Informal Session: Agency of the Past in Melanesia: Relating the Past to the Present [Postponed to 2009]
Organizers: Lissant Bolton and Liz Bonshek

This informal session considers how people use the past in contemporary Melanesia. How are ideas about the past deployed in arenas such as politics, religion, ritual formations, heritage and education and in relation to the environment? We invite people to consider this question from a number of locations (from town, from rural areas, as well as in museums, archives and other institutions). We are also interested in addressing how people negotiate ideas about the past in the changing contexts of the present, especially in the postcolonial era. If you are interested in participating, please contact Dr. Liz Bonshek at the e-mail address below. Expected to attend are Joshua Bell (University of East Anglia), Eric Hirsch (Brunel University), Jean Mitchell (University of Prince Edward Island), Deborah Waite, and Marion Struck-Garbe (University of Hamburg).