IAW Winter Quarter 2024 Schedule

WINTER QUARTER, 2024

Monday, January 8: Monday Seminar presentation by Lindsay Montgomery

Tuesday, January 16: ISAC exhibit event co-hosted with ASW and MEHAT and featuring Jane Gordon, Suzanne Paulus, et al.

3:30 – 5 pm

Classics 21

 

Wednesday, January 17 (Week 3): Matthew Rossi

Paper Title: Grave-Robber to Forensic Scientist: Modernism, Dispossession, and the Founding of ‘The Body Farm’

Confirmed discussant: Alaina Wibberly

 

Wednesday, February 7 (Week 6): Parker VanValkenburgh

Title: “Rethinking Settlement: Colonialism and Dwelling in the Cloud Forests of Northeastern Peru”

 

Tuesday, February 13 (Week 7): Alaina Wibberly

Joint session with Current Social Ethnography workshop

 

Tuesday, February 13, 4:30 – 6 pm in Haskell 315

Title: From Survey to Surveillance in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands

 

Wednesday, February 21 (Week 8), 4:30 – 6:00 pm, Haskell 315

Featuring Matthew Knisley, Catherine Kearns, Teagan Wolter

Panel Discussion: “Resources for dissertation fieldwork and post-fieldwork analyses”

IAW Schedule: Autumn Quarter, 2023

IAW SCHEDULE: AUTUMN QUARTER, 2023

NOTE: All workshop sessions will be held, unless otherwise noted, on Wednesdays from 3:30 ­– 5 pm in the Lasalle Banks Room of the ISAC Museum. (Please note, for instance, that Prof. Newman’s book talk next week will take place at 5 pm at Assembly Hall, International House (1414 59th Street, Chicago, IL 60637))

 

October 11 (Week 3)

Prof. Sarah Newman book talk, feat. Mariana Petry Cabral, Claudia Brittenham, and Pauline Goul (registration and further details available here)

October 25 (Week 5)

Charles Wilson (PhD candidate, NELC): “Reassessing the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s ‘Seated Goddess with a Child’”

November 1 (Week 6)

Hanna Pickwell (PhD candidate, Anthropology): “Social distancing and reclaiming junk: Renegotiating possessibility in Covid-era Beijing”

November 8 (Week 7)

Adrian Chase (Postdoctoral Fellow, Mansueto Institute and Department of Anthropology): “Proximity and Distance: Neighborhood Identities at Caracol, Belize”

November 15 (Week 8)

Prof. Rocco Palermo (Assistant Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology, Bryn Mawr College)

November 29 (Week 10): TBD

December 6 (Week 11): TBD

IAW Call for Papers 2023-2024

 

The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop is now accepting submissions for Autumn quarter! 

Autumn quarter deadline: Friday, September 22, 2023

Proposals also accepted on a rolling basis for Winter quarter.

We hope that everyone is enjoying a great summer! Are you looking for feedback on a conference paper, MA thesis, or dissertation chapter? Have you been catching up on field reports and archival research over the summer; or preparing grant or job applications? The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop (IAW) is now accepting submissions for the Autumn quarter of the 2023-2024 academic year.

This year’s IAW theme, Archaeologies of Proximity and Distance, endeavors to explore the interstitial areas that both separate and connect sites, material and sensorial phenomena, and archaeologists to one another. When archaeologists think of the terms “distance” and “proximity,” we may immediately think of things that are spatially related in nature, but such concepts can also be applied metaphorically to chronological distances, proximal interactions with the sensorial, and phenomenological spaces between experiencer and event. Similarly, the concepts of “proximity” and “distance” also implicate questions relevant to archaeological methodologies—for example, juxtaposing in situ, “on the ground” survey and excavation-oriented fieldwork with the increasing ubiquity of digital and remote-sensing methods in the discipline, facilitated by the technological innovations of recent decades. As such, we encourage the use of this theme as a way to interrogate and examine these proverbial (and sometimes literal) “spaces between,” and to encourage a consideration of the various methodological, theoretical, and epistemological approaches that might be employed to traverse these lacunae. How can archaeologists and the discipline of archaeology navigate and negotiate between divergent temporal, spatial, methodological, and affective scales? What modes of ethical, political, sensorial, and emotional attunement and engagement might archaeological research alternatively facilitate or impede? How might such “spaces” arise both through the use of particular methodologies and traditional disciplinary approaches to archaeological problems? What kinds of relational divides emerge between archaeologists and the objects of their inquiries, and how can such divides be navigated, negotiated, and bridged?

