ASA18: Sociality, matter, and the imagination: re-creating Anthropology
18-21 September 2018, Examination Schools, University of Oxford
The ASA invites scholars from all areas of anthropology, archaeology, museum studies, geography and other neighbouring disciplines to propose panels to the 2018 conference ‘Sociality, matter, and the imagination: re-creating Anthropology’ that will be held in Oxford, 18-21 September 2018. The likely registration fees and preliminary information on accommodation are shown here.
One of the major debates within anthropology is the question of how to bridge approaches primarily concerned with the social, and those primarily focused on the material, the physical, or the biological. Much recent anthropology, from a variety of theoretical perspectives, seeks to overcome artificial conceptual divisions, either by proposing new (often hybrid) ontologies or simply by pursuing problems that challenge conventional boundaries. ASA18 aims to address this key question directly: if sociality, matter, and the imagination are reconsidered from multiple perspectives across the discipline, how might we renew and re-create anthropology? What kinds of theoretical, methodological, and ethical concerns are raised by this potential re-creation? Working with a very broad definition of ‘the material’—potentially including linguistic, biological, genetic, neurological, environmental, and evolutionary factors—the conference aims to advance debates on sociality and matter, the imagination and creativity, and therefore on what it is to be human in a rapidly changing world. Contributions to the conference will be organized according to the following four sub-themes: 1) Language and imagination, 2) Creative Bodies, 3) Environmental Imaginations, 4) Transformation and Time.
The conference also aims to provide a forum for enhanced interdisciplinarity between anthropology and its neighbouring disciplines and sub-fields (read more about this effort here).
Please read more about the conference theme, the keynotes and plenaries, the Call for Panels rules and instructions, and then propose a panel!
The Call for Panels will close at 23:59 GMT on Monday, 26th February.