Beyond the romans : posthuman perspectives in roman archaeology / edited by Irene Selsvold, Lewis Webb.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Selsvold, Irene, editor.

Webb, Lewis, editor.

Series:

TRAC Themes in Roman archaeology ; 3.

Trac themes in roman archaeology ; 3

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Antiquities.

Rome--Antiquities.

Rome.

Rome (Empire).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (145 pages) : illustrations.

Edition:

Hardback.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania : Oxbow Books, 2020.

Summary:

This latest volume in the TRAC Themes in Theoretical Roman Archaeology series takes up posthuman theoretical perspectives to interpret Roman material culture. These perspectives provide novel and compelling ways of grappling with theoretical problems in Roman archaeology producing new knowledge and questions about the complex relationships and interactions between humans and non-humans in Roman culture and society. Posthumanism constitutes a multitude of theoretical positions characterised by common critiques of anthropocentrism and human exceptionalism. In part, they react to the dominance of the linguistic turn in humanistic sciences. These positions do not exclude "the human", but instead stress the mutual relationship between matter and discourse. Moreover, they consider the agency of "non-humans", e.g., animals, material culture, landscapes, climate, and ideas, their entanglement with humans, and the situated nature of research. Posthumanism has had substantial impacts in several fields (including critical studies, archaeology, feminist studies, even politics) but have not yet emerged in any fulsome way in Classical Studies and Classical Archaeology. This is the first volume on these themes in Roman Archaeology, aimed at providing valuable perspectives into Roman myth, art and material culture, displacing and complicating notions of human exceptionalism and individualist subjectivity. Contributions consider non-human agencies, particularly animal, material, environmental, and divine agencies, critiques of binary oppositions and gender roles, and the Anthropocene. Ultimately, the papers stress that humans and non-humans are entangled and imbricated in larger systems: we are all post-human.

Contents:

A Posthuman Call to Scholars / Francesca Ferrando

1. Posthuman Perspectives in Roman Archaeology / Lewis Webb and Irene Selsvold

2. Posthuman Ambitions in the Roman Principate : The Cases of Caligula and Nero / Filippo Carlà-Uhink

3. Roman Epigraphic Funerary Markers, Ontological Transition, and Relational Work-nets / Vladimir D. Mihajlović

4. Decentralising Human Agency : A Study of the Ritual Function of the Votive Figurines from Grotta Bella, Umbria / Arianna Zapelloni Pavia

5. The Materiality of Divine Agency in Imperial Rome / Kristine Iara

6. Chicken Hybrid Imagery on Late Iron Age Coinage in Northern Gaul and Southern England during the Iron Age-Roman Transition / Mike P. Feider, Ellen Hambleton, and Mark Maltby

7. Weeds in the Field, Weeds in the City : Posthuman Approaches to Plants in the Roman World / Lisa Lodwick

8. Two Parts Hydrogen, Oxygen One? Re-evaluating the Nature of Roman Urban Water Infrastructure / Jay Ingate

9. The Romans and the Anthropocene : Posthuman Provocations / Irene Selsvold and Lewis Webb

10. Commentary : Pathways to Posthumanism / Oliver J. T. Harris.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781789251395

1789251397

9781789251371

1789251370