Rachel Watkins

Descendant Community Engagement, Moral Panic and the Science of Ethnographic Stances

Friday, March 1st,  4:00 – 6:00 pm
963 Schermerhorn extension

Abstract

In this presentation, I argue that sustainable descendant community engagement (DCE) requires deconstructing elements of moral panic embedded within engagement discourse. Furthermore, I argue that this is vital to addressing the foundational elements of scientific knowledge production that reinforce racially ordered notions of humanity. The first part of my talk will focus on my argument that DCE is naturalized as being in opposition to – or a complication of – research that normalizes responses akin to moral panic by researchers. I draw on Black feminist theorists to connect this moral panic to the naturalization of Black bodies and Black social worlds as “out of order.“

The second part of my talk will address our (bioanthropologists’) reticence to approach DCE as ethnographic practice, and its distinction from our regular use of ethnographic tools. Specifically, there are matters of ethnographic thickness and thinness that must be considered to shift our disproportionate attention on empirically oriented “who” questions in identifying descendant communities. In doing so, we create more space for “how” questions regarding the formation of descendant communities, our interactions with them as researchers, and our interactions with them as social actors. Ultimately, I propose that bioanthropologists consider taking an “ethnographic stance” on DCE as part of taking the “culturalness” of scientific practice seriously.

Click here to register for the online streaming of this talk.

Justin Dunnavant
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles

A History Ecology of the Danish West Indies from Slavery to Freedom

This Friday, March 8th, at 3:30 pm
Monell Auditorium at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory

The transatlantic slave trade era – marked by chattel slavery, racial capitalism, and exploitative plantation economies – radically transformed societies and environments in the Americas. In the former Danish West Indies, the construction of these plantation regimes drastically reconfigured ecological relationships. In this talk, I synthesize recent work in historical ecology, archaeology, archival records, colonial maps, LiDAR, and marine science to explore how various colonial actors engaged with Caribbean ecological relations. Finally, I propose a praxis of redress to inform how we may move forward as archaeologists in a world of environmental decline.

To schedule meetings with the speaker, please contact the faculty host Kristina Douglas

Students interested in joining lunch with the speakers should contact Chiamaka Magnut

General notes:
* The full schedule for the colloquium for the semester can be found here: https://lamont.columbia.edu/events/earth-science-colloquium, in the attached poster, as well as posters around campus.

* Please note that while there will be a non-interactive live stream of the talks, we hope to see everyone in person!
* As in previous years, remember that the first question after a talk should be by a student

* Please keep the use of laptops and phones to a minimum, as they can be very distracting to your neighbors.

A rendering of Biosignature Preservation on Park Avenue, a sculpture by Jorge Otero-Pailos which will be part of the Analogue Sites exhibition on Park Avenue. © Otero-Pailos Studio | Artists Rights Society ARS.

THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 6:30 PM

Analogue Sites

Lenfest Center for the Arts

Artist and preservation architect Jorge Otero-Pailos, GSAPP, presents Analogue Sites, a public sculpture exhibition coming to Manhattan’s Park Avenue this spring. Wrought from the fence that protected the former U.S. Embassy in Oslo—a Saarinen-designed landmark—the sculptures raise awareness about the role of American modern art and architecture in cultural diplomacy and advocate for the preservation of these mid-century embassies. Response by visual artist and Chair of the School of the Arts Visual Arts Program, Matthew Buckingham.

Relocated to New York, the sculptures will be in dialogue with other mid-century icons and international institutions, bringing to light the role of Park Avenue as an art and architectural laboratory of inter-cultural exchange. A related and limited-edition artist’s book of prints, Treaties on De-Fences, further intertwines the curves of the sculptures with the lines of diplomatic treaties from which the sculptures derive their names.

Co-presented by the Barnard + Columbia Colleges Architecture Department; the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, School of International and Public Affairs; and the School of the Arts Visual Arts Program.

Visit the School of the Arts website for the full season of events.

