Call for Papers
ARC Volume 22.2 The disturbing past: Does your research give you nightmares?
The Archaeological Review from Cambridge invites papers on the theme of emotion, morality, and academic detachment. This forthcoming volume will explore how we as archaeologists engage with work that is inherently contradictory to the idea of scientific detachment and objectivity.
Recent years have seen increasing recognition of archaeologists’ roles as subjective actors investigating and presenting the past. One element of this change is rising interesting in how archaeologists feel about their work, particularly when it involves intimate contact with death and corruption. Another is the growing involvement of archaeologists in present day conflicts: uncovering mass graves, documenting cultural destruction, and even advising military forces, in the case of the Iraq invasion. Alongside these themes, archaeological research increasingly attempts to understand the belief systems, bodily experiences, and even emotions of past people.
Papers are invited which open up discussion of how archaeology can engage with the world of feeling and values. As a discipline with a ‘long view’, can we further understanding of emotion and its role in our humanity and social behaviour? Can we move beyond headline-grabbing voyeurism to understand the darker sides of the human past and present? Possible topics for papers include but are not limited to:
- the changing ways in which archaeologists have thought and written about their own and past emotions
- how archaeology can contribute to modern human rights discourse
- leaving the comfort zone of description: how you have dealt with disturbing subjects in your own work
- approaches to presenting these subjects in museums and archaeological education.
For this volume only, ARC will consider high quality papers in less conventionally academic styles, such as narrative.
Please send an abstract of c.400 words to Alison Klevnäs (amd42@cam.ac.uk) by 16th July 2006. The full article should not exceed 4000 words.
Please include your name, contact details and course. Thank you.
About ARC
The Archaeological Review from Cambridge is a journal of archaeology.
It is managed and published on a voluntary basis by postgraduate research students at the University of Cambridge. Issues are released twice a year. ARC is a non-profit making organisation.
Although primarily rooted in archaeological theory and practice, ARC has increasingly begun to accommodate a wider range of perspectives with the aim of establishing a strong, interdisciplinary journal which will be of interest in a range of fields.
Information for contributors
- Deadline for abstracts: 16th July 2006. Please provide us with a c.400 word outline of your proposed topic.
- Deadline for papers: 1st October 2006. Editors may accept or reject papers and will usually request revisions. We aim to return papers within one month of receipt.
- Deadline for revised papers: 1st January 2007. Further revisions may be requested. Publication date is November 2007.
The editors for this volume are James Holloway (jeh30@hermes.cam.ac.uk) and Alison Klevnäs (amd42@cam.ac.uk). Please contact us with any questions.
More information can be found on the ARC website, including a style guide and image copyright guidance.