CALL. 01.03.2017: [PANEL 10 at ASOR 2017] Ambiguity in the Ancient Near East: Mental Constructs, Mat
FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 01/03/2017
FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 15-16-17-18/11/2017
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: The Westin Boston Waterfront (Boston, Massachusetts, USA)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Lauren McCormick ; Elizabeth Knott
INFO: web - lamccorm@syr.edu ; eak324@nyu.edu
CALL:
Description: "Many ancient Near Eastern texts, images and spaces include aspects that evade classification and confound interpretation. Such ambiguities are often attributed to missing information, and are not considered in light of their cultural contexts. More recent trends have shown, however, that ambiguity was a fruitful strategy of signification in the ancient Near East. This session seeks to explore the possible intentional motives behind such ambiguities, using archaeological, textual, and visual evidence to explore the role of ambiguity in the construction of meaning and the functions of ambiguous representations. Papers could, for example, discuss the roles of deliberately undecipherable writings and images in their ancient contexts, conflicts between objects and their inscriptions, the (im)possibility of transferring personal items (e.g., cylinder seals) and spaces (e.g., palaces, burials), the reinterpretation of objects and sites in ancient and modern times, the relationship between ancient and modern systems of classification and categorization, ambiguity in the expression of socially- (e.g., gender, ethnic) or politically-based identities, or ambiguity as a source of, or response to, cross-cultural interaction. We welcome papers that explore ambiguity as it pertains to archaeology, writing, visual culture, systems of thought, and/or historiography." Abstracts should be submitted via the ASOR submission system by March 1, 2017 (http://www.asor.org/am/2017/papers.html). Please note that presenters must be ASOR members and registered for the Boston meeting in order to submit an abstract.