Narratives of human sacrifice are fraught with colonial heritage in multiple ways, from the ways in which accusations of human sacrifice and cannibalism was used as a legitimating tool by colonialist powers to the Eurocentric frameworks of knowledge production which upholds traditional assumed meanings of acts interpreted as sacrifice. The workshop seeks to approach this complex topic from varied viewpoints and materials, to create an environment for open discussion about how we can decolonise the study of multifaceted forms of sanctioned violence and expressions thereof. We will discuss the influence of political and strategic desires to Other those to whom such practices were ascribed, and the residual effects of colonialist frameworks on current knowledge, along with other angles and questions.
Tid og stad:–,
Seminarrommet St. Olavsgate 29
We invite interested participants to attend the workshop for discussion and reflection. The two seminars bookending the workshop are open to all, and are advertised as separate events.
Thursday 10th March
14:15-16:00 Dr Elizabeth Graham, UCL,
Killing people for gods…… the pastime of the Ancients?
Friday 11th March
09:00 Marianne Moen and the Human Sacrifice and Value project
Welcome and coffee
09:30 Melanie Giles
Decolonising Decapitation: rethinking the bog ‘head’ of Worsley Man, from Astley Moss
10:00 Casper Jacobsen
Aztec True Crime? Missionary Manuscripts and the Making of a Human Sacrificer
10:30 Manuel May Castillo
Deconstructing a proof of human sacrifice in the Maya region
11:00 Coffee break and discussion
11:15 Matthew Walsh
Coming to terms with ‘human sacrifice.’ Context matters.
11:45 Marianne Moen
Killing the weak? The role of gender in narratives of sacrifice
12:15 Lunch and break
14:15 Melanie Giles
Grave Goods – objects and death in later prehistoric Britain