Event Highlights of 2017-2018

The Joukowsky Institute held more than 60 events over the course of the 2017-18 academic year, ranging from a viewing and discussion of the 2017 blockbuster ‘The Mummy’ to our 2018 State of the Field conference on archaeology and social justice. See some of the year’s highlights below!

September 2017

Field Dirt: Insider Stories and Results from Brown's 2017 Archaeological Field Seasons
Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Brown University’s Professors Sheila Bonde, John F. Cherry, Yannis Hamilakis, Itohan Osayimwese, Felipe Rojas, and Peter van Dommelen shared the latest news from their summer archaeological fieldwork in France, Montserrat, Greece, Barbados, Turkey, and Italy.

October 2017

The Mummy: See the Movie...Then Think About It...
Monday, October 30, 2017

Halloween started early with a free screening of the movie "The Mummy" (2017). Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe battled an ancient princess (played by Sofia Boutella) awakened from a crypt, followed by commentaries by Brown professors, examining the themes and historical basis of the movie.

November 2017

Fake Fossils, Fake Bones, and a Dinosaur
Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Why do people fake animal skeletons and their petrified remains? How are fake “natural specimens” similar to or different from fake “cultural artifacts”? Is there anything to be gained from sustained reflection about the physical traces of beings that never were? For centuries—if not millennia—people have forged the impressions left by the bodies of animals and the hardest of body parts. To what end? Felipe Rojas (JIAAW), Kate Brunson (JIAAW), and Irina Podgorny (CONICET and Maria Elena Cassiet Fellow at the John Carter Brown Library) discussed fake fossils and bones in three very short talks followed by a public discussion.

Watch a video of the talk here: Fake Fossils, Fake Bones, and a Dinosaur

December 2017

Change and Resilience: The Occupation of Mediterranean Islands in Late Antiquity
Friday, December 1, 2017 to Sunday, December 3, 2017

This conference explored the transformation of Mediterranean islands with a primary focus on settlement patterns and the transformation of landscapes and mindscapes. Participants explored how the models of occupation of the islands changed from the Roman to the Medieval Period, focusing on change and resilience, innovation and tradition, the creation of new settlements, and the reoccupation of prehistoric sites.

Additional information is available at www.brown.edu/go/changeandresilience

Watch video from the conference here:

Keynote
Session 1 - The Western and Central Mediterranean
Session 2 - The Eastern Mediterranean
Session 3 - Island Mindscapes

February 2018

What Can You Do with a Degree in Archaeology?
Monday, February 5, 2018

Gina Borromeo (Curator of Ancient Art at the RISD Museum), Matt Glendinning (Head of School at Moses Brown School), and Bill Monroe (Senior Scholarly Resources Librarian, Humanities, at Brown University's Library) discussed how their degrees in ancient art, early history, and archaeology led them to their current positions and answered student questions about other career options.

March 2018

State of the Field 2018: Archaeology and Social Justice
Friday, March 2, 2018 to Saturday, March 3, 2018

This workshop built on a tradition of “State of the Field” workshops hosted by the Joukowsky Institute to reflect upon trends in archaeological work, each year focusing our discussion on issues impacting an area of particular interest to our faculty and students. While previous versions have dealt with a country or region of archaeological significance, this year’s event focused on archaeology’s relationship to ongoing movements for social justice.  This workshop engaged primarily with the role of archaeology in contemporary social justice movements, while insisting that discussions of diversity in the past can inform experience in the present.

Additional information is available at www.brown.edu/go/sotf2018

Watch video from the conference here:

Keynote Panel
Session 1 (Constructions of Blackness and Whiteness) and Session 2 (Diversity and Epistemic Justice)
Session 3 (Material Memory and the Archaeologies of Resistance) and Session 4 (Business as Usual? Engaging with Social Justice)

April 2018

Colloquium: Other Pasts: Comparing Landscapes, Monuments, and Memories Across the Mediterranean
Saturday, April 21, 2018

The archaeological study of memory in the ancient Mediterranean has spread like a forest fire. Although several scholars are responsible for igniting the initial tinder, it would be hard to overstate the impact of Susan Alcock on the ways archaeologists approach the challenge of exploring how people imagined their own pasts in the ancient Mediterranean and neighboring regions. Fifteen years after the publication of her main book on the subject, Archaeologies of the Greek Past: Landscape, Monuments, and Memories (2002), the moment was ripe for an assessment of the field after the conflagration, as it were, as well as a discussion about new and promising directions in the archaeological study of ancient memory and forgetting. Rather than collecting ever more refined case studies, scholars were invited to engage in comparative analyses.

Additional information is available at www.brown.edu/go/otherpasts

Watch video from the conference here:

Morning Session
Afternoon Session

May 2018

Learning to Look: An Exhibition of Archaeological Illustrations by the JIAAW Community
Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Archaeological illustration requires us to pay close attention to the material world. Learning to draw is tied up with learning to look and by extension, to see objects in more detail. This exhibition presents work produced by the Archaeological Illustration Club and members of the Joukowsky Institute community.