The first NASTA conference will be hosted by graduate students from ACASA at the University of Amsterdam on 29 April 2021. The one-day conference will explore the role of narrative and storytelling in archaeology. Storytelling is sometimes seen as being controversial in scientific publishing, but it is also increasingly seen as an important way to present archaeological research and to convey information to non-specialist audiences. In this era of fake news where expert knowledge is often challenged or misappropriated we therefore invite contributors to consider the relationships between narratives, nations, knowledge, and (fake) news. What is the best way to give voice to our discoveries, and how can different forms of narrative shape understandings of the past in the present.
We are looking for papers that deal with questions such as:
- How can we best communicate different narratives about archaeological sites or discoveries to non-professional audiences?
- What is the best way to frame new narratives in an accessible way?
- What are the advantages of storytelling in our academic output?
- How should we deal with contested narratives (that border on alternative or pseudo-archaeology) without resorting to the harmful dichotomy of
Us versus Them? - How do we (re)present the past?
If you would like to contribute a paper dealing with these questions, or similar topics based on the conference theme, we highly encourage archaeology students as well as students from other disciplines to apply!
The conference will be held online, and we anticipate that there we will be a maximum of 12 speakers. Individual speakers will be allowed 15 minutes to present their paper.
Please submit your abstract (max. 250 words) before the end of 15 March to: nastarchaeology@gmail.com (original deadline was 10 March, on 9 March this was extended to 15 March)!