About
The International Association for the Study of Sexuality,
Culture and Society
IASSCS was formed in July 1997 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
following a successful conference, titled Beyond Boundaries:
Sexuality Across Cultures. The conference was jointly hosted
by the Universities of Amsterdam and Chicago and was broadly
concerned with the social and cultural study of sexuality.
Scholars from anthropology, history, sociology, health policy
and cultural and gender studies came together. It was noted
in the Amsterdam meeting that no organisation existed which
provided a forum for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural
studies of sexuality. Existing scholarly, scientific, and
advocacy groups tended to be concerned with specific aspects
of sexuality, while tending to ignore wider aspects of social
and cultural experience. The impetus behind the creation of
IASSCS was the perceived need to address the fragmentation
of studies in sexuality and to provide a forum for expanding
and developing sexuality as a legitimate area of scholarship.
Aims
IASSCS seeks:
to promote the study of sexual identity, desire and experience
in the context of specific social and cultural circumstances,
thus prioritising the crucial diversity of this area of study.
to encourage, additionally, cross-cultural and cross-national
dimensions which would address the general hiatus in the inclusion
of diverse, Third World and non-western perspectives in studies
of sexuality.
to remedy the gap which exists between Third and First World
scholars and students, and to facilitate communication about
scholarly as well as research and training possibilities between
colleagues across the globe.
to continue to emphasise the central role of sexuality and
sexual identity in the wider social and political dimension
of human rights.
Objectives
to create and fund an international internet user system
for sharing information and resources.
to create through this internet system, an Electronic Newsletter,
reproduced in printed form for those members unable to access
the internet.
to promote teaching and training workshops by sharing syllabi,
workshop manuals, and in helping to create internet multi-media
material for use by all colleagues and students.
to promote research and educational collaboration across
national and ethnic boundaries, and to seek to share resources
to this end.
to promote tolerance and respect for the cultural rules and
roles of sexuality in all countries, including the respect
for human and sexual rights, as these impinge upon research
and training internationally.
to organise and host a biennial international conference
to promote the social and cultural study of sexuality in its
cross-disciplinary and diverse aspects, the next to be held
in Hanoi - Vietnam, in Abril 2009.
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