Theme:
Global change and archaeology
Session format:
Round table (only list of confirmed discussants(session co-organizers)
Title:
President´s Thing 2019: 25 Years After
Content:
As part of an EAA 25th anniversary-driven review, I have decided with the agreement of the Executive Board, to establish a new tradition in the EAA: an annual special session - organized by the president. This will develop as an annual assembly and forum for the discussion of timely issues, relevant to the EAA and relevant to Archaeology and its social relevance. Relying on previous experiences in Vilnius 2016, where we gathered to discuss the potential issues that might follow the Brexit referendum, and in Barcelona 2018, where we debated issues on international cooperation and archaeology, I am now proposing that this should become an annual event. Its function will be to gather and hear members´ voices, opinion and analysis. The theme I propose for this year is the developing role of archaeology in our challenging times.
The 25th anniversary is a special occasion for EAA and a point in time for us to consider how Archaeology can reflect on, deconstruct and analyse the great tangle of human cultural evolution and its dynamics, and the essence of what we are as societies. The EAA Bern motto, Beyond Paradigms, reminds us that, if paradigms become barriers (like mountains), they can limit our vision, enclose our lives and experiences and our ability to think creatively.
Thinking beyond the developed theoretical constraints of our discipline, will enable us to discover the fissures in these paradigms that, like the passes through the Swiss mountains, can be routes for communication, interaction, exchange and convergence. EAA Barcelona´s motto, Reflecting Futures, reminded us that Archaeology is as much about the future as it is about the past because archaeologists superpower is to understand and articulate how the future comes into being. Archaeology has the capacity to reflect on the societal and cultural forces that create our futures and therefore has some ability to think about how these processes will shape the future.
The session will start with some short presentations by EAA members from different backgrounds, fields of activity and personal/professional circumstances. This will be followed by an open discussion drawing from the contributions and welcoming essential reflection and opinion from the floor.
Keywords:
Archaeology futures, Social relevance, Social challenges
Session associated with MERC:
no
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
EAA25
Main organiser:
Felipe Criado-Boado (Spain) 1
Co-organisers:
Karen Waugh (Netherlands) 1
Affiliations:
1. European Association of Archaeologists
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