For this year’s IAW, we invite archaeologists from around the UChicago community and beyond to examine the physical and metaphorical distances between themselves and the subjects of their research, and to explore these resulting gray areas—be they analytical, theoretical, or physical—through new mindsets, methodologies, and research in archaeology. We hope that IAW will represent a space to discuss new technological, methodological, and theoretical approaches, to revisit existing work through different lenses, and to explore interesting collaborations either within or outside the academic world. We are committed to engaging students and scholars from across departments, disciplines, and programs, and to encouraging a wide range of perspectives on archaeological thought, methodologies, and research. (Additionally, while we hope that the workshop theme, Archaeologies of Proximity and Distance, discussed above will prove stimulating and generative, submissions need not necessarily engage or address the theme).

Students may opt for a presentation or pre-circulate a paper for discussion, with the additional option of identifying a fellow student or faculty member to serve as session discussant.

If you are interested in presenting a paper or an ongoing analysis to IAW, please contact student coordinators Harrison Morin (NELC, harrisonm@uchicago.edu) and Henry Bacha (Anthropology, bacha@uchicago.edu) with the following information:

  • Name
  • Department
  • Year in program
  • Paper title
  • Type of paper (e.g., dissertation chapter, MA paper, conference paper)
  • A short abstract or summary
  • The quarter(s) in which you are able to present (if more than one, please list your preferences in ranked order, and we will do our best to accommodate)
  • Preference for in-person or virtual (Zoom) setting

Additionally, please be sure to get in touch if you have suggestions for future IAW guest speakers or collaborations with other University of Chicago workshops, if you would like to be added to the IAW listserv, or have any additional questions, concerns, or comments.

Thank you, and we look forward to a great year!

Best,

Harrison and Henry

IAW Call for Proposals 2022-2023

The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop is now accepting submissions for the 2022-2023 academic year!

Winter quarter deadline: January 6, 2023

Proposals accepted on a rolling basis for the Spring.

Looking for feedback on a conference paper, MA thesis, or dissertation chapter you’ve been working on? Have you been catching up on field reports and archival research over the past few months? The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop is now accepting submissions for the 2022-2023 academic year.

This year’s IAW theme: Archaeology in and of the Present asks archaeologists to consider why archaeology is an impactful and resonant discipline and how we can ensure that it continues to be  so. What are the ways that archaeologists are reckoning with our varied legacies while also looking forward to new horizons? How are archaeologists engaging new methodologies and technologies from other disciplines? What can we learn from and contribute to fields like environmental science, biology, psychology, or even computer science? How can we approach art and literature as analytical or explanatory tools in addition to objects of study? How are archaeologists addressing questions of data access and, in a similar vein, community engagement? For this year’s IAW, we invite archaeologists from around the UChicago community and beyond to consider the impact of our discipline both in and outside the academy, and to uncover and examine the wide range of possibilities that archaeological thought opens up. We hope this will be a space to explore new technological, methodological, and theoretical approaches, to revisit existing work through different lenses, and to learn about interesting collaborations either within or outside the academic world.

Students may opt for a presentation, pre-circulate a paper for discussion, or participate in the “Talking Behind Your Back” exercise created at the University of Minnesota. The “Talking Behind Your Back” exercise involves a discussion of the author’s work in which the presenter must listen without contributing, allowing them to understand the impact of their ideas on an interdisciplinary group of scholars. This format was introduced to IAW by previous coordinators and received positive feedback from presenters and attendees alike; we are excited to continue to offer it as an option in 2022-23!

If you are interested in presenting a paper or an ongoing analysis to IAW, please contact Çağlayan Bal (NELC, balc@uchicago.edu) and Jessica Urban (ANTH, urban@uchicago.edu) with the following information:

Name

Department

Year in program

Paper title

Type of paper (e.g., dissertation chapter, MA paper, conference paper)

A short abstract or summary

The quarter(s) in which you are able to present (if more than one, please list your preferences in ranked order, and we will do our best to accommodate)

Preference for in-person or virtual setting

Additionally, please email us if you have suggestions for guest speakers for next year or would like to be added to the IAW listserv.

