February 16–18, 2005
The Archaeology of Ritual, Memory, and Materiality
Co-chaired by Barbara J. Mills, Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona and William H. Walker, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, New Mexico State University
This seminar explored innovative methods brought to bear on “purposeful deposits” from activities that arrange or order objects in the archaeological record—for instance, weapons hoards in Europe, dedicatory offerings in Pueblo buildings, and votive deposits in Maya temples.
February 23–24, 2005
Public Ethnography
Co-chaired by Nancy Owen Lewis, Director, Academic Programs, School for Advanced Research and Barbara Tedlock, Distinguished Professor, Department of Anthropology, State University of New York at Buffalo
In hopes of educating and moving the public to action, “Public Ethnography,” a short seminar chaired by Barbara Tedlock and Nancy Owen Lewis, developed a proposal for a book series on the topic that is “socially grounded and emotionally engaged, participatory, collaborative, and well-written.”
March 21–23, 2005
Native Women’s Cultural Matters
Chaired by Suzan Shown Harjo, Cheyenne/Muscogee, President and CEO of The Morning Star Institute, Washington, D.C.
The participants in this seminar are women of various walks of life and Native nations. They shared their thoughts about the continuation and revitalization of Native women’s ceremonies, repatriation of Native cultural items, protection of Native sacred objects and sacred places, and other cultural matters.
March 29–30, 2005
The Cycles of Social and Environmental Complexity in Lowland Latin America
Co-chaired by George J. Gumerman, Interim President, School for Advanced Research and J. Stephen Lansing, Research Professor, Santa Fe Institute
As part of an ongoing institutional collaboration, SAR interim president George Gumerman co-chaired a March planning seminar with Santa Fe Institute (SFI) research professor J. Stephen Lansing.
April 7, 2005
Women and Globalization
Co-chaired by Mary Anglin, Department of Anthropology, University of Kentucky and President, Association for Feminist Anthropology; Nandini Gunewardena, Department of Anthropology and International Development Studies, University of California, Los Angeles; and Ann Kingsolver, Department of Anthropology, University of South Carolina
The participants sought to assess the contributions that feminist anthropology can make toward understanding the process of neoliberal, capitalist globalization.
June 12–13, 2005
Center for Digital Archaeology III
Chaired by Stephen Plog, Professor of Anthropology, University of Virginia
June 28–30, 2005
The Art of the Missions of Northern New Spain
Chaired by Clara Bargellini, Senior Research Fellow and Professor, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, National University, Mexico City
July 19–25, 2005
Event, Place, and Narrative Craft: Method and Meaning in Microhistory
Co-chaired by James F. Brooks, President, School for Advanced Research; Christopher R. N. DeCorse, Department of Anthropology, Syracuse University; and John Walton, Department of Sociology, University of California-Davis
The research and writing genre known as microhistory provided this seminar a unique forum for cross-disciplinary discussion and experimentation with narrative styles; in locations ranging from West Africa, the Yucatán, medieval Italy, Argentina, and California, to Brazil, Virginia, Spain, and Boston, they showed how “small worlds” may conceal sweeping stories, rich in the details of daily life and capable of yielding unexpected depth of insight.
October 26–28, 2005
The Politics of Resources and their Temporalities
Co-chaired by Elizabeth Ferry, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University and Mandana Limbert, Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, Queens College, City University of New York
The relationship between resources and temporalities was examined during this three-day seminar. Participants explored the process by which substances, knowledge, and people come to be defined and understood as resources in particular historical contexts.
November 3–4, 2005
Hunting and Gathering Subsistence Patterns and Climatic Change in the Late Pleistocene
Co-chaired by Christopher Boehm, Director, Jane Goodall Research Center, University of Southern California and Peter J. Richerson, Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of California, Davis
Five scholars met for a two-day seminar to assess climatic variability in the late Pleistocene and its impact upon human adaptations, including social organization. To better understand human adaptation during the late Pleistocene, participants reviewed archaeological findings and examined ethnographic and prehistoric hunter-gatherer adaptations.