The symposium is organised by the UISPP Commission on the History of Archaeology [https://histarcheo.hypotheses.org], in collaboration with the Commission “Southeast Asia: Human Evolution, Dispersals and Adaptations”. It will concentrate on the creation, transmission and movements of prehistoric collections – including natural history specimens, human remains, and artefacts –, from the colonial era to the present day. Particular emphasis will be placed on collections from Southeast Asia, however, case studies drawn from other historical and geographical contexts are welcome too.
It will concentrate on three interdependent topics:
- Field explorations conducted in Southeast Asia during the colonial and post-colonial periods.
- Movement of samples and collections in their diversity (museum, academic, private, and community-owned collections), exchanged, curated, and displayed in Asia and elsewhere in the world.
- Archaeological collections today: narratives, accessibility, policies and regulation in local and international contexts.
We expect proposals that take into account:
- The political, social, economic, religious and cultural dimensions of scientific practice;
- the continuities and ruptures observed between the colonial and post-colonial periods;
- the multi-scale realities involving actors, institutions, practices, networks, activism, specimens and artefacts;
- the impact of places within scientific practices: between centres and peripheries; colonies and metropolises; rural and urban areas; shared and contested territories.
For inquiries and submissions, please contact:
Contact address: history-of-archaeology@uispp.org
Maddalena Cataldi, Sapienza University of Roma, Italy
Adèle Chevalier, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, France
Géraldine Delley, Latenium museum & University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland
Sébastien Plutniak, Centre national de la Recherche scientifique, lab. CITERES, Tours, France
