CFP for Panel: Art, Culture and Materiality in the Arabian Peninsula
Co-convenors: Sabrina DeTurk and Sarina Wakefield, Zayed University

Conference: Art, Materiality and Representation
Sponsored by the Royal Anthropological Institute, the British Museum and SOAS
London, June 1-3, 2018

This panel seeks to explore the intersections between art, culture and materiality in the Arabian Peninsula. Traditionally the Arabian Peninsula has consisted of oral based tribal societies. Arguably, rapid development and investment has led to increasing materialisation within the Arabian Peninsula. This panel is particularly interested in exploring how developments within the arts and cultural sector have led to an increasingly materialised cultural industry. The panel is particularly interested in exploring the ways in which artists, collectors, curators, dealers and cultural institutions have contributed to the materialisation of cultural formations in the Arabian Peninsula. We are particularly interested in exploring what factors are involved in developing new forms of material culture within traditionally oral based societies. What processes are involved in the formation of new types of material assemblages in the Arabian Peninsula? Who are the key actors involved in shaping material based collections? How are communities responding to new and existing assemblages of material culture? Papers are welcomed from cultural practitioners, artists, archaeologists, museologists, critical heritage scholars and academics.

Proposals should consist of a paper title, a (very) short abstract of <300 characters and a full abstract of 250 words. Papers must be submitted via the conference website: https://nomadit.co.uk/rai/events/rai2018/conferencesuite.php/panels/6089

Deadline: January 8, 2018