The Conference
Two days of talks and discussions on the historical archaeology of world frontiers (AD 1450-1800)
The study of frontiers and borders has received particular attention by archaeologists and heritage specialists alike in the past decade, and it remains a topical agenda in many other disciplines due to the overwhelming refugee crisis on the southern European-Mediterranean border or to the Mexican-US border, to cite two of the many on-going frontier issues.
Frontiers are intriguing milieus because they are sociocultural contact zones yet removed enough from the empire/state core as to allow the emergence of alternative and hybrid forms of life. Simultaneously, they are liminal spaces in which power and violence are deployed and/or negotiated on a daily basis, which in turn sheds light upon resistance practices, contestation, and rebellion.
This conference, funded by the McDonald Institute Awards, brings together historical archaeologists and museum experts working on slavery, indigeneity, frontiers and borders between AD 1450-1800, and on their long-lasting consequences in the present.