Materials for Change (2016-2019)
The research team will study the dynamics of historical and contemporary processes of change, focusing on The Material in its various manifestations as a unifying agent that mediates the economic, social, cultural and religious in periods of massive and rapid change. Concomitantly, the team will emphasize the role of the material ‐ be it tools, objects, artifacts and food ‐ as an active agent of change in human history and in contemporary society in different regions of the world. Emphasis on the duality of the material ‐ as reflecting social and political processes and as an active force shaping such processes ‐ will enhance a deeper understanding of how historical and contemporary courses of change emerge, and how they are negotiated, challenged and reworked. A major strength of the proposed research team is in its synergy of disciplines, theories and methodologies in the social sciences and humanities. Team members study processes of change in various regions and historical contexts stretching over a wide chronological axis. Two of the team members are archeologists who study the dramatic shift from nomadic hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture in different part of the world, mainly the Levant and Northeast China. A third member studies art history as a venue for understanding the cultural and social history of the Middle East from the Hellenistic period and until the Umayyad era. The forth members is a cultural anthropologist that conducts ethnographic research in Vietnam and in Israel and studies the interface of food and culture. Team members share an interest in processes of change and in the emphasis they place on the material as an active agent in such processes. The diverse thematic and methodological scopes of the team members will enhance mutual enrichment and facilitate fresh approaches to the study of change in an interdisciplinary setting combining social sciences and humanities.
Group Members:
- Prof. Nir Avieli, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
- Prof. Leore Grosman, Institute of Archaeology
- Prof. Gideon Shelach, Department of East Asian Studies
- Prof. Rina Talgam, Department of Art History
- Idit Ben Or, Department of History
- Naomi Simhony, Department of Art History
- Tal Ulus, Department of Geography
- Elad Yaron, Department of Art History