Pacific Studies: a postgraduate forum on current research
Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia
Wednesday June 9 – Thursday 10 June 2004
Here is a brief overview of the workshop;
- This postgraduate forum aimed to provide the space and opportunity for postgraduates currently engaged in research on Pacific topics to informally present and share ideas, problems and challenges peculiar to their own fields of study
- Presenters were asked not to deliver polished papers but were encouraged to briefly introduce their specific area of research before outlining a particularly problematic aspect of their chosen field.
- 4 major themes were addressed, each represented by 3-4 students
Gaps in Data
Study of Collections/Studies in the
Methodologies and theoretical tools used to study material culture
Modernising an Anthropology of Material Culture?
- Open discussions following each session were lively and animated, the informal atmosphere allowing students to give invaluable advice and suggest strategies for coping with specific problems and challenges.
- Another forum on similar lines is provisionally planned for Dec 2004 (watch this space!)
|
WEDNESDAY 9 June 2004 Arrival and Registration Gaps in Data: How do we deal with geographic, historical or thematic discrepancies in our data when trying to build up a coherent analysis? Some of us might face a historical gap (e.g. gap of data during a period of time), geographical (e.g. lack of data for a specific area) or thematic (e.g. absence or disappearance of ceremonies, lack of a type of material): what types of problems arise and how might we deal with them? Presenters: Maia Jessop (SRU) – Wonu Veys (SRU) – Jara Hulkenberg (SRU) Tea Break Study of Collections/Studies in the field: Collections of Pacific material culture exist in a barely documented state in many museums around the world. How might we address the problems and issues thrown up by contemporary analyses of this body of historical material? What are the tensions and productive relationships between museum/archive-based research which focuses on objects and ethnographic fieldwork which focuses on indigenous contexts? Presenters: Andrew Mills (SRU) – Rachel Hand (RAM, Exeter) – Sabine Deiringer (Cambridge) – Nicole Peduzzi (Basel) THURSDAY 10 June 2004 Methodologies and theoretical tools used to study material culture: Depending on our subjects, we each resort to different methodologies (e.g. typology, archival research, anthropology of techniques, iconography, long-term fieldwork, etc.) and different theoretical tools (e.g. agency of art, semiotics, “relationality”, emic ontologies, etc.). Given the diversity of this range of tools, how might we choose, use and understand them, and how do we situate ourselves within contemporary theoretical debates. Presenters: Jenny Newell (ANU/BM) – Ludovic Coupaye (SRU) – Joshua Bell (ISCA). Lunch Modernising an Anthropology of Material Culture?: How do we conduct ethnographies of contemporary material culture and how do we modernise the study of historical material culture? How do we contribute to the redefinition of categories such as “Art”, “Material Culture” or even “Anthropology” in the current contexts? Presenters: Julie Adams (SRU) – Jean de Lannoy (ISCA) – Malia Talakai (CPS, Nijmegen) Break Summary of Debates and last discussions. Supported by: Sainsbury Research Unit, the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) and the University of East Anglia (UEA)
|
