Exploring the agency of landscape: a multi-disciplinary symposium

In recent archaeological thinking, it is widely accepted that objects and artefacts are invested with agency, but this understanding is not commonly extended to landscapes; rather any notion of ‘agency of landscape’ is often regarded as synonymous with environmental determinism. This symposium seeks to redress the balance and investigate how landscape can be invested with agency without being environmentally deterministic.

While this one-day symposium is organised in the context of the English Landscapes and Identities (EngLaId) project, which investigates the development of English landscapes from the middle of the Bronze Age, when the first extensive field systems were laid out, to the Domesday period, when the foundations of the modern agricultural landscape were in place, contributions are encouraged from any archaeological, geographical or other relevant disciplinary perspectives. We also welcome contributions that consider different parts of the world and different time periods.

Abstracts for 20 min papers and poster presentations are invited that address this tension between cultural choices and the structuring influence of the landscape itself.
For more information or to register interest, please contact Dr Laura Morley: laura.morley@arch.ox.ac.uk (Wednesday to Friday).

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACTS: 3 MAY 2013.

For more information about the EngLaId project, see:
http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/englishlandscapes-introduction.html
http://englaid.wordpress.com
http://visualenglaid.wordpress.com