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Request for Papers: Reconsidering Archaeologies of Creativity

Call for papers for the 46th Annual Conference on HIstorical and Underwater Archaeology, January 9-12, 2013, Leicester, Great Britain.

Human creativity is fundamental to understanding the transformations brought about by both globalization and immigration, the dual themes of the 2012 conference. People act and react creatively to these processes, in mundane and grand ways, individually and collectively. Thus, creativity intertwines and entangles it's processes with all human interactions. The process and contexts of creative action, as well as the concept of creativity itself, can be understood from psychological, behavioral, social, humanistic, and philosophical perspectives. Individual persons and groups derive creativity from the cultural improvisations of social interactions surrounding economic, religious, technological, recreational, and familial activities; movement through spaces and among places; rituals; and the shifting practices of daily life. While archaeologists have produced numerous studies of human's creative responses, we have given less attention to creativity itself, particularly in those archaeologies of the modern world. Scholars in the sciences and humanities have been able to describe some of the processes and contexts of creative action in the human experience, but those insights have not lead to creativity's rationalization or "corporate domestication."

I welcome archaeological studies that critically explore creativity from different perspectives, including:
- the social construction of creative process
- contexts of creative action, like work and play
- archaeological perspectives on creativity and the brain
- creativity and social change
- creativity and adaptation
- improvisation and creativity
- creativity and behavior
- creativity, capitalism, and entrepreneurial culture
- prehistory vs. history in understanding creativity
- detailed case studies of creative action, as critiques or assessment of creativity

Please contact Timothy Scarlett by May 1st, 2012 to express interest.

Best regards,
Tim

Timothy Scarlett
Industrial Heritage and Archaeology
Department of Social Sciences
Michigan Technological University

1400 Townsed Dr. 
Houghton, MI 49931
(906)487-2359
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Additional conference information:

> The Conference Committee has announced their Call for Papers: http://ow.ly/9Vdzg

Conference webpage:
http://www.sha.org/meetings/annual_meetings.cfm