IAW Call for Proposals 2021-2022

The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop is now accepting submissions for the 2021-2022 academic year!

Fall quarter deadline: September 10, 2021

Proposals accepted on a rolling basis for the Winter and Spring.

Looking for feedback on a conference paper, MA thesis, or dissertation chapter you’ve been working on? Have you been catching up on field reports and archival research over the past few months? The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop is now accepting submissions for the 2021-2022 academic year.

This year, we will be exploring a theme of Transformations in Space and Time, engaging archaeological questions from perspectives of change, movement, mobility, and encounter. From the movement of people through a landscape to the transformation of statistical data, nothing in archaeology is ever truly static. We are asking for proposals that grapple with the questions and problems raised by archaeology’s dynamism. By bringing together archaeologists of diverse traditions, methodologies, and theoretical and regional foci, this year’s IAW will provide a space to bring fresh light to old questions, to ask new ones, and to push disciplinary boundaries.

We are pleased to offer several options for student presentations. While we are looking forward to returning to IAW in person in the Fall, we were delighted that last year’s virtual format made it possible for members of our UChicago archaeological community who were located outside of Chicago to participate in the workshop. Therefore, we will be offering the option for students to present their work virtually via Zoom if they would like. Please indicate your preference for a virtual or in-person session with your submission.

Students may opt for a presentation, pre-circulate a paper for discussion, or participate in the “Talking Behind Your Back” exercise created at the University of Minnesota. The “Talking Behind Your Back” exercise involves a discussion of the author’s work in which the presenter must listen without contributing, allowing them to understand the impact of their ideas on an interdisciplinary group of scholars. This format was introduced to IAW by last year’s coordinators and received positive feedback from presenters and attendees alike; we are excited to continue to offer it as an option in 2021-22! For more information, see the attached document.

If you are interested in presenting a paper or an ongoing analysis to IAW, please contact Anna Berlekamp (aberlekamp@uchicago.edu) and Dan Hansen (danrhan@uchicago.edu) with the following information:

Name
Department
Year in program
Paper title
Type of paper (e.g., dissertation chapter, MA paper, conference paper)
A short abstract or summary
The quarter(s) in which you are able to present (if more than one, please list your preferences in ranked order, and we will do our best to accommodate)
Preference for in-person or virtual setting

Additionally, please email us if you have suggestions for guest speakers for next year or would like to be added to the IAW listserv.

–        Anna and Dan

Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop Call for Proposals 2020-2021

The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop is now accepting submissions for the 2020-2021 academic year!

Spring quarter deadline: March 5, 2021. 

 

Looking for feedback on a conference paper, MA thesis, or dissertation chapter you’ve been working on? Have you been catching up on field reports and archival research over the past few months? The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop is now accepting submissions for the 2020-2021 academic year.

This year, our theme is the archaeology of sovereignty. This includes state formation and citizenship, as well as broader questions of boundaries, borders, world-building, and the politics of archaeological knowledge production. Archaeologists draw on a variety of methodological approaches from the sciences, social sciences, and humanities—in doing so, what kinds of sovereignty do archaeologists create, enforce, and obscure in the discipline and in the world? We’re calling for presentations that touch upon these themes, and we’re trying out a new optional format.

Students workshopping papers and presentations can choose to participate in the “Talking Behind Your Back” exercise created at the University of Minnesota. This involves a discussion of the author’s work in which the presenter must listen without contributing, allowing them to understand the impact of their ideas on an interdisciplinary group of scholars (email for more details).

If you are interested in presenting a paper or an ongoing analysis to IAW, please contact Luiza Osorio G. da Silva (losilva@uchicago.edu) and Nikki Grigg (ngrigg@uchicago.edu) with the following information:

Name
Department
Year in program
Paper title
Type of paper (e.g., dissertation chapter, MA paper, conference paper)
A short abstract or summary
The quarter(s) in which you are able to present (if more than one, please list your preferences in ranked order, and we will do our best to accommodate)

 

Additionally, please email us if you have suggestions for guest speakers for next year or would like to be added to the IAW listserv. Since next year’s workshop is likely to be virtual for much of the year, we’re working to invite guests who would normally not be able to travel to campus.

