CALL FOR PAPERS: the connected past

[Tom Brughmans]

Apologies for cross-posting

Dear all,

We would like to announce 'The connected past: people, networks and
complexity in archaeology and history', a two-day symposium at the
University of Southampton 24-25 March 2012 (the two days before
CAA2012 in Southampton). Confirmed keynote speakers include Professor
Carl Knappett, Professor Alex Bentley and Professor Irad Malkin.

The call for papers is now open and we would like to invite you to
send in abstracts of up to 250 words by November 20th 2011. Please
find the full call for papers below and attached. Feel free to
circulate this call for papers. More information on the event is
available on the website: http://connectedpast.soton.ac.uk/

Best wishes,

Tom Brughmans, Anna Collar and Fiona Coward
http://connectedpast.soton.ac.uk/

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Connected Past: people, networks and complexity in archaeology and
history

University of Southampton 24-25 March 2012
http://connectedpast.soton.ac.uk/
Organisers: Tom Brughmans, Anna Collar, Fiona Coward

Confirmed keynote speakers: Professor Carl Knappett and Professor Alex
Bentley

Over the past decade ‘network’ has become a buzz-word in many
disciplines across the humanities and sciences. Researchers in
archaeology and history in particular are increasingly exploring
network-based theory and methodologies drawn from complex network
models as a means of understanding dynamic social relationships in the
past, as well as technical relationships in their data. This
conference aims to provide a platform for pioneering,
multidisciplinary, collaborative work by researchers working to
develop network approaches and their application to the past.

The conference will be held over two days immediately preceding the
CAA conference (Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in
Archaeology), also hosted by the University of Southampton (http://
caa2012.org), allowing participants to easily attend both.

The conference aims to:
· provide a forum for the presentation of multidisciplinary
network-based research
· discuss the practicalities and implications of applying network
perspectives and methodologies to archaeological and historical data
in particular
· establish a group of researchers interested in the potential of
network approaches for archaeology and history
· foster cross-disciplinary dialogue and collaborative work
towards integrated analytical frameworks for understanding complex
networks
· stimulate debate about the application of network theory and
analysis within archaeology and history in particular, but also more
widely, highlight the relevance of this work for the continued
development of network theory in other disciplines

We welcome contributions addressing any of (but not restricted to) the
following themes:
· The diffusion of innovations, people and objects in the past
· Social network analysis in archaeology and history
· The dynamics between physical and relational space
· Evolving and multiplex networks
· Quantitative network techniques and the use of computers to aid
analysis
· Emergent properties in complex networks
· Agency, structuration and complexity in network approaches
· Agent-based modelling and complex networks
· Future directions for network approaches in archaeology and
history

Please email proposed titles and abstracts (max. 250 words) to:
connec...@soton.ac.uk by November 20th 2011.
Visit the conference website for more information: http://connectedpast.soton.ac.uk/