Marcia-Anne Dobres to deliver talk, Thursday, March 8, 2007

"Technology, Art, and the Politics of Gender in the Ice Age:
A Thought Experiment in Situated and Embodied Practice"
Marcia-Anne Dobres
University of Maine

Lecture
Thursday, March 8, 2007
6:30 p.m.
Taylor Hall, room 203

Marcia-Anne Dobres will address the issue that most archaeologists, to explain 30,000 years of Upper Palaeolithic technology and cave art, project into the past contemporary premises that are rationalist, technoscientific, disembodied, and thus sexist. In so doing, they overlook the Heidegerian question of "being," even when talking about the inherently embodied, sensual, and gendered nature of such endeavors. This presentation is an empirically guided thought-experiment — with methodological implications — that offers an alternative approach highlighting embodied practice, sensuality, and "meaning-in-the-making." Two caves, Niaux and La Vache (French Midi-Pyrénées), provide empirical grounding for the discussion. When thought of as simultaneously sensual, gendered, collective, personal, symbolic, practical, and negotiated forms of habitus, an entirely different and humanistic world of understandings becomes possible. A wide range of insights guides the discussion, including those from anthropology, practice theory, the philosophy of technology, feminist theory, and the interdisciplinary forum known as STS (science, technology, and society).

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

This article was posted on Monday, March 5th, 2007.