AES_206 Gender and the body in archaeology

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2021
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: k (colloquium).
Teacher(s)
Katharina Rebay-Salisbury (lecturer), doc. Mgr. Klára Šabatová, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Klára Šabatová, Ph.D.
Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Jitka Šibíčková
Supplier department: Department of Archaeology and Museology – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 27 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
This course introduces the basic theoretical and methodical approaches to studying gender, the body as well as personhood and identities in archaeology. Aspects of prehistoric identities – building blocks of how people saw themselves and others – include age, sex and gender, descent, social relationships, ethnicity, status and religion. Many of these aspects are inextricably linked to the human body, through which the world is experienced and which is the biological basis of existence.
Learning outcomes
Increasingly, the analysis of human bones and teeth focuses on individual life histories of prehistoric persons, with the help of the latest scientific methods. Detailed anthropological analyses allow the reconstruction of biographies, including stress events and traumas, and form the basis for reconstructing health and nutrition. Examinations of human genetic material reveal relationship patterns, linages and genetic origin. Isotope analyses provide valuable information about nutrition, mobility and migration. However, the human body is also shaped by culture and the environment. Bodily practices and lived experiences can be read from the skeletal remains. The constantly expanding bio-analytical toolkit provides insights into details of life-histories of past people that were inaccessibly until recently. This has resulted in a renewed interest into the context of these lives and the ways human bodies were understood and interpreted culturally in the past.
Syllabus
  • Week 1: A short history of gender archaeology and the archaeology of the body, basic terminology: body, identity, individual, person (Borić and Robb 2008, Brück 2019, Diaz-Andreu et al. 2005, Fowler 2004, Hamilakis, Pluciennik, and Tarlow 2002, Joyce 2005) Week 2: Sex and gender: ostological, genetic and proteomic methods of sex determination (Buonasera et al. 2020, Garofalo and Garvin 2020, Klales 2020, Rebay-Salisbury et al. 2020, Stewart et al. 2017, Thomas 2020) Week 3: Gender archaeology, Queer theory, LGBTQ, masculinity (Alberti 2013, Bolger 2013, Gero and Conkey 1991, Joyce 2008, Knapp 1998, Sørensen 2000, Sørensen 2005, Treherne 1995, Voss 2008). Week 4: Phenomenology, lived experiences, life cycle, chronological, biological and social age, age groups, methods of age determination, motherhood (Appleby 2010, Bickle and Fibiger 2014, Naji et al. 2016, Rebay-Salisbury and Pany-Kucera 2020, Robb 2002) Week 5: Body representations, figurines & images: Venus figurines, rock art, Iron Age portable art (Bevan 2006, Bradley 2009, Dixson and Dixson 2011, Gell 1998, Goldhahn, Fuglestvedt, and Jones 2010, McDermott 1996, Rebay-Salisbury 2016, Rice 1981). Week 6: Gender trends through time and space – current archaeological themes and discussions: migration, mobility, patrilocality (Frei et al. 2015, Haak et al. 2008, Knipper et al. 2017, Knipper et al. 2018, Oelze et al. 2012, Price, Grupe, and Schröter 1998), intersectionality, marginalization (Arnold 2016, Perego 2014).
Literature
  • Alberti, Benjamin. 2013. "Queer Prehistory: Bodies, Performativity, and Matter," in Bolger, Diane (ed.) A Companion to Gender Prehistory. 86-107. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell. Appleby, Joanna. 2010. "Ageing as fragmentation and dis-integration," in Rebay-
Teaching methods
lectures, reading, class discussion
Assessment methods
The course will include 6 sessions, with include two-three 20 min online lectures interspersed with guided reading and discussions. In the practical, students are invited to present and discuss famous figures of pre-/history in the gendered context of their time (e.g. Venus of Willendorf, Egtved girl, etc.).
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught only once.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Information on the extent and intensity of the course: blokově.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2021/AES_206