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Call for papers
Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG) 2005: University of Sheffield
18-20 December 2005
Paper abstracts are invited for the following session asap, and by the end
of September at the latest:
Scrawl and Scribe: Writing in the Margins
Tim Neal and Jeffry Oliver (Department of Archaeology, University of
Sheffield)
Making a mark, an inscription, is the act of materialising a voice.
Archaeology has always laid great emphasis on the deciphering of
inscriptions: through the decoding of the Rosetta Stone a chronology was
authenticated; patterning in cave and rock art may elucidate a structural
relationship between humans and animals; the deciphering of linear B has
shed light on the structure of ancient Aegean landholding. But what about
inscriptions that went against the discourse of the status quo; or that
are found in `unusual´ places? Archaeology has largely avoided
investigating what we call `wild´ signs, the inscription of symbols,
signs, writing or design onto `inappropriate´ surfaces or in `irregular´
locations. This session aims to bring together work which examines
inscriptive acts such as graffiti, pictographs, tree carving, and pays
particular attention to how spaces are appropriated and (re)
territorialized.
We would like to invite proposals which address the different forms,
distribution and meaning that material voices and wildsigns might have:
marking territory, exclusion, memory and identity, issues that are not
brought into dialogue other than through their inscription. Urban,
suburban or rural landscapes, buildings, underpasses, posters or trees:
how are they appropriated and re-dedicated through physical acts of
inscribing? Acts of inscription may be subversive, their meaning closed,
so that only certain groups have access. Others may be public or open
statements, decorative or aesthetic or combinations of the above. They may
enshrine a fall from law and order but from another perspective constitute
natural law.
The suggestions below are indicative of a range of topics but are not
exhaustive:
- Types of ‘writing on the land’: defacing advertising, re-figuration of
place through graffiti, graffiti on bridges and buildings
- Roman or Knights Templar graffiti
- Nazca inscriptions in the desert of Chile
- Tattooing and bodily inscription
- Memorialisation
- Alternative ways of understanding rock art, pictographs and petroglyphs
- Reinscription as an artistic statement
- Writing in the margins
- Alternative landscapes and identities: e.g. pagan inscription
- Defacing polite landscapes
- Messages of love and inscription: creating private space
- Arborglyphs and tree carving
- Restoration of artwork: does artwork have a natural lifespan, and if so,
is restoration defacement?
- Roads and modern transportation as graffiti on the landscape
- Inscriptions by children
Further details: http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/tag2005 or email
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