2012 Boston University Graduate Student Forum
Found objects, past lives: archaeological perspectives on material and materiality
Tenth Biennial Graduate Student Forum
Boston University
Department of Archaeology
February 17–19, 2012
Keynote Speaker
Carl Knappett
Walter Graham / Homer Thompson Chair in Aegean Prehistory
University of Toronto
The Graduate Student Association of Boston University’s Department of Archaeology invites papers for the Tenth Biennial Graduate Student Conference on February 17–19, 2012. 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, and Classics.
This year’s theme focuses on materials and materiality.
Materials saturate our past and present. They are the surroundings with which people interact and the tools that they use. As active agents in social life, materials are dynamic and full of potential. As physical objects, their study provides the data that unifies our discipline. The multi-variant nature of materials require that scholars of the past approach material life in diverse and complicated ways, and thus they must be examined and interpreted multidimensionally. The 2012 Biennial Graduate Student forum celebrates the diversity of materials by asking researchers to fundamentally push the bounds of how archaeologists ask questions about, and understand, materials. We invite papers from scholars who approach materials in distinct ways, from the physical study of material culture to more ephemeral theories of materiality.
Topics for discussion could include, but are not limited to:
The role of material culture in past societies
Theoretical approaches to material agency
Interpreting and exhibiting artifacts
Artifact databases and collections management
Scientific analysis of cultural assemblages
The conference will conclude with a round table discussion, including our keynote speaker, addressing the current state of material culture scholarship.
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:
The deadline for abstracts this December 15, 2011. There is no registration fee for this conference. Selected participants will be notified by early January, and your full paper will be due by February 1st.
Conference Schedule of Events
Keynote address:
Presented by Dr. Carl Knappett, Walter Graham / Homer Thompson Chair in Aegean Prehistory at the University of Toronto
-Friday, 17 February at 6:00pm
-Stone Science Building, Room B50
-Light reception to follow
Conference papers:
Saturday, 18 February starting at 9:00am lasting until 6:00pm
-Stone Science Building, Room B50
-Light morning refreshments offered starting at 8:30am
-Small luncheon also provided for registered attendees
Saturday Conference Schedule
Roundtable discussion with speakers:
Sunday, 19 February 11:00am-12:30pm
-Gabel Museum, Stone Science Building, Room 253
Download the Conference Poster Here
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 Suite 347
Boston, MA 02215
bu.archaeoconf.2012[at]gmail.com
Visit the Archaeology Department web site at http://www.bu.edu/archaeology/
Funding generously provided by the Boston University Center for the Humanities