This project will develop a web portal for MayaLab, an international collaborative environment for exploration of the archaeology of the Classic Maya city-state network that developed in Central America between AD 250 and 800, one of the most significant examples of a literate ancient society in the world.
This grant will support our third year of an ongoing collaborative research program with Stanford’s Poetic Media Lab, who designed Lacuna (www.lacunastories.com), an online annotation platform designed to facilitate collaborative research and teaching. In our modification of the platform, we have adjusted it to support qualitative and collaborative inquiry for researchers looking to develop language and practices for the study of the Contemporary, including contemporary art, literature, and culture.
This project outlines ongoing efforts to “digitize” archaeological ceramic analysis methods used by the Taraco Archaeological Project in Chiripa, Bolivia. Chiripa is located on the southern shoreline of Lake Titicaca, home to a vibrant indigenous community, and the site of some of the oldest ceremonial and agricultural settlements in the southern Andes.
Combining the cultural embeddedness of anthropologists and the design innovation of the Berkeley Center of New Media (BCNM), this project builds a global online archive of conversations recorded by ethnographers in field sites worldwide. Our scalable global archive addresses two concerns in contemporary anthropology: 1) renewed interest in collaboration as both ethnographic object and method, and 2) the paucity of interactive, design-focused ethnographic archives.
Paul Rabinow received his B.A.(1965), M.A.(1967), and Ph.D.(1970) in anthropology from the University of Chicago. He studied at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris (1965-66). He is currently Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley where he has taught since 1978.
Professor Joyce's research is concerned with questions about the ways people employ things in actively negotiating their place in society, the lives and itineraries of objects, and the reframing of human engagement with the world in terms of materiality.
Kathleen Huggins is a graduate student at UC Berkeley, in the department of Anthropology, with an emphasis on archaeology. She studies the pre-contact Andes, particularly the development of craft and arts traditions. Huggins has a background in technical illustration, and is interested in the long-term preservation of traditional art methods.
Juliana Friend’s research explores the intersection of new media, sexuality, and Islam in Senegal. In her dissertation, she examines transformations in sexual education practice in a region officially marked by and popularly stigmatized for sexual violence. She also collaborates with LGBT activists in Senegal on issues of online activism and human rights. Drawing on experience in print and radio journalism, Juliana explores the opportunities and limitations of online platforms for collaborative storytelling. Friend holds an M.Phil in Anthropology from the University of Cambridge and a B.A.