Call for Proposals, Wenner-Gren Symposium 2027

Deadline for submissions is October 10, 2025.

The Wenner-Gren Foundation is now accepting proposals for our Spring 2027 symposium. The Foundation has hosted these symposia since the 1950s. These research-centered meetings are designed to advance the conversations around a selected theme that is of broad interest and concern to the discipline. Wenner-Gren symposia are hosted by the Foundation, who work with teams of two (2) academic organizers  to bring the project to fruition. These meetings bring together groups of scholars who might not otherwise be in conversation with one another, with the goal of advancing anthropological knowledge on questions related to the topical focus of the meeting. Participants in these symposia can come from separate disciplines and/or different specialties within anthropology, working together to break new intellectual ground. We are seeking proposals for a meeting that will take place in the spring of 2027, with the papers generated from the gathering published as a special supplement in Current Anthropology that is guest-edited by the academic organizers. While these meetings historically have mostly brought together groups of anthropologists, recent symposia have been boldly interdisciplinary events in which anthropologists engage with a critical mass of scholars from fields beyond the discipline. Submissions can be from one or more of anthropology’s subfields. Creative cross-subfield and/or cross-disciplinary proposals are welcome. Applicants should be prepared to work closely with Wenner-Gren staff for the duration of the project: in organizing and preparing for the symposium, during the meeting, and throughout the post-symposium publication process.

Applicants should submit a brief proposal that includes: 1) a cover letter, 2) brief project description that provides an overview of the themes and questions that form the focus of the proposal  (2-3 pages), 2) a CV for each member of the organizing team, 3) a project bibliography, and 4) a brief statement of collaboration (approx. 1 page). The statement of collaboration should summarize the organizers’ prior experience (if any) coordinating academic conversations (as individuals and as a team). Prior experience of this type is not necessary to be eligible for consideration, but we are interested in understanding the team’s skill-set, philosophy, and approach in the context of the overall proposal.

Submissions should address three key components:

• a brief explanation of the problem/questions at the heart of the proposal, and the import of these conversations to the discipline
• information about the academic organizers and an overview of the proposed meeting cohort (we do not expect the participant list to be finalized, but you should provide a general sense of the types of scholars you hope to have in the room, along with some possible names)
• a brief description of how you see these conversations making an intervention in the field

For the list of possible participants, you should be aiming for an international cohort of scholars and practitioners with relevant expertise relating to the questions and issues that you hope to explore in the meeting. In selecting participants, you need not be limited to individuals working in academia. In addition to representing a broad range of geographic regions, you should also aim for inclusivity along other lines, curating a reasonable mix of scholars across career stages, race, gender identity, etc. We recommend that applicants try and think about the overall goals of the meeting and work from there to select individuals from the international scholarly community who would advance the conversation towards those aims. We especially welcome proposals from scholars from historically marginalized backgrounds, from independent and precarious scholars, and from scholars in the global south.

Submissions should be sent to Donna Auston at dauston@wennergren.org.

You’ll find more information on previous symposia here: https://wennergren.org/symposia-seminars/, and you can access the Wenner-Gren Symposium Series published in Current Anthropology at this link: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/journals/ca/Wenner-Gren-Supplements.