[Bilimsel Haber] CfP: "Re-thinking history and memory in the anthropology of the Middle East", 1st - 4th October 2007, University of Halle

[Onur Inal]

CALL FOR PAPERS
"Re-thinking history and memory in the anthropology of the Middle East" 
Workshop at the Bi-annual Conference of the German Anthropological
Association, 1st - 4th October 2007, University of Halle (Saale)

Convenors: Zerrin O. Biner; Berlin / Halle; Katharina Lange; Berlin

This workshop intends to explore the relationship between memory,
history, and anthropology through the discussion of anthropological work
in the Middle East. Ideally, the discussion should address the scope
(and limits) of memory as a key concept of anthropological
investigation, and reflect critically on the interchange of anthropology
and history in the study of Middle Eastern societies. Representations of
history, and narratives of memory, have been a subject of
anthropological research in the Middle East since the mid 1990s. While
some scholars have emphasized the conceptual links between memory and
history, using both terms almost interchangeably as ways of representing
the past, others have formulated memory and history as mutually
exclusive and sometimes contradictory realms of study, referring to the
first as the site of repressed and subjective accounts of non-privileged
subaltern groups and the latter as an official account of the past and
hegemonic narrative of truth. However, as recent critiques have pointed
out (Berliner 2006; Ahiska 2006), the conceptual relationship between
history and memory, as well as the epistemological and political aspects
of the concept of memory, still need to be 
clarified further.

The workshop intends to contribute to this ongoing discussion and open
up a space for a critical analysis of the relationship between history
and memory with reference to ethnographic work on Middle Eastern
contexts, including reflections on our own practice as anthropologists
in history. More specifically, papers should address (any of) the
following questions:

a) What are the modes of producing historical knowledge? How is the past
represented in different media and narrative genres? How are European 
representations of Oriental history reflected and taken up in local
narratives?

b) How do different narratives of the past engage with, structure, or
reconfigure each other? How do, for instance, individual or family
biographies intersect with, counter, or complement more official
meta-narratives of local, communal or national history? In which
situations and contexts is the past invoked and articulated, what is the
relationship between narratives of memory and perceptions of current
regional or global transformations and events?

c) What epistemological and methodological position do anthropologists
take in the writing of history and memory? How does the issue of
accountability affect the relationship between memory and history, how
do we tackle the politics of memory and truth in politically sensitive
ethnographic contexts, and which ontological status do we attribute to
local (self)representations of the past? 

We especially welcome presentations of work in progress and by younger
scholars. Presenters are invited to send an abstract of no more than 300
words to the convenors until June 30, 2007 to the convenors and
conference organizers at:

geschaeftsstelledgv at eth.mpg.de, zob20 at cam.ac.uk,
langekat at rz.hu-berlin.de
--
Dr. Katharina Lange
Research Fellow
Zentrum Moderner Orient
Kirchweg 33
14129 Berlin
<langekatharina at web.de>