The
papers in this session take up different engagements with "new
materialism", demonstrating both the potential of archaeology to
contribute to this transdisciplinary discussion, and some of the challenges
inherent in a project that is far from unified and still emergent.
One
touchstone of new materialism has been the redefinition of matter as something
beyond any specific physical stuff, as active, in Jane Bennett's felicitous
term, Vibrant Matter, engaged in what
Karen Barad characterizes as "intra-active becoming", "a
congealing of agency". While on the surface these statements seem close to
archaeological glosses on materiality and the agency of non-humans, one of the
goals of this session will be to explore how new materialism goes beyond these
well-integrated themes in archaeological research, and what changes new
materialism might demand.
Interrogation
of boundaries between humans, other animals, and other things in the world in
new materialism culminates in the pursuit of new ontologies, especially
non-dualistic ontologies. This again has many connections with existing
archaeological approaches to "relational" ontologies. Contributors to
this session are challenged to specify how the ontological relations they
pursue align with new materialism and its existing archaeological precedents.
