FIEC General Assembly 2019: Synopsis
Alden Smith, CAMWS Delegate to FIEC
The General Assembly of the Fédération internationale des associations des études classiques (FIEC) was held in coordination with the meeting of Britain’s Classical Association from July 4-8, 2019 in London. FIEC is the international umbrella classical association that unites the various different professional associations such as SCS and CAMWS. This report offers a brief synopsis of the formal assembly meeting.
In that gathering, after the normal procedural items, new members were admitted to FIEC, including the American Classical League. In addition, out-going long-serving and steadfast president Franco Montanari made some very warm remarks about the value of FIEC and the classics as a discipline, and his years of service to both. The outgoing general secretary, Paul Schubert also made important remarks about the role of FIEC in the discipline as the principal uniting body that helps to facilitate badly needed interaction between various branches of classics. It is, moreover, a watchdog organization, aiding wherever possible to preserve the study of classics.
After these remarks and various other business items, including strong reports on the status of L’Année Philologique and on the progress of the TLL (Letters ‘R’ and ‘N’ are in progress), a particularly important item emerged: the inclusion of Latin and Greek on the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List; it passed unanimously, and a separate announcement has been issued by CAMWS about this, available on our website.
Elections were also held: the incoming president will be Gunhiud Vidén (Sweden) and the secretary general, Sabine Huebner (Switzerland); the new treasurer will be Valérie Fromentin (France). President Vidén made some final remarks expressing her own heartfelt thanks to Professors Montanari and Schubert.
In sum, FIEC’s importance to classics and the relevance of CAMWS’ participation as a member of FIEC cannot be overstated. In that regard, the level of cross-cultural cooperation evidenced by all the delegates was, to my mind, one of the tenderest and richest aspects of the FIEC meeting—our discipline at its best. The next FIEC general assembly will be in 2022 in Mexico City at the invitation of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.