Formation | pre-1947 |
---|---|
Founder | Louis Leakey |
President | Freda Nkirote |
Website | www |
The PanAfrican Archaeological Association (PAA) is a pan-African professional organisation for archaeologists, geologists and palaeoanthropologists.[1]
The association was founded by Louis Leakey and its first congress was held in Nairobi in January 1947.[2] At the event, Abbé Henri Breuil was elected as the association's first president, and Robert Broom, as vice-president; a constitution was adopted.[2] Three sub-committees were created at the event: geology and climatology, prehistoric archaeology and human palaeontology.[2] Perhaps the most significant action taken at the first congress was the rejection of European geological periods for Africa and the adoption of continent-wide and continent-specific nomenclature.[3]
In 1977 a new constitution was adopted, in order to better reflect the need for the PAA to be constituted by African-born scholars and to reflect their needs.[2]
At the 1983 congress, held at Jos in Nigeria, the PAA passed a resolution condemning apartheid in South Africa and called for a cessation of ties to South African institutions.[4] The resolutions were proposed by John Onyango-Abuje, and seconded by P Sinclair and David Kiyaga-Mulindwa.[4] According to Caleb Folorunso, some non-African attendees opposed the resolutions, citing their opinion that archaeology was concerned with "science not politics".[4]
Two conferences have been hosted in partnership with the Society of Africanist Archaeologists: at University Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) in Dakar in 2010 and at the University of Witwatersrand in 2014.[5][6][7]