Penelope Cecilia Papailias

The objective of the proposed workshop is to develop a robust theoretical framework for an anthropology of dead bodies centered on the materialities, spatialities, temporalities and technologies in and through which the contested dead remain, haunt and impact contemporary cultural debates and political struggles. The workshop addresses a seminal issue of our times as the dead body constitutes the basis of contemporary political mobilization for human rights (dead bodies matter) and battles over citizenship at necro-borders (refugee/migrant deathscapes), as well as a source of profit and knowledge within the affective networks of social media and databases of governance and commerce. Anthropological theory will constitute a nexus drawing together archaeology, geography, history, sociology and philosophy to address the material-spectrality and time-spaces of deathscapes, as well as the contemporary hegemony of forensics as evidentiary paradigm. The workshop will convene an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars for an intimate five-day closed workshop to be held in a historic monastery (renovated into a conference center) in Pelion, Greece, where they will discuss their individual essays and prepare an edited volume. The workshop will be followed by a public symposium to disseminate the results and introduce international guests to local scholars and regional concerns.