pedro José Bracamonte y Sosa
Treasurer: Teresa Rojas Rabiela
Subtreasurer: Arnulfo Embriz
Vigilance Committee: Antonio Escobar Ohmstede, Carmen Bueno Castellano

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Contact info

CEAS, AC

Juarez 87, Col. Tlalpan, Mexico DF, CP 14000
Apartado Postal 22-230, Tlalpan, Mexico DF

email: ceasac@yahoo.com
http://www.ceas.org.mx