The International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences at Copenhagen, August 1938

• Published in: Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 1938
• Subjects: Kayak; Thomsen; greenlander*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsnr.1938.0014; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsnr.1938.0014

The International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences took place at Copenhagen in the first week of August. In accordance with the practice of this series of congresses the presidents of sections were Danish scientific men, and the President of the whole Congress was the veteran Professor Thomas Thomsen, its Honorary Secretary being Dr Kaj Birket-Smith in collaboration with Professor J. L. Myres. Doctors Thomsen and Birket-Smith are both conservators of the National Museums, the reorganization of which during the last five years was one of the reasons for the invitation given by Denmark to the Congress. The membership reached about 700, representing over 45 countries. There were strong delegations from a great many of them, and of the British delegates twenty-five contributed papers to the Congress. The Congress was organized in thirteen sections and subjections, most of which had programmes occupying them for the better part of three days, morning and afternoon. The splendid collections at the Museums arranged in up-to-date fashion, along with films and special lectures, played a great part in the programme of the Congress, and some Greenlanders came over to give a demonstration of kayak management at Elsinore. The American Ethnographic section paid special attention to Maya and Mexican archaeology. Another subject emphasized by Professor Myres and several others was that of nomadism. Early agriculture and the adaptation of lowly agriculture to modern conditions were considerably discussed. Scandinavian and British members were at some pains to point out the inevitable limitations of any system of classification of humanity into races, while some of our German colleagues obviously felt that the principle of sub-division was of more value.