Format: Panel Debate
Organisers: Andy Gardner (UCL) & Oliver Harris (University of Leicester)
Contact: andrew.gardner@ucl.ac.uk; ojth1@leicester.ac.uk
This workshop session asks whether the new materialist trend of recent years in archaeology constitutes a(nother) revolution in archaeological thinking, and if so what the implications of that might be. Following on from successful sessions at TAGs 41 and 42, we conclude the trilogy of collaborative workshops with an evaluation of the threads of continuity and change represented by the range of new materialist/posthumanist approaches to archaeology, and consider what the discipline might look like if these agendas were to truly reshape it. We also seek to explore, on a deeper level, the ontology of ‘revolution’, and whether a truly transformative intellectual programme, like an entirely novel political one, is actually possible or wholly desirable. In keeping with our previous workshops, we welcome all-comers to the session and intend for it to be mainly discursive, framed around four questions led by a small panel – expressions of interest in this role or as a discussant are very much encouraged. Our key questions for this session are:
- Do new materialist approaches offer a ‘revolution’ in archaeological thinking, and, if so, is this desirable, or threatening?
- Do new materialist approaches ask new questions, or answer old questions in new ways? If new questions are possible from this perspective, what does this form of archaeology look like?
- Does the metaphor of ‘revolution’ undermine the translatability of different ontologies? Is ‘revolution’ itself a modernist trope?
- How do current debates in archaeological theory challenge us to reflect upon previous ‘revolutions’ in archaeological thought?
TAG Edinburgh 2022 