It is with great regret that we inform you of the postponement of the 2020 joint conference of the Australian Anthropological Society and the Association of Social Anthropologists of Aotearoa New Zealand. Our conference was to be held in December of 2020, but in consultation with our colleagues in the AAS and our conference manager Nomad IT, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the event to the end of 2021.

With the unprecedented impacts of COVID-19 worldwide, we believe it would be irresponsible and unethical to hold the conference as we had planned. Strong travel restrictions and self-quarantine requirements are being implemented by governments and health authorities worldwide. Under such conditions, we are extremely aware of the need for AAS and ASAANZ members, as well as our colleagues in anthropology around the world to focus on the health and safety of their families, students, and colleagues, not to mention their own. Though it is our greatest hope that we are all able to regain a sense of normalcy by December, we are mindful of the many risks that people would need to consider participating in a conference this year.

We will announce new plans for the joint AAS+ASAANZ conference in Wellington in early 2021. ASAANZ will announce plans for a smaller alternate event for December 2020 in Wellington in the future.