The Society for Amazonian and Andean Studies (SAAS) Meeting is a biennial conference dedicated to research in the Amazonian and Andean regions of South America. First held at Florida Atlantic University in 2008, the SAAS meeting has since taken place at the University of Florida (2010), the University of Central Florida (2013), Louisiana State University (2015), Millsaps College (2017), the University of Alabama (2019), and the James Madison University (2022). The 2024 meeting was hosted by the University of Virginia (with virtual host George Washington University) in a hybrid format. Participants were able to attend on the Charlottesville, Virginia (USA) campus of the University of Virginia or via Zoom with the George Washington University. The Eighth Biennial Meeting of the SAAS enjoyed the support of UVA’s Center for Global Inquiry + Innovation (CGII) in the Office of the Vice Provost for Global Affairs, as well as the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research.
In 2024, the Eighth Biennial Meeting of the SAAS was driven by the core question of how can intersectional and interdisciplinary, anthropologically-informed approaches to Amazonian and Andean studies contribute to addressing urgent, global challenges? To that end, four themes were emphasized:
- Decolonizing research, and further engaging communities in research programs in the region
- Human responses to climate change and environmental justice
- The future of gender studies in the Amazon and Andes
- Future directions for globally-engaged Amazonian and Andean studies.