17-01-2003 11:15 am  Paris – The quarterly journal Diogenes, published under the auspices of the International Council for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies (ICPHS) with support from UNESCO, will celebrate its 50th birthday on January 21 at UNESCO Headquarters (Room IV, from 4-6 p.m.). The 200th issue of the journal, which focuses on dialogue between civilizations, will be presented, along with Chamanismes, a special publication in the Collection Quadrige series (Presses Universitaires de France-PUF), which is an updated reprint of a 10-year-old issue of Diogenes.

The first issue of Diogenes appeared in 1952, on the combined initiative of UNESCO, the UNESCO-linked ICPHS and Roger Caillois, its founding editor, who was convinced that bringing different and even unrelated disciplines and issues together would be provide fruitful new perspectives.

 This international journal of human sciences is aimed at a learned audience that wants to refresh its knowledge and at specialists who want to keep abreast of progress in fields other than their own. It publishes summary articles from all disciplines – ethnology, linguistics, the philosophy of sciences, the history of religions and prehistory – that have humankind as their common reference point.

 It works in collaboration with scholars all over the world and, through its various language editions – in English (Sage Publishers), Arabic (the UNESCO Centre in Cairo), Chinese (the Social Sciences Academy), French (PUF) and Spanish – provides them with an exceptionally wide readership for their work.

Attending the anniversary celebrations will be the President of UNESCO’s General Conference Ahmad Jalali, UNESCO Executive Board Chairperson Aziza Bennani, Jean d’Ormesson of the Académie française, who was a sub-editor on the magazine when it started and then editor after Caillois died, from 1982 to 1998, the Assistant Director-General of UNESCO’s Social and Human Sciences Sector, Pierre Sané, ICPHS Secretary-General Maurice Aymard and Michel Prigent, Managing Director of PUF.

The 200th issue will be presented by Doudou Diène, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, who is also vice-president of the ICPHS. The special issue of Chamanismes will be introduced by anthropologist Roberte N. Hamayon, as well as several experts on religion and shamanism, including Jean-Pierre Berthon, Laurence Delaby and Thierry Zarcone, of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Hakan Rydving of the University of Bergen, Alexandre Guillemoz of the French Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales and Bertrand Hell of the University of Besançon.

Journalists wishing to attend should register with the UNESCO Press Service: tel: (+33) (0)1 45 68 17 45