–        Nikki and Luiza

Spring 2020 Schedule – online!

Good afternoon, archaeologists and enthusiasts, 

The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop will be following University protocol, and will be conducting meetings online. Due to this, we decided to postpone our guest speakers until the next academic year. 

But don’t fret! We still have ways to connect with each other, even from our own desks. We still have three workshops scheduled, all of which promise to be interesting conversations. These will be held online, and information on how to join will be sent in advance of each workshop. 7

As always, should you have any other questions or have concerns about accessibility, please email either me (karooney@uchicago.edu) or Suay Erkusoz (serkusoz@uchicago.edu). 

See you all through our laptop cameras!

 

Wednesday, April 15: 4:30 – 6:00 PM

Alice Diaz Chauvigné and Daniel Hansen

(PhD Students, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)

‘Living in a Material World: How to deal with “intangibles” in archaeology.’

 

Wednesday, May 13: 4:30 – 6:00 PM

Harrison Morin (MAPSS Student, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)

‘The Kingdom of 1000 Cities: Trade, Transportation, and Territoriality in Ancient Bactria from 330 BCE to 75 CE.’

 

Tuesday, May 26: 5:30 – 7:00 PM

Co-hosted by the African Studies Workshop

Matthew Knisley (PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)

Title TBD

Winter 2020 Schedule

The Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop is excited to share our winter schedule with you. Please notice that the IAW is now meeting on Wednesdays, from 4:30 – 6:00 PM.

Meetings will be held in Haskell 315 unless otherwise noted below. Refreshments will be served. For copies of the papers, or should you need accomodations, please email the coordinators Kelsey Rooney (karooney@uchicago.edu) or Suay Erkusoz (serkusoz@uchicago.edu).

 

IAW Winter Quarter Schedule:

Tuesday, January 14, 3:30 – 5:30 PM

Co-hosted by the Ancient Societies Workshop

Kathryn Morgan (Postdoctoral Fellow, Oriental Institute) 

Title: TBA

Room: Classics 21

 

Wednesday, February 12

Dominik Hagmann, (University Assistant/Lecturer, University of Vienna)

“Studying the Roman Rural Landscape at Northern Noricum: Materials, Methods, and Challenges.”

 

Wednesday February 26

 Kirsten Neumann (Curator and Research Associate, Oriental Institute Museum)

“From Raw to Ritualized: Following the Trail of Incense of the Assyrian Temple.”

 

Wednesday, March 4

Teagan Wolter (PhD Student, Near Eastern Art and Archaeology, University of Chicago) 

“Preliminary Thoughts on Khanates, Qalas, and Urban Forms in Central Asia and their Possible Application to the BMAC.”

 

Wednesday, March 11

Guest Lecture: Mark Hauser (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University)

“Mapping Water: Archaeology, Colonial Landscapes and Water Insecurity.”

Fall 2019 Schedule

Please note that the IAW is now meeting on Wednesdays, from 4:30 – 6:00 PM.

Meetings will be held in Haskell 315 unless otherwise noted below. Refreshments will be served.

For copies of the papers, to request accommodations, or any other questions, please email the coordinators Kelsey Rooney (karooney@uchicago.edu) or Suay Erkusoz (serkusoz@uchicago.edu).

 

IAW Fall Quarter Schedule:

Wednesday, October 9

Notes from the Field (Pub Night). Meeting at The Pub, in the Basement of Ida Noyes.

 

Wednesday, October 23

Emma Gilheany  (PhD Student, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)

‘Circumpolar Settler Colonialism: Climates, Infrastructures, Archives.’

 

Wednesday, November 6

Estefania Vidal Montero (PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)

‘Notes on Tactility: Making place with mud.’

 

Wednesday, November 13

Sarah Newman (Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)

‘Geo-logics: Mesoamerican Soil Taxonomies and Pedological Pluralism.’

 

Tuesday, December 3, 5:30 – 7 PM

Co-hosted by the African Studies Workshop

Johanna Pacyga (PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago)

‘African Habits: Vocation and Daily Life at the Convent of Saint Joseph.’

Foster Hall, room TBD.

 

Wednesday, December 4 Guest Lecture:

Eréndira M. Quintana Morales  (Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Northern Illinois University)

Title TBD.