CALL FOR PANEL PROPOSALS
Anthropological and Archaeological Imaginations: past, present and
future
University of Bristol, 6th-9th April 2009.
The Association of Social Anthropologists 09 conference will take place
at the University of Bristol, 6th-9th April. The aim of this conference
is to stimulate a major reconsideration of the complex links which
obtain between social anthropology and archaeology. Though social
anthropology has had an uneasy relationship with archaeology we believe
that the transformations that both disciplines have experienced in
recent decades mean that it is time to overcome this reticence, indeed
that there are many reasons; intellectual, epistemological,
methodological and practical, to do so. All submissions are welcome,
whether from the theoretical or ethnographic point of view.
Considerations which take into account the experience of four-field
anthropology from an international perspective are also very welcome.
We would expect panel proposals to be submitted by 1st December,
please. Amongst the special events already decided is the key-note
address (Monday 6th April), which will be delivered by Prof. Michael
Herzfeld. Invited speakers with regard to the first plenary that follows
include Prof. Chris Hann, Prof. Tim Ingold, and Prof. Rosemary Joyce. On
Day 2, Prof. Ian Hodder will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the
University, preceded by a special lecture: ‘Archaeology and
Anthropology: the state of the field’. Further events include the ASA
Raymond Firth Lecture (Prof. Guha-Thakurta), and the RAI Presidential
Address (Prof. Roy Ellen).
The call for panels may be accessed here
http://www.theasa.org/conferences/asa09/. We do not wish to be
prescriptive, but the sort of thing that may be of interest would be the
exploration of the contrasts and complementarities between the two
disciplines historically and today; the study of ruins or the
ethnographic exploration of multiple interactions with the past;
diffusion and the transformation of culture; contrasting uses and ways
of interpreting material culture within the two disciplines, and so on.
More details on these themes may be found here
http://www.theasa.org/conferences/asa09/theme.htm. Queries may be
addressed to conference(a)easa.org.