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

Archaeological Review from Cambridge Vol. 31.2
November 2016: Landscapes & People

Landscapes are dynamic, meaningful, socially constructed understandings of space, which incorporate elements of the physical world with human perception. In recent years, archaeology has seen an expansion of landscape-oriented research, though many of these projects use different types of evidence and methods. ARC 31.2 seeks to examine new advances in landscape studies within archaeology, and re-evaluate how landscapes are approached and employed in the discipline.
Archaeologists have attempted to reconstruct ancient cultural landscapes using a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches ranging from geomorphological models to phenomenological investigations. A significant complication to both of these approaches, however, is a fundamental incompatibility between contemporary understandings of landscape and the targeted ancient landscapes they seek. How archaeologists construct and make use of evidence – from digital elevation models to the sensorium – have profound impact on the archaeological landscapes they bring to life.
Volume 31.2 of the Archaeological Review from Cambridge seeks to bring together a variety of archaeological approaches to the study of people in past landscapes. We invite submissions from researchers working in any regional or chronological context involved in archaeologies of landscape, geomorphology, palaeoenvironment, spatial relationships and human senses. We especially welcome work that addresses the human element of past landscapes and seeks to marry archaeological science with humanist interpretation. Several potential themes relevant to this volume include, but are not limited to:
• Theories of space, place and landscape
• The production and use of evidence of human perception in the past
• Applications of archaeological science to humanist interpretations of the past
• Human-environmental interaction and its significance to ‘landscape’
• New methods and technologies in landscape reconstruction
• Critiques or appraisals of change within the discipline of ‘landscape archaeology’.
Abstracts of no more than 500 words describing your potential paper should be sent to Ian Ostericher (ido20@cam.ac.uk) by the 15th of November 2015. First drafts of papers (of no more than 4000 words) will be due in early March 2016 for November 2016 publication.
http://www.societies.cam.ac.uk/arc/

Chronika is an interdisciplinary, open access journal for graduate students studying the art and archaeology of the Mediterranean world. Chronika, like its parent organization the Institute for European and Mediterranean Archaeology (www.iema.buffalo.edu), encourages interdisciplinary dialogues and innovative approaches to the study of the past.

Call for Submissions
Chronika welcomes submissions from graduate students that address topics relevant to European and Mediterranean archaeology. Articles must be 3,000 to 4,000 words in length, should detail research at or above the Masters level, and may include up to ten images. To have your article considered for this year’s publication, please submit a 100 to 200 word abstract to chronika@buffalo.edu by Friday, October 23, 2015. You will be notified if your article is selected by November 1. The publication schedule will proceed as follows:
December 15    First draft of full article is due.
January 21    Article is returned to author with comments.
February 21    Revised article is due.
April 2             Chronika launches in print and online.
A hard copy is mailed to each author shortly after this time.
Thank you for your interest in Chronika, and we look forward to receiving your submission. Please direct any inquiries to chronika@buffalo.edu.
 
Please visit Chronika on the web at www.chronikajournal.com

BU Archaeology Biennial Graduate Student Conference
The Graduate Student Association of Boston University’s Department of Archaeology invites papers for the Twelfth Biennial Graduate Student Conference on October 23-25, 2015. This conference series is intended to provide a forum for the discussion of current issues and perspectives in Archaeology and its related fields, including Anthropology, Art History, Near Eastern Studies, Museum Studies, Classics, Geography, and others from language and area studies.
This year’s theme addresses the need for understanding social, spatial, and temporal scales of human behavior. Scholars in archaeology and allied disciplines work in scales encompassing issues ranging from the individual to global populations, specific sites to landscapes, or individual texts placed within specific social milieu. A literary critic studying an individual text cannot understand it without examining the social context within which it was written. Similarly, an archaeologist cannot understand the material remains of past individuals without an understanding of the greater social networks within which these were embedded. In order to understand the complexity of human behavior, we must seek to better understand the interplay between these dimensions. In highlighting these issues during the conference, we expect to receive multi-, trans-, and interdisciplinary papers.
Topics for submission could include, but are not limited to:

• Daily practices of individuals viewed through household remains
• Social impacts of colonial religious conversions
• Connections between diasporic individuals and their relationship to the larger homeland and culture
• Material analysis of archaeological remains and their implications for larger cultural patterns

The conference will start with an address by our distinguished keynote speaker, Cynthia Robin on Friday, October 23rd.  On October 24^th, the Graduate Students will present their papers. The conference will conclude with a round table forum on Sunday, October 25^th with Dr. Robin, allowing conference presenters and attendees to discuss the presentations.
Papers are limited to 20 minutes and may address any time period, geographic area, or related theoretical issue. Please submit a typed abstract of up to 250 words via our online submission page listed below:
http://www.bu.edu/archaeology/graduate/2015-bu-graduate-student-forum/abstract-submission/
The deadline for abstracts this August 30, 2015. There is no registration fee for this conference. Selected participants will be notified by September 10^th, and your full paper will be due by October 10, 2015.
If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us at:
Graduate Student Conference Committee Department of Archaeology, Boston University 675 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
Buarchconf15@gmail.com
http://www.bu.edu/archaeology/
General conference information can be found at:
http://www.bu.edu/archaeology/graduate/2015-bu-graduate-student-forum/