Archaeology of Transformation: Changing Scapes, a TAG-Sponsored Workshop at the University of Chicago
(held virtually) on October 21, 2022.
Submissions due: August 20th 2022
In the face of sudden, large-scale social and environmental changes, it can be easy to neglect the gradual and less
visible changes that create the conditions for both crisis and positive transformations. Theoretical archaeologists
have recently turned to a proliferation of “scapes,” extending ways of thinking that originated in landscape
archaeology to other spheres such as “seascapes,” “knowledgescapes,” and “objectscapes,” among many others.
Yet the utility of generating so many “scapes” has been called into question.
Does the plurality of scapes offer a way to explore different loci of human experience, or does it unduly
fracture the world into distinct domains, each with its own “scape”? Other critiques have addressed importing
the landscape concept’s visual bias and its peculiar ways of understanding historical change. Can we move
past these constraining connotations and employ “scapes” to think about longer term, gradual transformations and
temporality? What do we gain by defining different “scapes,” and what types of information might we lose?
This conference will explore these questions in order to understand the value of scapes in focusing archaeological
attention toward long-scale change.
Potential topics include:
-Scapes as ways of knowing
Temporality
Rapid change
Life cycles
-Engagement with landscapes
Community engagement
Agency Creation vs. modification
-Too many scapes?
Cityscapes Soundscapes Ritualscapes
Knowledgescapes Taskscapes Staticscape
Waterscapes Icescapes Smellscapes
We invite submissions for 15 minute presentations, which will be grouped into sessions. Please include
your: Name, Title, Institution, Paper title, Abstract (250 words).
Please email your submissions to the co-organizers:
Anna Berlekamp ([email protected] <mailto:aberlekamp@uchicago.
Nikki Grigg ([email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>),
Daniel Hansen ([email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>)
and Luiza Osorio G. Silva ([email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>)
Also feel free to contact us in case of any questions.
Submissions due by August 20, 2022.
