Call for papers EAA 2022

KINSHIP IS A KEY ASPECT OF HUMAN LIFE, AS IT DEFINES PEOPLE’S SENSE OF IDENTITIES, THEIR SOCIAL TIES AND THEIR ACCESS TO RIGHTS AND RESOURCES. HOWEVER, CONCEPTUALIZING AND DEFINING KINSHIP IS CHALLENGING BECAUSE OF ITS COMPLEX AND FLUID CHARACTER AND THE VARIABLE FORMS IT TAKES IN DIFFERENT SOCIETIES. FURTHER PROBLEMS ARISE WHEN TRYING TO ASSESS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF KINSHIP IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD: WHICH DATA SHOULD WE USE, WHICH BIOCULTURAL ASPECTS SHOULD WE INCLUDE, AND HOW SHOULD WE ANALYZE THEM? IF WE STUDY HISTORICAL SOCIETIES, HOW SHOULD WE USE HISTORICAL, ICONOGRAPHIC, EPIGRAPHIC OR PAPYROLOGICAL EVIDENCE? WHAT IS THE POTENTIAL AND THE LIMITATIONS OF THESE DIFFERENT DATASETS, AND HOW SHOULD WE INTEGRATE THEM? IN THIS SESSION, WE WOULD LIKE TO APPLY THESE QUESTIONS TO THE GRECO-ROMAN WORLD, WHICH OFFERS A WEALTH OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND TEXTUAL EVIDENCE. MOREOVER, RECENT ATTENTION TO SILENCED GROUPS – SUCH AS WOMEN, CHILDREN, THE ELDERLY OR ENSLAVED PEOPLE – SHIFTS THE TRADITIONAL FOCUS ON MALE CITIZENS OR THE ELITES, AND THEREBY ENABLES A MORE HOLISTIC DISCUSSION OF KINSHIP