Symposia
PAST EVENTS:
JUNE 2012: EUROTAST Network: Contexts & Perspectives
Hosted by the Institute for the Public Understanding of the Past, University of York
Part of the EUROTAST Kick-Off programme, this exploratory symposium, showcased EUROTAST network projects with contextual talks providing complimentary perspectives from invited scholars. For more information about the event, please DOWNLOAD the Kick-Off Week Report.
FEBRUARY 2013: The Archaeology of Slavery: Reclaiming history and identity from Africa to the Americas
Hosted by St. Maarten Archaeological Centre (SIMARC)
This 2-day symposium seeks to explore and question the ways archaeology has contributed to academic and public understanding of the transatlantic slave trade and its legacies in Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean. Simultaneously the symposium will also demonstrate the diversity of archaeology as a discipline, through varying perspectives and research methodologies including theory, material culture, maritime and landscape archaeology, bioarchaeology, heritage studies and public engagement with archaeological outcomes and professional practice.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
May 2013: Recasting Categories: Race, Ancestry, Belonging
Hosted by the Centre International de Recherches sur les Eclavages (CIRESC), Paris
“Race” is a conceptual system that has historically been used to categorise the human family based on phenotype, faculties and character, and which formed the basis of worldwide networks of exploitation under European colonial rule. Today, although biological definitions of race have largely been disavowed by the scientific community, the legacies of racialised thinking have had profound and complex societal implications. This collaborative symposium with CIRESC seeks to facilitate an interdisciplinary dialogue that will explore these inherited categories and understand their influence on contemporary forms of cultural and political identification. Furthermore the discussion will look at the role of genetic ancestry testing in the formation of new ties of kinship and concepts of belonging.
FUTURE EVENTS:
AUTUMN 2013: The Legacies of Slavery in 21st century Europe
Hosted by The Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
SPRING 2014: Exploring Origins and Ancestral Ties
Hosted by the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire, Université Cheick Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal
AUTUMN 2014: Slavery in Africa: Archaeology and Memory
Hosted by the University of Legon, Ghana
SUMMER 2015: EUROTAST International Conference
Hosted by the International Slavery Museum, Liverpool