Archaeology

Deciphering Globalization: Making and Knowing the World Through Things

Workshop sponsored by the StudioLab, Center for the Humanities, the departments of Anthropology and EALC, and the “Global Qing and Its Legacies” project at Washington University in St. Louis

The experience of living in a world constantly shaped by strangers, foreign customs, and unfamiliar objects dates back to the beginning of human history. This interconnectedness and interdependence among different value systems and cultures—what we now call globalization—has long served as both an inspiration and a challenge to individuals, communities and political entities.

This workshop aims to explore the diverse historical processes of globalization through the lenses of things. It focuses on the adaption, friction, and transformation caused by  things, both natural and human-made,  when they enter new social environments: the integration of Anatolian foodways into Chinese cuisine in the second millennium BCE and subsequent food globalization processes til the early modern era; the political and cultural encounters between the Mughal and Qing empires through technological and artistic exchanges driven by the production of Inner Asian minerals; the adoption of the Chinese furniture and ceramics into Euro-American lifeways since the 17th century; and the evolving values and aesthetic expressions of textile and silk production as it adapted to the global market in the 19th century.

Things, and the flow of them, remade the world by incubating ideas, creating demands, connecting markets, and blending cultures. By bringing together scholarship from diverse fields—history, archaeology, anthropology, and historical geography—this interdisciplinary workshop seeks to create an intellectual platform for a deeper understanding of globalization, both past and present, while envisioning the future of humanity in globalized social conditions.

Organized by:

Zhao Ma (EALC, Washington University in St. Louis)

Xinyi Liu (Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis)

Participants:

  • Kyoungjin Bae (History, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
  • Yamile Ferreira (the StudioLab, Washington University in St. Louis)
  • Michael Frachetti (Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis)
  • T. R. Kidder (Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis)
  • Ge Jianxiong (Chinese University of Hong Kong / Fudan University)
  • Min Li (Anthropology, UCLA)
  • George Liu (Fudan University / Washington University in St. Louis)
  • Eugenio Menegon (History, Boston University)
  • Tobie Meyer-Fong (History, Johns Hopkins University)
  • Trevor Sangrey (Women, Gender and Sexual Studies, Washington University in St. Louis)
  • Monica Smith (Anthropology, UCLA)
  • Jim Wertsch (Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, em)
  • Yulian Wu (History, Michigan State University)
  • Lingran Zhang (Museum Education, Ohio State University)
  • Students of the StudioLab and Ampersand Programs

April 4 Friday

9:45-10:00 Arrive at McMillan Café

10:00-10:15 Opening remarks by Zhao Ma and Xinyi Liu

10:15-12:00 Panel One (McMillan Café)

  • Yulian Wu, “Imagined Skill: Hindustan Jade and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Qing China”
  • Eugenio Menegon, “Materiality and Meaning in the Circulation of Daily-Use and Luxury Commodities through Missionary Networks between China and Europe”
  • Kyoungjin Bae, “The Tea Chest Dilemma in Colonial Assam”
  • Tobie Meyer-Fong, discussant

12:15-13:45 Luncheon (Bowen Room, McMillan 150)

Ge Jianxiong, “American Crops, Chinese Life”

14:00-15:45 Panel Two (McMillan Café)

  • Xinyi Liu, “Farming/Language Dispersal Hypothesis Revisited”
  • Michael Frachetti, “Emerging Globalization and Eurasia’s Bronze Age Open Ecumene”
  • Min Li, “Shimao at the Intersection of Middle, North, and East Asian Intersection Spheres”
  • T. R. Kidder, discussant

16:00-17:00 Friday Archaeology Series (McMillan G052)

Monica Smith, “Globalization in Daily Life: Materialized Long-Distance Contacts from the Perspective of Ordinary People”

17:00-18:00 Reception at McMillan G Level Gallery

18:30 Dinner (by invitation)

April 5 Saturday

9:00 Arrive at the Lewis Collaborative

9:15-10:15 Special presentation

Zhao Ma, Trevor Sangrey, Yamile Ferreira, and students of the StudioLab and Ampersand Programs, “Knowing Through Objects: The World of an Antique Chinese Wedding Bed”

10:30-11:00 Mini-gallery talk

George Liu, “Sino-US Silk Trade and Silk Products in Wedding Beds”

11:15-12:15 Roundtable Discussion

closing remarks by Jim Wertsch, “The Role of Narrative Tools in Deciphering Globalization”

12:30-17:00 Lunch and site visit (by invitation)

18:00 Dinner (by invitation)