SEAA News Blog: Conferences

The University of South Bohemia and the Institute of Archaeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague will be hosting the 19th Conference of the International Workgroup for Palaeoethnobotany from June 13-17, 2022. Abstract submission will open on September 15, 2021, and end on January 10, 2022. 

For more information, and to register, visit: http://iwgp2022.elementadmin.cz/

Friday, April 16th at 12-1pm Eastern / 11am-12 Noon Central / 9-10am Pacific

Sponsored by the Society for East Asian Archaeology and the Southeast Asian Archaeology Interest Group

We look forward to seeing you at our Virtual Get-Together! The schedule for our meeting is as follows: 

1. Greetings from meeting hosts Francis Allard and Alison Carter
2. Brief presentations from editors from the journals Antiquity, Archaeological Research in Asia, Asian Archaeology and Asian Perspectives as well as the Institute for Southeast Asian Archaeology. 
3. Brief presentations by two junior researchers on their work, as well as their thoughts and ideas on the present and future of East/Southeast Asian Archaeology, with time for Q&A. 
   1. Dr. Piphal Heng, Postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University
   2. Dr. Lauren Glover, Honorary Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Familiarity with unearthed materials has become the norm among scholars of early China across the world. The field has come to re‐examine narratives of early Chinese history in a more nuanced way, moving beyond questions of “doubting” or “verifying antiquity” to detail how the situation on the ground in early China related to its representation in traditional historical constructs. The fruits of this process are undeniable. Confronting entrenched historical narratives through archaeology, however, has widespread methodological and epistemological implications. Unquestioned, traditional narratives can distract scholars from the motivations of ancient actors; moreover, they can limit the broad humanistic value of early China scholarship and its reception outside the field. Unchecked, however, the incautious deconstruction of such narratives can cast pointless doubt on well-founded networks of knowledge. Further, deploying unearthed material in historiography brings the narratological habits of history into contact with the customs of field archaeology, raising both practical problems of data management and theoretical issues about the production of knowledge about the past.  

Understanding Authenticity in China’s Cultural Heritage

Conference at the University of Oxford, 16-20 March, 2021

Organized by Christopher Foster and Anke Hein

Contact: understandingauthenticity@gmail.com

What we deem to be genuine or fake is not an objective determination, but something that we agree upon as communities. Debates about authenticity, moreover, are often intimately bound to question who owns the past and its representation. The “Understanding Authenticity in China’s Cultural Heritage” conference this March will explore these issues and more. From contesting narratives about the mother trees of Big Red Robe tea, to the restoration of Qin terracotta soldiers; from the experience of visiting a replica Eiffel Tower in Hangzhou, to US-China diplomatic tensions over "originality" and "shanzhai 山寨 (imitation)” – "Understanding Authenticity in China's Cultural Heritage” brings together specialists from a broad range of fields and backgrounds, to explore how questions about “authenticity” impact their work on objects, texts, and intangible cultural heritage in China.

Please join us online March 16^th- 20^st, 2021, for a discussion on the construction of “authenticity,” both historically and today, in relation to China’s cultural heritage. Registration is free, attendance is open to all, via submission of a short survey at the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/X8T7T2C