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Kenneth M. Kensinger, Series Editor

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BENNINGTON VERMONT
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SALSA thanks Bennington College for authorizing us to post Working Papers on South American Indians on this website. We hope this will serve as a testament to the important role that Ken Kensinger and Bennington College played in the history of lowland South American studies. Please read the more detailed acknowledgments below.

These materials are presented with permission from the copyright holders, Bennington College, for nonprofit educational and research purposes only, and are restricted from any use beyond these purposes. These materials may not be further replicated or disseminated without explicit permission from Bennington College.

Acknowledgements

The Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America is pleased to present these issues of Working Papers on South American Indians with the kind permission of Bennington College. WPSAI originally appeared in seven print issues, published at irregular intervals from 1979 to 1985 by Bennington College. Kenneth M. Kensinger served as series editor. During these years, Kensinger also hosted an annual meeting of lowland South Americanists at Bennington College. These meetings, often called the "Bennington Meetings," were one of the most important sites for exchange of information and presentation of new research amog lowland South Americanists. Kensinger's dedication to this flow of information was passionate: in the introduction to the first issue of WPSAI, Kensinger stated: "It is our belief that any increase in the flow of communication between persons interested in South American Indians can be beneficial to our common and individual scholarly pursuits." Thus, in addition to hosting the Bennington Meetings, Kensinger edited Working Papers on South American Indians to facilitate "the rapid dissemination between specialists of new data ... without the normal impedimenta of journal and book publication." WPSAI published papers presented at lowland South Americanist symposia in the AAA and ICA meetings, with added forewords, introductions, commentaries, as well as wholly original writing. Often cited, but now very hard to find in print, we hope that this digital reissue will facilitate access to Working Papers on South American Indians for a new generation of students and scholars.

The idea to reissue Working Papers on South American Indians on this website arose out of discussions that occurred on the SALSA email list following the passing of Kenneth Kensinger in May 2010. During this period of mourning, many people suggested we honor Ken Kensinger's memory through our website, and that reissuing WPSAI could be an important way to do so. Newly elected president-elect Jonathan D. Hill organized the scanning of extant print issues and requested authorization from Bennington College and from individual issue editors for the project. We thank Bennington College for this kind permission. We also thank Carolina Izquierdo, who provided several issues from her personal collection so that they could be scanned for this website.

The black-on-white design of this page is an homage to the journal's original cover design by Alex Brown (Watermark Design, Cambridge, NY). The WPSAI logo is scanned from an original cover.

This page © 2010 Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America.
Working Papers on South American Indians ©1979–1985 Bennington College.