ABSTRACT

          The effect of place on community is an emerging historical interest, and we even have a volume in Pacific studies (Brij Lal, ed. Pacific Places, Pacific Histories) on the topic.  Having attended the meetings of the Association for Social Anthropology (ASAO) off and on since 1969, and having served as the "Site Coordinator" for seven years, I take the long view of site selection.  The explicit and implicit criteria for a good meeting site, the politics of site selection, and even the locus of decision-making have all changed over the years; and rightly so as, on the one hand, membership has grown to include scholars from the Pacific and Europe, and, on the other,the hotel and catering business has changed.  Chances were taken; some turned out well, others did not.  Lessons were learned so that, as the work to discover potential sites moved from the whole membership to a committee and then to an individual, the process became more complex and demanding.  Still, a good site sets the stage for the real work of ASAO: to provide a venue where Pacific Islanders, students, teachers, and researchers (not all mutually exclusive) can exchange information and perspectives in order to further Pacific Islands studies.