This seminar series examines different types of ancient and modern migration through a materiallens. It aims to explore a variety of theoretical paradigms, perspectives, and methodologiesfor visualizing the movement and settling of migrants. To that end, scholars were invited topresent archaeological or ethnographic case studies on a broad geographical, chronological, and thematic range of topics related to migration and mobility.

Argument

Migration has always been a reality of human existence, but its scale and impetus have varied widely throughout history. Migration can involve entire communities, specific social classes or occupations, or can be the movement of individuals. It can be voluntary or forced, or somewhere in between. It can take place over a wide range of chronological scales. It can be unidirectional or can involve returns to the migration’s point of origin. In most cases, migration and human mobility more broadly also involve interactions between different communities and cultures that can provoke conflict but that also lead to the formation of new local hybridized identities.

The purpose of this seminar series is to examine different types of ancient and modern migration through a material lens. Approaches to past migrations have shifted significantly over the last century, as new methods have been pioneered to track the movement of individuals and groups (e.g. DNA, isotope analysis) and as our understanding of the materiality of identity categories (e.g. ethnicity) have become more sophisticated. This seminar series aims to explore a variety of theoretical paradigms, perspectives, and methodologies for visualizing the movement and settling of migrants through material culture. To that end, we invited scholars to present archaeological or ethnographic case studies on a broad geographical, chronological, and thematic range of topics on migration and mobility. We intend for this seminar series to be broadly cross-cultural and to promote dialogue between disparate archaeological subdisciplines as well as with related disciplines.

Organization

The seminar is organized by Catharine Judson and Hagit Nol, CReA-Patronomie, Université libre de Bruxelles. They both carry projects funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 801505.

Resgistration

For registration (for individual or all sessions), questions, and further information, please contact us at: ulbmigrationseminar@gmail.com.

Programme

Thursday, October 21st, 2021

17:00 (GMT+1)

• Naoise Mac Sweeney, Universität Wien, Mapping Greek mobilities: Introducing the MIGMAG project
• José C. Carvajal López, Leicester University, Ceramics and migration in early Islamic al-Andalus (Iberia). An approach to the Vega of Granada (SE Spain)

Tuesday, November 16th, 2021

17:00 (GMT+1)

• Mark Golitko, University of Notre Dame & The Field Museum of Natural History, New Guinean social life and the archaeological imagination: Language, material culture, and dynamic networks
• Daniela Hofmann, University of Bergen, The more we are together, the happier we shall be? Archaeological migration narratives and DNA

Tuesday, December 14th, 2021

17:00 (GMT+1)

• Susanne Hakenbeck, University of Cambridge, A river runs through it. The role of the Danube in facilitating population movements in Late Antiquity
• Edna J. Stern, Israel Antiquities Authority & University of Haifa, Migration, cultural encounters and economic changes: The emergence of specialized pottery workshop clusters in the Crusader kingdoms and states (12th-13th centuries)

Tuesday, January 18th, 2022

17:00 (GMT+1)

• Anne Nissen, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Where have all the Vikings gone? Some reflections on the missing archaeological evidence in the Frankish area
• Leszek Gardeła, Nationalmuseet – National Museum of Denmark, The Vikings in Pomerania and the Piast state: History, archaeology, and reception

Tuesday, February 15th, 2022

17:00 (GMT+1)

• Emma Maltin, Stockholm University, Tracing diaspora communities in early modern Sweden with the aid of regional staple foods and fish bones. A case study from the town of Nya Lödöse (1473-1624 AD)
• Jason E. Laffoon, Leiden University, Migration, diet, and health in the colonial Caribbean: New insights from isotope bioarchaeology

Tuesday, March 15th, 2022

17:00 (GMT+1)

• Dimitris Dalakoglou, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, An archaeology of the contemporary crises: The material culture of the end of the world as we knew it
• Hannah Wilson, Nottingham Trent University, Excavating Sobibor Death Camp: Transnational identities, forced migration and the material memories of victims

Friday, April 22nd, 2022

17:00 (GMT+1)

• Sarah Trabert, the University of Oklahoma, Indigenous diasporas in North America: Puebloan adaptation, resistance, and refuge on the Great Plains
• Noemie Arazi, Université libre de Bruxelles and Alexandre Livingstone Smith, Musée royale de l'Afrique centrale Kasongo (Im)material: Screening and discussion

Tuesday, May 17th, 2022

17:00 (GMT+1)

• Bing Zhao, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Chinese ceramic sherds discovered in Arabia and Africa: An archeological view of exchanges in the Indian Ocean (9th-16th century)
• Silviane Scharl, Universität zu Köln, Some thoughts on mobility and the spread of innovations in prehistoric sedentary societies