Theme:
6. Contested Pasts & Presents
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
It’s a Matter of Space: The Materiality of Spaces of Negotiation and Social Competition from Prehistory to Medieval Times
Content:
Social competition was a key aspect of community interactions in the past. This session adopts a material culture and materiality perspective to the diachronic investigation of social negotiation, including notions of 'otherness', in antiquity as understood through their tangible expressions. We consider spaces of negotiation as cultural settings of antagonism, where groups and individuals engaged in identity formation and consolidation through mechanisms of social competition, often through confrontation with the 'other', purposefully or unintentionally.
In this session, we investigate how material remains from spaces of social negotiation and mediation can shed light on the dynamics of community competition. The spaces under scrutiny include—but are not limited to: 1) cult and ritual spaces, which attracted visitors from all walks of life, and burial grounds, which often represented the backdrop for the expression and creation of group and individual identities; 2) crossroads, which facilitated the – often circumstantial - give-and-take of materials (trade, exchange) along with ideas (cultural negotiation); 3) borders as meeting places, which formed the settings for long term negotiation of cultural and collective identities, as well as socio-economic and political influence; and 4) domestic and craft localities, which can act as platforms for cultural negotiation on a smaller scale such as with migrants and itinerant craftspeople.
This session aims to tackle questions on the modes and impacts of cultural interactions as viewed broadly through the lenses of their material remains. We welcome papers that investigate material culture, including scientific / analytical approaches, over a long time span from prehistory to the medieval times. Papers will explore the mechanics of cultural negotiation diachronically through social synergies and competition, influence, and the management of competing identities (political, social, individual, collective) in a variety of social contexts
Keywords:
social competition, spaces of negotiation, materiality and material culture, identities, human interaction
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:
Vana Orfanou (Germany) 1
Co-organisers:
Arianna Zapelloni Pavia (Czech Republic) 2
Azzurra Scarci (Germany) 3
Affiliations:
1. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
2. Institute of Classical Archaeology, Charles University Prague
3. Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz
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