Michał Janusz Buchowski

With around 1800 international attendees, the EASA biennial conference is the largest and most established anthropology event in Europe. The 19th edition in 2026 will take place in Poznań, Poland, a Central European setting, where questions of division, solidarity, and social transformation are deeply felt. The theme “Anthropology: Possibilities in a Polarised World” calls the academic community to address accelerating authoritarian practices, forced alignments and polar oppositions, which have gained momentum in many societies. The conference will encourage a debate on the possibilities of researching the social aspects of polarisation. What it could it mean to think with and beyond polarisation? And how can it be done without diminishing real differences and varying interests among individuals and communities? We will discuss the role of anthropologists in translating, enabling encounters and bearing witness to conflict in a polarised reality. The EASA conference in Poznań will be a space for learning and co-creation that reaches beyond the immediate delegates. It will engage the urban community and NGOs in the city through public, interactive events and conference visibility. Furthermore, it will combat inequalities within the academic context of Europe by providing a platform for Central and Eastern European scholarship.