Dear colleagues and friends,

We are pleased to announce that issue n° 17 of EXPRESSION magazine has just come out.

In four years of life of this periodical, a new discipline, Conceptual Anthropology, has come to life and is arising interest among students, scholars and thinkers. It is a new trend in the human sciences finding expressions in its pages. What is conceptual anthropology? You will find the answer in the pages of EXPRESSION magazine.

 The periodical is dedicated to “the intellectual and spiritual expressions of non-literate peoples”. Arts, beliefs, myths, rituals, traditions, introduce us to the marvelous world of human creativity. The rediscovery of forgotten or little known societies reveal the dimensions of the human identities. The insight into the variety of cultures enriches our ability of understanding the world we all share.

The authors that contributed papers in the 17 issues appeared so far, come form about 40 countries and EXPRESSION quarterly magazine is reaching colleagues, friends and institutions in 70 countries. This shared experience is producing connections and common interests among people of different cultures and traditions of five continents. Both global and local problems are faced, archaeology, art history and history of religions, are present as invaluable sources to the knowledge of the human adventure, along with oral traditions, memories and myths, all sharing the target of reaching a better understanding of the present, thanks to the past, and projecting ideas on the future. Conceptual Anthropology is uniting together all the possible sources from different disciplines of the Human and Social sciences.

The cooperation between ATELIER, the Research Center for Conceptual Anthropology and UISPP-CISENP, the International Scientific Commission on the Intellectual and Spiritual Expressions of Non-literate Peoples, of the International Union of Prehistoric Sciences, has offered the opportunity to colleagues and friends to find a way of discovering each other and expressing their concepts, their experiences, their queries, far beyond the borders of their region and of their specific field of expertise. The cooperation and participation of authors and readers resulted in the growing diffusion of ideas, of concepts, and of the quarterly magazine.

EXPRESSION magazine is open to all those having something new to say, both for diffusing their ideas or discoveries and for discussing them. Readers share the debates and the emotions. Several issues have been concerned with specific themes referred to as “projects”. The message behind the image is the main topic of this issue. Other papers on the same topic will appear in future issues. 

Two new projects are planned for future issues and submission of pertinent papers is welcome. One concerns “the intellectual and spiritual expressions of non-literate peoples”. It will be a pre-congress issue dedicated to the homonymous session of the forthcoming world congress of UISPP (Union Internationale des Sciences Prehistoriques et Protohistoriques) to be held in Paris (3–9 June 2018). It will include pre-congress drafts of the papers to be presented at the Congress and will be published in time to be available at the Congress.

 The other project considers papers concerning the artistic, archeological and anthropological evidence of Myths and Memories, of cultures and ages around the world. Each monument, each rock picture, each standing stone, has its stories. By decoding them, history is being produced out of prehistory. The role of myths and beliefs in the visual art are mirrors of conceptual elaborations of the human mind. Thanks to the contributions of nearly 200 authors, stones are speaking to us.

 Additional details can be found on the pages of EXPRESSION magazine.

We are grateful to authors and readers and welcome all those interested in this quarterly e-periodical.

The last issue may be requested for free providing your full name and postal address to [log in to unmask]. Enjoy the reading. Comments and queries are welcome.

Cordial regards,

Emmanuel Anati