Southern Anthropological Society

Oxford is a charming small town complete with a downtown square ("the Square") which has many restaurants, bars, galleries, boutiques, and a world-famous independent bookstore, Square Books, and it is within easy walking distance of campus. Oxford and Ole Miss are known for their literary giants such as William Faulkner, John Grisham, Larry Brown, and Barry Hannah as well as for their yearly gatherings of intellectuals, writers, artists, musicians, chefs, educators, and interested people for events such as the Faulkner Conference, the Conference for the Book, the Blues Symposium, the Doubledecker Arts and Music Festival, and the Southern Foodways Symposium. The University of Mississippi, which has about 14,000 students, is one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation and has won several national awards for landscaping and architecture. One can stroll the entire campus easily, and even in February, the weather is mild (but bring an umbrella, just in case!). TOP

Your SAS registration fee will get you into all sessions for the three host conferences as well as into all other events (except the banquet, see below). Participants from the other conferences are likewise welcome to SAS sessions and events. Session hopping will be easy as the sessions for SAS and SASA are in the Ole Miss Student Union and the Blues Symposium will be held just across the street at the Center for the Study of Southern Culture. The Student Union faces the university’s beautiful green space known as The Grove, and the union also has a coffee shop and food court, as well as a book store and spacious indoor and outdoor sitting areas. For those who would like to go to the Square for lunch, dinner, browsing, or sightseeing, shuttles will be available throughout the day from the Student Union and the Inn at Ole Miss to the Square. Taxis services also are available. All university facilities are handicap accessible. TOP

In addition to conference sessions and keynote panels and addresses, the three conferences also will offer an array of featured speakers, readings, audience jam sessions, film screenings, and a tour of the blues archives. The three conferences and the Southern Foodways Alliance will host a joint "tamale reception" on Thursday evening for all participants following the live radio broadcast of "Thacker Mountain Radio." Friday night we have planned an evening of blues music at the Big Truck Theater in Taylor, Mississippi -- transportation provided. We will also host an evening of blues entertainment on the Square in Oxford on Saturday night after the banquet.

Alternate accommodations are listed below. These are off campus and will require transportation to and from campus. University shuttles will be available for conference participants from the off-campus hotels to campus (Oxford has no public transportation system). Please let us know at the conference registration desk whether or not you will need shuttle transportation from your hotel. Off campus accommodations in Oxford are:

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