Sessions
Research in West New Britain
Articulating the Genealogies of Indigenous Anthropology
On the Problem of "Empathy"
Constructing Human Difference in Oceania
Diaspora, Identity and Incorporation
En/gendering Violence
Imagination and Innovation
Indigenous Struggles and Issues
Mortuary Rites
Schooling the Nation(s)
Agency of the Past in Melanesia
Kava in Australasia
Christian Politics
Community Development as Fantasy
Dumont in the Pacific
History and Movement in the Southern Lowlands of New Guinea
Identity Issues and Ethno-racial Categorization
Obesity and Oceania
Pacific Pasts: Agency, Archive, and Artifact
Remembering Donald Tuzin
 
Proposed New Sessions
Translations and Transformations of Sensual Experiences in Oceania
Research on Austronesian Taiwan: Retrospect and Prospect



Proposed Working Session: Translations and Transformations of Sensual Experiences in Oceania
Organizer: Bettina Beer

This working session continues the informal session "Anthropology of the Senses in Oceania" (Charlottesville 2007). Participants had carried out, or were planning, empirical research on synaesthesia or the different senses in their specific context. They are interested in such topics as the idea of a "fifth taste" as a culturally constructed combination of tastes and textures (Gene Ammarell); the changing cultural domain of smell, social relations, and consumption (Bettina Beer); sensory perceptions of oceanographic phenomena used in navigation in the Marshall Islands (Joseph Genz); and the conversion of one sensory modality into another in ideal aesthetic experiences among the Iatmul (Eric K. Silverman). Participants are asked to send abstracts to the organizer by October 15, 2008. All papers for the working session will be precirculated and should be submitted by December 15, 2008. One reviewer will be assigned for each paper; that person will also act as the paper's discussant at the meeting.

Bettina Beer, Institut fur Ethnologie, Universitat Heidelberg, Sandgasse 7, 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY; <Beer.Fischer@t-online.de>


"