Current trends in postcolonial studies, indigenous archaeology, archaeological ethnography, and in the anthropology/history border-zone, indicate the emergence of an as-yet unarticulated new research orientation: the anthropology of history. This project, conceived in collaboration with Charles Stewart (University College London) engaged faculty and visitors in Anthropology, History, Philosophy, and Divinity to synthesize and theorize the comparative ethnographic and historical study of the diverse means by which people gain knowledge of the past. These are matters of concern not only for numerous social science and humanities disciplines, but also for society more generally as the West begins to reflect upon the circumscribed operating sphere of its putatively universal truths and the concrete policy, legal, and cultural implications of acknowledging both non-Western historicizing practices and Western ways of relating to the past that do not conform to the standards or concerns of disciplinary history.
Norman & Edna Freehling Professor of Anthropology and of Social Sciences in the College
University of Chicago
Stephan Palmié conducts ethnographic and historical research on Afro-Caribbean cultures, with an emphasis on Afro-Cuban religious formations and their relations to the history and cultures of a wider Atlantic world. His other interests include practices of historical representation and knowledge...
Professor of Anthropology
University College London
Charles Stewart studied Classics at Brandeis University where he wrote his undergraduate dissertation on the Greek-speakers of southern Italy. The experience of field research collecting materials for this dissertation motivated a switch to anthropology. He conducted doctoral research on the...
