JiscMail Logo
Email discussion lists for the UK Education and Research communities

Help for ARCH-THEORY Archives


ARCH-THEORY Archives

ARCH-THEORY Archives


ARCH-THEORY@JISCMAIL.AC.UK


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

ARCH-THEORY Home

ARCH-THEORY Home

ARCH-THEORY  November 2002

ARCH-THEORY November 2002

Options

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password

Subject:

WAC session on human agency and human rights

From:

Andrew Gardner <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Archaeological theory and associated fields of interest list <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 11 Nov 2002 17:45:45 +0000

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (128 lines)

Dear all,
This is an announcement and call for paper proposals for a session to be
held at the World Archaeological Congress in Washington DC, June 21-26,
2003 (abstract below). The session deals with the intersection between
recent discussions of agency in archaeology and human rights issues. Please
reply to this email if you are interested in taking part; for further
details of the Congress, please refer to the website at: 
http://www.american.edu/wac5/
Best wishes,
Andrew Gardner and Stephanie Koerner

************************************

Archaeology, Human Agency and Human Rights: Views Beyond the Privatization
of Ethics and the Globalization of Indifference

Organizers: Andrew Gardner (University College London) and Stephanie
Koerner (University of Manchester)

The last decade has seen considerable growth of interest in the concept of
'agency' in archaeology (e.g., Dobres and Robb 2000). Despite the diversity
of the recent literature motivated by this interest, two general bodies of
theory appear to have been especially influential. One might be summarized
under the expression, the 'critique of meta-narratives' (e.g., Adorno 1974;
Foucault 1980; Lyotard 1984; Bourdieu 1990), and the other centres on the
terms, 'globalisation and multi-culturalism' (e.g., Harvey 1989; Giddens
1990). Notably less attention has been given to the implications for
archaeological treatments of human agency of changes which are taking place
in international human rights law, and wider public discussion of human
rights (cf. Wilson ed., 1997; Cowan, Dembour, Wilson eds, 2001). Likewise
notable are tensions between some of the most influential archaeological
responses to the 'critique of meta-narratives', and the lack of attention
given to the implications of these tensions for archaeology's relevance to
wider human rights debates. 
        Two of the themes on which the most influential responses to the critique
of meta-narratives in archaeology centre may have particular bearing on
these issues. One is the critique of notions of a human self (subject) that
is prior to its embodied and material preconditions (c.f., Foucault 1980;
Bourdieu 1990). The other is the concern to focus attention on the
discrepant experiences of human agents (e.g., Said 1993; Miller ed., 1995;
Gero 2000). The former theme challenges approaches to the intentionality of
human behavior, which have been structured around a supposed gap between
the 'mental states' of individual subjects and an object world 'out there'.
The latter implies a complex range of questions, including: How might we
best reconceptualise intentionality, and human capacities to act
voluntarily (or to 'behave otherwise') (cf. Barnes 2000)?  What makes it
possible for human agents to act against existing socio-historical
constraints, and to transform the circumstances from which these arise? Can
human experiences of discrepancies between how things are and how things
ought to be make a difference not just to particular events, but in
conjunctures that reconfigure the longue durée? (cf. Koerner 2002). New
ways to address the issues posed by these themes may be highly relevant to
the development of more satisfactory archaeological methods.  They also may
initiate discussion of the ways in which archaeology has been influenced by
legal and public discourse on human rights, and of the contributions that
archaeology might be able to make to these debates. 
        One of the aims of this session is to examine the impacts on recent
archaeological treatments of 'agency' of not only (a) 'the critique of
meta-narratives' and models of (b) 'globalisation and multi-culturalism',
but also (c) cross-disciplinary and public discussions of human rights. The
session will include papers on approaches to human agency that seek to go
beyond the dualist categories on which the traditional meta-narratives
concerning human nature, history, knowledge and law hinge (including such
dichotomies as, universalism-relativism, subject-object, mind-body,
individual-society, western-non-western, science-values, and
epistemology-ontology). It seeks also to include case studies, which may
have bearing upon a better understanding of "the ongoing globalisation of
human rights" (cf. Wilson 1997: 3). This means the inclusion of case
studies of past "human life-worlds" (cf. Husserl ([1936] 1970)). Such goals
would seem to follow from Richard Wilson's argument that: "The intellectual
efforts of those seeking to develop a framework for understanding the
social life of rights would be better directed not towards foreclosing
their ontological status, but instead by exploring their meaning and use.
What is needed are more detailed studies of human rights according to the
actions and intentions of social actors, within wider historical
constraints of institutionalised power" (Wilson 1997: 3-4).

References

Adorno, T. 1974. Minima Moraia: Reflections from a Damaged Life, trans. by
E. F. N. Jephcott.  London: Verso.

Barnes, B. 2000. Understanding Agency: Social Theory and Responsible
Action. London: SAGE Publications.

Bourdieu, P. 1990. The Logic of Practice, trans. by R. Nice. London: Polity
Press. 

Cowan, J.K., Dembour, M.-B., and Wilson, R. A.  (eds) 2001. Culture and
Rights: 
Anthropological Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Dobres, M. A. and Robb, J. (eds) 2000. Agency in Archaeology. London:
Routledge.

Foucault, M. 1980. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings
1972-1977, trans. by L. Marshall, J. Mepham, and K. Soper, C. Gordon (ed).
New York: Pantheon Books. 

Giddens, A. 1990. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford: Stanford
University Press. 

Gero, J. 2000. Troubled Travels in Agency and Feminism. In M. A. Dobres and
J. Robb (eds), Agency in Archaeology. London: Routledge, 34-39.

Harvey, D. 1989. The Condition of Postmodernity. Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers. 

Husserl, E. [1936] 1970. The Crisis of European Science and Transcendent
Phenomenology, trans. by D. Carr. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University
Press. 

Koerner, S. 2002. Globalisation, Multi-culturalism and the Prism of the
Local. A Session in the 2002 Meeting of the European Association of
Archaeologists, 24-29 September, 2002, Thessaloniki. World Archaeological
Bulletin 17. 

Miller, D. (ed) 1995. Worlds Apart: Modernity through the Prism of the
Local. London: Routledge.

Lyotard, J.F. 1984. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, trans.
by G. Bennington and B. Massumai. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 

Said, E. 1993. Culture and Imperialism. London: Chatto and Wardus. 

Wilson, R. A. 1997. Human Rights, Culture and Context: an introduction. In
R.A. Wilson (ed) Human Rights, Culture and Context. London: Pluto Press. 1-27.

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

JiscMail Tools


RSS Feeds and Sharing


Advanced Options


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
September 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
July 2006
May 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000
December 1999
November 1999
October 1999
September 1999
August 1999
July 1999
June 1999
May 1999
April 1999
March 1999
February 1999
January 1999
December 1998
November 1998
October 1998
September 1998


JiscMail is a Jisc service.

View our service policies at https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/policyandsecurity/ and Jisc's privacy policy at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/website/privacy-notice

For help and support help@jisc.ac.uk

Secured by F-Secure Anti-Virus CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager