Panel 029: Bodies of Archives/Archival bodies at the Art, Materiality and Representation conference of the Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) on 1-3 June 2018 at the British Museum, Clore Centre and SOAS, Senate House, London.
The concept of the ‘archive’ had arguably received insufficient critical attention in anthropology until relatively recently despite its central role in research practices. However, recent work has highlighted the significance of archives for the future of anthropology (Kohl 2013), and ideas about the ‘archive’ as a static repository of history are being challenged. Interdisciplinary experimentations with forms of archive/archiving are increasingly emerging (cf. the anarchive) raising important questions about both the collaborative and processual nature of archives (Manning 2016).
This panel begins with the premise that archives, prone to decay, dissolution and re-arrangement, are permanently in process (cf. here). This perspective enables us to engage with cleavages and links between past knowledge and future imagination, as well as the role of representation. Our interest is not limited to objects, but also to the idea of the body (or collective bodies) as archives of experience. In particular, we are interested in the archive’s potential for collaborative artistic and ethnographic practices: What forms of collaborative work does the archive offer? In what ways can the collective sensibility of the archive be explored? What can we gain from a process-based notion of the archive? What implications does this have on the role of the archive in art and anthropology, and for the practices related to it in particular?
We call for papers and art/media interventions that explore a variety of contemporary understandings of ‘archive’ that open up for individuals, groups and institutions possibilities to produce creative anthropological and artistic work.
Please submit the paper proposal before 8 January 2018 online.
Proposals must consist of a paper title, a short abstract of less than 300 characters and an abstract of 250 words.
Panel organisers:
Dr. Jennifer Clarke (Gray’s School of Art, RGU, Aberdeen) [email protected] or [email protected]
Dr. Giulia Battaglia (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle-Paris 3/EHESS-IIAC-LAIOS) [email protected] or [email protected]
Dr. Fiona Siegenthaler (University of Basel, Columbia University) [email protected] or [email protected]
Contact Info:
Fiona Siegenthaler, Dr.
University of Basel | Institute of Social Anthropology Münsterplatz 19 | CH-4051 Basel
Tel: +41 61 207 27 48
Contact Email: [email protected]
For details please visit website.
