Theme:
5. Theories and methods in archaeology: interactions between disciplines
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Archaeology and Interdisciplinarity: The New Status Quo or the New Buzzword?
Content:
The recent introduction and development of new scientific techniques in archaeology has led to several original insights concerning the lives of past human populations, from migratory patterns and diseases in aDNA research, land-use patterns and climate data on a global scale, to the impact of the new geological era known as the Anthropocene. This new form of research is based on composite teams, with researchers of varied disciplinary backgrounds, such as chemistry, physics, climatology, history, anthropology, to name only a few. Everywhere we turn, archaeologists from around the world seem to be embracing interdisciplinary research as the new paradigmatic way of conducting projects, and funding agencies make it a cornerstone criterion
However, despite the popularity of claims of interdisciplinarity there seems to be no consensus in archaeology as to what interdisciplinary “knowledge” actually is. As stated by the eminent sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein, disciplinary boundaries have always been arbitrary, nothing more than historical products that reflect poorly the actual concerns and problems that affect the world in the 21st century. Or in other words, ‘interdisciplinarity has no inherent meaning’ to quote Julie Thomson Klein.
For this reason, we find timely a critical discussion that engages with the epistemological and practical issues raised by this omnipresent concept. Is interdisciplinarity producing an actual new form of knowledge or is it the collapsing of artificial boundaries that should have never existed in the first place? Is it even possible to attain this aspiration, given how current disciplines, journals or institutions are structured? and finally, in light of interdisciplinarity, does it still make sense to recognize in archaeology a differentiation of human and natural sciences? The aim of this session is to critically assess interdiciplinarity as a concept in archaeology and to engage with prime examples of interdisciplinary research of recent years.
Keywords:
Interdisciplinary, Natural sciences, Human sciences, Anthropocene, Global, Funding
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:
Main organiser:
Artur Ribeiro (Germany) 1
Co-organisers:
Alexandra Ion (Romania) 2
Affiliations:
1. University of Kiel (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel)
2. Institute of Anthropology Francisc I.Rainer
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