The 5th Biennial Borderlands International Graduate Student Conference
Forging Faith(s) in Global Borderlands
University of California, Santa Barbara
March 11-13, 2016
The Borderlands Research Focus Group at the University of California, Santa Barbara invites graduate scholars from all disciplines to submit abstracts for papers addressing the theme of Forging Faith(s) in Global Borderlands.
Please send a 300-word abstract to UCSBborderlands2016@gmail.com by December 20, 2015 **deadline extended to January 8, 2016 ** to be considered. Please see the attached call for paper for more information. Further questions can be directed to UCSBborderlands2016@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Organizing Committee Members
UCSB Borderlands Conference 2016
“Forging Faith(s) in Global Borderlands”
UCSBborderlands2016@gmail.com
 
2016 – UCSB Borderlands CfP

The Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC) Standing Committee and TRAC 2016 Local Organising Committee are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the 26th annual Theoretical Roman Archaeology Conference (TRAC 2016), which will be held in Rome, Italy from 16-19 March 2016. Please see full details below or on the TRAC website at: http://trac.org.uk/conferences/trac2016/
Please share this message with your colleagues, friends, staff members, students, etc.
Deadline: 18 December 2015

Radical Archaeology Theory Symposium 2016
RADICAL ONTOLOGIES FOR THE CONTEMPORARY PAST

Binghamton, New York
3-6 March 2016
CALL FOR PAPERS
Abstract deadline: December 15th 2015
Recently, anthropologists have been trying to challenge Western practices of knowledge production and understandings of existence. The theoretical oppositions at the core of Western thinking gave way to relational and new materialist endeavors.
The so-called “ontological turn” has opened doors to investigate the ways social scientists perform, produce, and disseminate their research. For instance, many archaeologists saw this process as an opportunity to go back to things and rethink archaeology as an ontological practice in itself, in which the reassembling of objects defines forms of being and becoming. However, very little has been discussed about its political implications and what seems to be a fethishization of the word “ontology”. These recent debates encourage scholars working with the materialities of the recent past to think about their responsibilities in the quest for alternative forms of being.
The Radical Archaeology Theory Symposium (R.A.T.S.) 2016 is intended as a forum to discuss the politics and ethics of the “ontological turn” and its impacts on the archaeologies of the contemporary past. We invite participants to discuss archaeology as a practice of becoming, and how it can trigger larger social engagements with the politics and ethics of the contemporary past. Issues to be addressed may include, among others:
– The relevance of ontological-oriented analyses of the contemporary past
– Politics of ontology as practical ethics
– Activist and community-based archaeologies.
Papers presenting case studies, and from intersecting fields are particularly welcomed.
Submit your abstract up to 250 words, along with your name, contact, institutional affiliation and three keywords, by December 15th 2015. The selection of papers will be announced during the first week of January 2016.
Keynote speakers:
Maria Theresia Starzmann
McGill University, Canada
Ruth Van Dyke
Binghamton University, New York
Severin Fowles
Columbia University, New York
Þóra Pétursdóttir
University of Tromsø, Norway
Organization committee:
Maura Bainbridge
Rui Gomes Coelho
radicalarchaeology@gmail.com
 

CALL FOR PAPERS:
University of Missouri
Art History and Archaeology Graduate Student Association Symposium
“Outside the Box: Art History and Archaeology from the Margins”

Friday and Saturday, March 18 and 19, 2016
Keynote Lecture: Dr. Erika Doss, Professor of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame
The Art History and Archaeology Graduate Student Association at the University of Missouri invites submissions from graduate students that investigate marginalized topics and call attention to many issues that remain overlooked or outside the central focus of our fields.
“From the Margins” is an umbrella term that can incorporate many topics, including (but not limited to):

• Artists from socially marginalized communities
• Rural areas and/or borderlands
• “Marginal” styles or genres
• Regionalism
• Marginalia
• Outsider Art
• So-called “minor” arts

Topics from any historical period of Art History, Archaeology, and other fields related to visual and material culture will be considered for twenty-minute presentations. The keynote lecture will take place on Friday evening and student presentations will be held on Saturday, March 19.
Proposals should consist of a  250-500 word abstract and a CV. Submissions should be submitted electronically to muahasymposium@gmail.com no later than January 10, 2016. Please feel free to circulate this CFP and the Symposium flyer with any related departments at your institution.

 
 

Call for Papers
North American Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) 2016
Theme: “Bolder Theory: time, matter, ontology and the archaeological difference”

We have all been inspired by theory. At one stage or another in our archaeological careers, we’ve encountered thinking that prompted us to ask new questions, work with new models and heuristics, pursue new lines of empirical enquiry, expose ourselves to inter-disciplinary thought, question our operating assumptions, or confirm our unspoken ideas and inclinations. Bold theory: theory that makes a difference – to us, to the discipline, to those we work with, and perhaps to other disciplines and our public partners.
This year the conference’s setting in Boulder, Colorado merges with our theme: what is bolder theory? Across the academy we sense an increased interest in things, in the matter of life. At the same time archaeologists are taking descendent and stakeholder communities seriously, including an increased commitment to consider alternate, non-Western philosophies and values. Collectively these ideas are provoking bold theorizing in archaeology. The plenary session will get us thinking about bold theory through considering the congruence of non-Western philosophies and theoretical approaches that take, to varying degree, a relational perspective on people and things. While issues of ontology, indigenous philosophy, animism and temporality will form the basis of the plenary session conversation, we encourage participants to consider bold theory in the broadest sense and sessions need not be limited to these topics.

• Bold theory and ontology: questioning human exceptionalism
• Bold theory and agency: challenging what it is to be human, and who/what are the agents of the past
• Bold theory and things: non-Cartesian and non-Western ideas of materiality
• Bold theory and practice: emergent modes of documenting the past
• Bold theory and heritage: alternate values for the past and questioning the “Past”
• Bold theory and epistemology: multiple ways of knowing the past, including non-Western criteria
• Bold theory and temporality: theories of entanglement, relationality, networks, and symmetry transforming how we think of time
• Bold theory as trans-disciplinary: archaeology’s expertise with time and materials as our contribution to other disciplines
• Bold theory as the archaeological difference: is archaeological thinking on time, matter and ontology provoking and inspiring us as bold theory should? If so, how will such bolder theory transform the discipline for the future? If it falls short, what are the criticisms, the alternatives?

Deadlines:
Session Proposals | January 10, 2016
Paper Proposals | Opens January 10, 2016 | Deadline February 22, 2016
Session Rosters | March 1, 2016
Early Registration | March 1, 2016
Details: http://anthropology.colorado.edu/tag2016/
Contact: TAG2016@colorado.edu