The Anthropology Department at Binghamton University will host a RATS conference
October 17th and 18th, 2003.

We are soliciting abstracts for presentations on two topics:

1.) Praxis and Archaeology and

2.) Building Methods in "Post-Processual" and Radical Archaeology.

Symposia Outlines

Praxis and Archaeology
As radical archaeologists we should be committed to political action against class and gender oppression, racism and discrimination. Yet how does the pursuit of social justice and solidarity play out in our work? Within our critiques and actions against colonialist/imperialist policies and practices, how does the archaeological endeavor fit in? This RATS session will discuss the nature of social activism in archaeology, the goals we should pursue, and how to connect our research interests with our political struggle.

Building Methods in "Post-Processual" and Radical Archaeology
Various archaeologists have often claimed that the analyses of radical and post-processual archaeologists are deficient in methods. We challenge the participants of this session to explore the links that radical and post-processual archaeologists make between methods, data, and theory. If we accept the notion that archaeology, and social science research in general, should be (and in fact always is) connected to political agendas, how do we go about formulating research methods that will contribute to the kinds of socio-political changes that we would like to support?

Format Presentations will be limited to fifteen minutes.
The structure of this symposium will depart from the traditional format of most conferences by emphasizing an open discussion on the topics introduced by the presented papers. For this reason, both presenters and attendees will be active participants in the symposium.

Abstracts should be a maximum of 250 words and submitted by April 1. If you would like to attend or present in this upcoming RATS symposium, please contact us via email with your email address and phone number so we can send you with further information.

Email: RATS@binghamton.edu

RATS
c/o Bretton Giles
Anthropology Department
State University of New York at Binghamton
PO Box 6000 Binghamton, NY 13902-6000