Jeffrey Barnet Fleisher

The Society of Africanist Archaeologists (SAfA) is the world’s primary professional organization of archaeologists working in Africa, with a global membership. Biennial SAfA meetings are an important opportunity for scholars to share current research, reflect on the state of the discipline, and chart its future. The 2023 SAfA meeting in Houston will be the first one in person since 2018, and the first in the United States since 2002. The conference will leverage the extensive hybrid meeting capabilities of Rice University to create an in-person conference that will also include online participants, maximizing accessibility and participation. While the pandemic has significantly disrupted archaeological research in Africa, it also provides a key moment to examine the most pressing concerns in the discipline, leading to our conference theme: ‘Urgent Agendas for the African Past.’ There is great urgency in African archaeology on: archaeology in conflict zones; climate change; urban development and heritage management; the curation crisis; and resilience and sustainability. Our plenary speakers will explore these issues directly, and additional conference symposia and roundtables will feature these topics.