Indigenous Amazonia at the Millennium: Politics and Religion
In 2001, William Balée of Tulane University and Jeffrey D. Ehrenreich of the University of New Orleans organized and hosted a conference entitled “Indigenous Amazonia at the Millennium: Politics and Religion.” At this conference, Balée and Ehrenreich proposed the formation of a new organization to promote anthropological research in lowland South America. It was also at this conference that the foundation of a new journal, which would later be called Tipití–journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America–was proposed. Ehrenreich was appointed to be the first editor. Several months after this conference, SALSA was officially constituted as a non-profit 501C corporation, and work commenced on the production of the journal Tipití.
There are two different perspectives concerning the numbering of SALSA conferences. Because SALSA did not formally exist at the time that the 2001 conference was held, it was not formally a “SALSA conference.” However, many people consider the 2001 New Orleans conference to have been the first SALSA conference, and thus number the 2002 Annapolis conference “SALSA II,” etc. Others, adhering to a strict interpretation, consider that the Annapolis conference was the first SALSA conference, and number subsequent conferences accordingly.