CALL. 15.02.2020: [SESSION 20] "Complexity Without Monumentality: Rethinking Nomads of the Bibl
FECHA LÍMITE/DEADLINE/SCADENZA: 15/02/2020
FECHA CONGRESO/CONGRESS DATE/DATA CONGRESSO: 18-19-20-21/11/2020
LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: The Westin Boston Waterfront, (Boston, MA, USA)
ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: Erez Ben-Yosef (Tel Aviv University); Zachary Thomas (Macquarie University)
CALL:
The treatment of nomads/mobile peoples in biblical archaeology and biblical scholarship has until recently been confined to a narrow range of social interpretations, most of which are heavily based on Bedouin ethnography. Accordingly, the prevailing perception of biblical-era nomads has been one of people that could not form strong political entities, and whose influence on the course of history was marginal. Recent archaeological evidence of a strong nomadic polity in the Arabah Valley calls into question the existing research paradigm, with substantial implications for archaeologically based historical reconstructions and textual issues related to mobile groups, including the sedentarization process of the Israelite tribes and the emergence of a kingdom in the highlands. This session aims at furthering discussions of biblical-era nomads as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, consisting of complex continuums of sedentarization and subsistence practices. Papers include new or revised treatments of such societies in texts and archaeology, research on nomadism in other periods and geographic locations that can contextualize the southern Levantine case, and studies related to the epistemological challenges posed by archaeological and textual sources. This session will serve as a forum for scholars seeking to move beyond the existing paradigms and dichotomies around nomads and their socio-political role in the southern Levant and wider Near Eastern world.
More on the topic in the recently published article in Vetus Testamentum: https://www.academia.edu/39789332/The_Architectural_Bias_in_Current_Biblical_Archaeology_Vetus_Testamentum_69-3_2019_361-387_ We invite papers that approach the topic of the session from archaeological, biblical, historical and anthropological perspectives and relate to both the Levant, the wider Near East and beyond. For submission, please see the ASOR website: http://www.asor.org/am/list-of-approved-sessions-2020/#nomads Deadline is February 15th, 2020.