Dear ATWS community,

I write with a sense of exultation and soberness, which is well captured in the theme of our forthcoming conference in Ghana, “Celebrating Change, Defining the Future”. We certainly have much to celebrate. The 2008 conference in Millersville was a resounding success. Convivial and stimulating, it confirmed ATWS’ distinctive capacity to provide an invigorating sense of intellectual renewal, warm and supportive scholarly networks. Of course, the euphoria of our conference was matched and surpassed by the exuberant global participation in the elections and political transitions in Ghana and the United states.

These much feted political transitions temporarily symbolized the search for hope across the global system as societies grapple with the magnitude of the economic crisis that has hit an unprepared world. Thus we are simultaneously confronted with emblems of hope and of triumphal steps toward social transformation, while enmeshed in continuing struggles for social justice, democratic development, economic survival and cultural renewal.

As we look ahead to the coming months, I am mindful that the ATWS community has not escaped this current crisis unscathed: the unexpected dwindling of retirement savings, loss of employment, meager offerings in the job market for newly minted scholars and the challenges of tenure processes, promotions, publishing and research funding continue to confront us all.

While some have chosen to hunker down and quietly ride out the crisis, this really is the moment when our collective intellectual presence and influence is most required within our institutions and in the diverse local and global arenas that shape discourse and policy affecting the third world. It is also the moment when our collaborative presence provides affirmation of each member’s agenda in teaching, research, activism and global engagement.

Therefore more than any other period, this is the time to renew our bonds within the ATWS: the time to define the future, to develop and call on our shared resources, networks and expertise, and to participate even more actively in an association that has long proven its ability to encourage and support the work of its members and their professional development.

Some of our goals for the ATWS this year include a concerted effort to ensure members take advantage of the various collaborative research and publishing projects within the ATWS and its various regional groups. We will also be looking to develop frameworks that will enable emerging scholars to seek the mentoring capacity of senior colleagues and take on active roles in the organization. ATWS makes several prestigious annual awards in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in Third World scholarship and service. Committee members invest expertise and time during the selection process and I am delighted that some of our ATWS and ASRF award committees have been strengthened by new membership and rules that will enhance the visibility and global impact of the awards.

As President this year, I am also looking for your support of several exciting initiatives that will continue to shape the dream of the founder of ATWS, Professor Harold Isaacs and the many officers who developed this scholarly community over the past three decades. We will be working on expanding opportunities available to qualified members to participate in forums at the United Nations in New York, Vienna or Geneva via our consultative role as an accredited NGO affiliate of the UN. Dr Lauren Eastwood has served as our UN representative and will be providing a report that will inspire dialogue on the ways in which members can influence critical aspects of global governance. Furthermore, the African Studies and Research Forum, under the leadership of Professor George Kieh, has initiated some outstanding new international initiatives that will open up vital opportunities for professional growth and global service and collaboration.

I look forward to seeing the growth of nascent plans for hosting more mini ATWS sessions in the form of one day workshops, brown bag lunch presentations and other such forum that enable ATWS members to present their ongoing research and engage their institutions and communities in dialogue on critical issues as they affect various societies in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and their diasporas. Please write to me if you are interested in hosting such an event under the ATWS banner and I will gladly send information to assist your planning.

We do need your active participation in meeting the visions of the association. So please continue to send information on vacancies and other opportunities in the field to Dr Bhim Sandhu for onward transmission to members, do invite ATWS scholars to your institution to serve as guest speakers and please support our ongoing membership drive by inviting your friends and colleagues to join this family of scholars, activists and policymakers.

Finally, I encourage you to do all you can to attend the first ATWS international conference to be held in the African continent. The 2009 conference at the beautiful Elmina Beach Resort in Cape Coast, Ghana, from November 21-24, will provide an exhilarating historical, cultural and intellectual opportunity for scholars, practitioners, policymakers, writers and artists. Please visit our dedicated conference website at www.regonline.com/atws2009.

Thank you all for your many contributions to the study of the Third World. I look forward to hearing from you with suggestions for moving ahead in the future.

Warm regards and best wishes for the rest of the year,

Peyi Soyinka-Airewele,
Associate Professor and President
Association of Third World Studies, Inc.
Department of Politics, Ithaca College.
Ithaca, New York, USA

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