Official Programme Booklet
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INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP Habitus, the social dimension of technology and transformation 18 –19 June 2018 INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP “Habitus, the social dimension of technology and transformation” June 18-19, 2018, at Kiel University The workshop focus on the various scales of social transformation seen from the perspective of human-environmental interaction. Attention is drawn to the importance of technology in transformation processes, especially in its social aspects. The aim is to explore technology as a trigger of socio-cultural change, in its mutual relations with social structures, institutions, power, ideologies, traditions, inequalities and conflicts against the economic and environ- mental background. It is assumed that people work in a routine manner, i.e. in a system (habitus) of embodied dispositions, usually shared by people with a similar cultural background, which organize the ways in which individuals perceive the social world around them. To cope with the new challenges, people actively use various technologies. However in many cases new technologies are introduced almost unconsciously and then they affect the direction of transformation in a slow and evolutionary way. In other cases, some technologies, no matter whether they were adopted consciously or not, reinforced and accelerated certain tendencies in social development. A comparative approach, both in terms of spatial and chronological scale, seems to be an effective tool in understanding and explaining the relation between technology and transformation. By inviting archaeologists from different countries representing different research traditions, the role of technology will be discussed as a proxy for social transformation in Europe and beyond. The most important questions addressed are: (1) What is the place of technology among other triggers of social transformation? (2) Is technology a necessary trigger of social change? (3) What accompanying factors accelerate changes but do not cause them? (4) What is the role of migration in the adaptation and use of new technologies? Table of Contents Preface ................................................. 3 – 7 Programme ......................................... 8 – 9 Workshop abstracts ......................... 10 – 16 Participants .............................................. 17 Kiel city map ............................................. 18 3 Dear participants, A warm welcome to Kiel! As speakers of the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1266 “Scales of Transformation: Human-Environmental Interaction in Prehistoric and Archaic Societies” it is an honour to welcome you in Kiel. The topic of this workshop is located at the heart of the CRC research programme with habitus being one important aspect to understand the meaning of societal as well as environmental transformation. The setting of the workshop reflects the central characteristics of the CRC 1266: Interdisciplinarity, internationality, innovation and integration. At Kiel University, the exploration of past societies traditionally looks at various spheres of human development, its environmental interplay, socio-economic setting, and technological innovations, always seen in their strong connection to each other. This tradition has significantly been fostered by the Graduate School “Human Development in Landscapes”, which takes an transdisciplinary perspective on the human-driven concept of landscape, and the establishment of the Johanna Mestorf Academy as well as the Kiel University research focus “Societal, Environ- mental and Cultural Change”, bundling expertise from six faculties. The CRC 1266 “Scales of Transformation” arises from this multidisciplinary research environment. It aims to understand the substantial changes that took place during a crucial period of European history - fundamental transformation processes, describing the development from late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers to early state societies from 15.000 to 1 BCE. Therefore, 17 subprojects take different approaches to examine these transformation processes, exploring spatial, temporal, environmental and social dimensions. The research focuses on archaeological and paleo-ecological archives, explored based on different conceptual and methodological approaches. The scientific expertise is provided by eight institutions at Kiel University, as well as the Centre of Baltic and Scandinavian Studies and the Archaeological State Museum of Schleswig-Holstein in Schleswig. By taking a diachronic and global perspective, this workshop takes up our idea of connecting science on both, the academic and the personal level. In the scope of subproject F5, it brings together specialists from different disciplines to discuss the social dimension of technological transformations and simultaneously to create a synergic network where expert knowledge accumulates. We are glad to host you in Kiel and hope you will experience both, a pleasant stay and a fruitful workshop. We thank CRC 1266 Mercator Fellow Prof. Dr. Slawek Kadrow for the design and the organisation of the workshop. With his knowledge also on theoretical issues and long lasting collaboration with many scholars, he was able to bring together such a productive group of archaeologists and other scientists. Wiebke Kirleis Johannes Müller SPEAKERS OF THE CRC 1266 AT KIEL UNIVERSITY 4 5 Dear participant, Dear Colleagues, The CRC 1266 subproject F5 “Social dimensions of technological change“ explores the interre- The Principle Investigators of CRC 1266 subproject F5 asked me to organize a workshop focused lation between technologies and social practices and the role of this interrelation as a driver of on the consideration of the interrelations between technology and social change. social and socio-environmental transformations. The introduction of new technologies and the alteration of known technologies is seen as both a response to change, as well as a driver of Habitus is the central concept of our workshop because it allows us to explain and understand societal or environmental transformation. Here, the concept of innovation is central. Coming from the multiple conditions surrounding every manufacturer. It is a system of permanent and being most excessively used in modern economics, it has received increasing interest also dispositions, functioning as structuring structures, i.e. as principles generating and organizing in the humanities, and especially in prehistoric archaeology in the last few years. As the term practices and ideas that can be objectively adapted to the goal, without requiring conscious goal innovation is a widely used fancy catchword in political and societal discourses, in a scientific orientation and deliberate mastery of the activities necessary to achieve this goal. Habitus is the context it is crucial to more sharply define it and to substantiate its significance with a stronger internationalization of external structures and generates strategies that allow a person to deal empirical approach. with different situations in a consistent and systematic way. And, what is also important, habitus leaves some space for improvisation. We are thus very happy that Slawek Kadrow has designed a focused workshop "Habitus, the social dimension of technology and transformation" with more general and globally relevant Pierre Bourdieu, in his theory of practice, developed the key terms of habitus, field, social capital big questions. He has been able to invite an impressive group of international specialists with a and social violence, maintaining that each of them should be considered in the context of the worldwide scope, even if there is a clear focus on Prehistoric Europe. We, the principal investi- others. As archaeologists, with the possibility of studying the past from a long-term perspective, gators of subproject F5, are looking forward to an engaging and exciting workshop! we can also effectively examine the impact of environmental changes on social transformation in its technological dimension. The content of the submitted papers corresponds with the above theses and fits the purposes of our workshop and its thematic scope. Berit V. Eriksen Some papers deal with more general issues and are theoretical in their scope, while others Wiebke Kirleis focus on selected cases, exploring them and thus illuminating a problem which is of interest to us all. Most of the papers deal with issues from the Neolithic period and the Bronze Age and they Johannes Müller are limited to European areas. Nevertheless, the considered and reconstructed mechanisms and PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATORS OF CRC 1266 SUBPROJECT F5 dependencies are more universal, just like the underlying theory of practice with its elements, “SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE” primarily in terms of habitus. I would like to extend my thanks to all participants for accepting the invitation to our workshop and submitting their very interesting papers. I am sure that they will become the source of lively disputes and discussions during the course of our meeting in Kiel. I wish all of the participants and organizers a fruitful meeting! Sławomir Kadrow MERCATOR FELLOW OF CRC 1266 SUBPROJECT F5 “SOCIAL DIMENSIONS OF TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE” 6 7 Habitus, the social dimension of technology and transformation • 18 – 19 June 2018 08.30 Coffee 08.30 Coffee 09.00 Welcome Johannes Müller, speaker of the CRC 1266 09.00 Changing pottery production technologies Lieve Donnellan, Faculty of Humanities, Art and Culture, History, Antiquity, VU University 09.15 Introduction Sławomir Kadrow, CRC1266,