Alaya Palamidis
Université de Toulouse

Divine Names in the Greek and West-Semitic World: The MAP Project. With a Case Study from Imbros

Friday, March 22
11:00 am
The Italian Academy, 5th-floor seminar room

Abstract
Since 2017, the team of the Mapping Ancient Polytheisms (MAP) project led by Corinne Bonnet in Toulouse has been studying the names of the gods in the ancient Greek and West-Semitic world. Divine names provide unique insights into the representation of the divine by the ancient populations of the Mediterranean and into their communication strategies. Therefore, one of the main objectives of the MAP project was the creation of a database gathering all Greek and West-Semitic inscriptions containing divine names. The database is accessible online and almost 20 000 inscriptions have been registered so far. After a general presentation of the project and its database, a case study from Imbros will illustrate how the study of divine names can cast new light on some well-known inscriptions.

This is a hybrid event. Please fill out this form if you wish to participate remotely (a Zoom link will be circulated on the morning of the event): https://forms.gle/3uBaBxd1WH5QiDPb9

Events hosted by the Tang Center are announced on the “events” section of the Center’s website. Members are welcome to log in to the website to access “forum” page for events comments.

Rana Özbal
Koç University, Istanbul, Turkey

“Milking, Manure and Meadows: Isotopic Results from Neolithic Barcın Höyük”

March 28, 2024 (Thursday) 12:00 pm-1:00 pm EDT (Zoom)

You can find an abstract of Rana Özbal’s talk on the Seminars on the Ancient Near East’s website, together with further information on this event and on the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 Columbia Seminars on the Ancient Near East series.

The event will take place by Zoom: to receive the Zoom link please rsvp to the following seminar link to request access to the upcoming meeting; if the link doesn’t work, cut and paste it onto your browser: https://forms.gle/CtEG3aNU45Vdi48c7

For any questions feel free to get in touch with Allan S. Gilbert at gilbert@fordham.edu.

The seminar rapporteurs, Kutay Sen and Jeiran Jahani (ss5879@columbia.edu, jeiran.jahani@columbia.edu) will send a Zoom link to all email addresses on the RSVP list the day before the meeting so that you can log in.

Early China Seminar Lecture Series

Title: “Local Administrative Centers and their Transitions during the Warring States and Qin-Han Period”
Speaker: Tao Guo, Columbia University / Central China Normal University (China)
Time: March 29, 2024 (4:30-6:30 PM EST)
Venue: Faculty House

*Please check the announcement board in the first floor lobby for room information.

The Warring States and Qin-Han period marked the establishment of the county and commandery system, during which the local administrative centers gradually shifted from counties to commanderies, moving from decentralization to centralization. This talk will examine the changes in the relationship between the central and local authorities and within the regional administration during different stages from the Warring States to the early Han dynasty. It will reveal the time points and political mechanisms behind the formation of phenomena such as the dominance of commanderies, the concentration of power to the county court, the division of county magistrates and prefects, and the allocating of specific duties to officials during the Han dynasty.

Request Pre-circulated Paper

Edward E. Cohen
University of Pennsylvania

Roman Inequality
Affluent Slaves and Important Businesswomen

Friday, March 29 at 11:00 am
The Italian Academy, 5th-floor seminar room

Abstract
This lecture will explore how at Rome in the first and second centuries CE a number of male and female slaves, and some free women, prospered in business amidst a generally impoverished population, both free and enslaved, both male and female. The presentation will focus on two anomalies to which only minimal academic attention has been previously directed: (1) the paradox of a Roman economy dependent on enslaved entrepreneurs who often achieved considerable personal affluence, although functioning within a legal system that supposedly deprived unfree persons of all legal capacity and human rights; (2) the incongruity of the importance and accomplishments of Roman businesswomen operating under legal rules that in many aspects discriminated strongly against women.

Edward E. Cohen is Professor of Classics and Ancient History (Adjunct) at the University of Pennsylvania.  He is the author of many books and articles on ancient economic and legal history, including most recently Athenian Prostitution: The Business of Sex and Roman Inequality: Affluent Slaves, Businesswomen, Legal Fictions (both published by Oxford University Press).

This is a hybrid event. Please fill out this form if you wish to participate remotely (a Zoom link will be circulated on the morning of the event): https://forms.gle/bZWDZMngPL3D1Lxk6

For any questions, feel free to get in touch with Giovanni Lovisetto at gl2623@columbia.edu.

A short reception will follow the event.