The International Commission on the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (ICAF)
Autor: Come Pensa | Publicado: 2013-03-26T20:13:00-07:00

The
                                                                general aims of
                                                                the International
                                                                Commission on
                                                                the
                                                                Anthropology of
                                                                Food and
                                                                Nutrition
                                                                (ICAF)are
                                                                to promote and
                                                                coordinate
                                                                collaboration
                                                                and research in
                                                                biological and
                                                                social
                                                                anthropology in
                                                                regard to the
                                                                sciences of
                                                                food and
                                                                nutrition,
                                                                fostering in
                                                                particular a
                                                                pluridisciplinary
                                                                approach.

                                                                

ICAF
                                                                is a commission
                                                                of the
                                                                International
                                                                Union of
                                                                Anthropological
                                                                and
                                                                Ethnological
                                                                Sciences
                                                                (IUAES)

Honorary
                                                                Members: 

Mary
                                                                Douglas - Igor
                                                                de Garine -
                                                                Annie Hubert

further
                                                                information
                                                                will be
                                                                available soon&nbsp;

What's
                                                                new
                                                                (March
                                                                2013) see on: http://www.icafood.eu/





&nbsp;

                    
                       
                        
The 
                            Aims of ICAF
                            
                            The aims of the Commission are : 

                            
 
                              

•

                              To assist world 
                                anthropologists in their basic and applied research 
                                on food.
                            
 
                              

•

                              To encourage indigenous expertise 
                                on food problems in developing countries.
                            
 
                              

•

                              To promote the collaboration 
                                of anthropologists with institutions and individual 
                                experts from related fields of study.
                            
 
                              
•

                              To stimulate education and 
                                training in the anthropology of food. 
                            


                          Anthropologists, with their traditional 
                          interest in the place of food in social life, are giving 
                          renewed attention to food in international development. 
                          The Commission was set up to coordinate their work on 
                          food studies, world hunger, and malnutrition. 
                          
                          Biological and social anthropologists are interested 
                          in the way food supplies may be affected by changes 
                          in energy systems, market structure, public policies, 
                          family composition, and women's roles, as well as by 
                          technological change. 
                          
                          The mandate of the commission calls for basic and applied 
                          research on food production, storage, exchange, feeding, 
                          and food symbolism in the light of major structural 
                          changes. This includes nutritional studies of vulnerable 
                          segments of the population : mothers and young children, 
                          the industrial poor, and the rural poor. 
                          
                          One special focus is the changing ethic regarding food 
                          in international development. Consequently, it involves 
                          experts, and development specialists. Above all, it 
                          is a central concern of ICAF to make anthropologists' 
                          work on food available to policy and planning agencies, 
                          both governmental and international, and to exchange 
                          information with them on a continuing basis. 
                          
Organisation
                            
                            The Commission is international. 
                            The President is Helen Macbeth  and the General Secretary is Frederic Duhart . The international Treasurer is Paul Collinson
 The organisational structure is developing. The general plan is one of 
regional sections, within which there are national committees or 
representatives.
                            
                            Some national committees or representatives do not 
                            find themselves logically within one of the existing 
                            regional sections. In such cases the national committee 
                            is described as “in contact with”, rather 
                            than “within”, a regional section of its 
                            choice. The situation with regard to national committees 
                            and regional sections is always developing. The current 
                            position can be checked within this WebSite and we 
                            welcome updated information. 

 An annual report is written by 
                            the Commissioner to the Secretary-General of IUAES. 
                            For this report each national committee or representative 
                            should provide annual information to the Chair of 
                            its regional section. The Chair of that regional section, 
                            on request from the Commissioner, then gives a regional 
                            report to the Commissioner. 

ICAF(Europe) has
 worked with this system longest and its structure of national 
committees is most advanced and still developing. This has meant a 
productive series of conferences each organised by a different national 
committee or representative. From these conferences several books (see 
ICAF Publications) have been published, and the series is continuing.

ICAF Europe organisational structure:

Chair: 
                
Xavier Medina  
                


Deputy Chairs: 
                
Wulf Schiefenhövel
                


Secretary:
                
Ruth Kutalek
                


Treasurer:
                
Marion Demossier
                




 ICAF for 
                            Australasia and the Pacific was convened in 
                            May 1980 at the annual meeting of the Australian and 
                            New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science 
                            (ANZAAS). Some Links have been maintained in regard to 
                            the anthropology of food, but a structure like that 
                            of ICAF(Europe) is now envisaged. 

 ICAF (Latin 
                            America) has some very active members among 
                            whom a more formal structure will now be considered. 
                            We await further information. 

The situation in North 
                            America needs to be clarified as there exist 
                            other very active associations with whom individuals 
                            have useful contact. 

Some other 
                            larger or smaller regional sections have been discussed 
                            and further groupings are encouraged and anticipated. 
                            To discuss such possibilities or initiate a new grouping 
                            contact should be made to the General Secretary, Annie 
                            Hubert. To initiate a new national committee send 
                            an email either to the appropriate regional Chair 
                            or to the General Secretary. 
However, all these structures are 
                            structures that must be based on paid-up membership. 
                            National committees are responsible for collecting 
                            membership fees. To become a member of ICAF, please 
                            contact your national committee or representative 
                            or the Chair of the regional section or the General 
                            Secretary,  Frederic Duhart. Membership years shall begin 
                            on lst July. ICAF will pay for group membership of 
                            IUAES.