Tuck-Po Lye

Preliminary abstract: The Twelfth International Conference on Hunting and Gathering Societies (CHAGS 12) will deliberate on the theme of ‘Situations, Times, and Places in Hunter-Gatherer Research.’ This broad umbrella is meant to provoke thinking on productive connections and confluences across disciplines and with non-specialists while maintaining CHAGS’ historical embrace of egalitarian inclusiveness. CHAGS conferences generate intellectual exchange, advance knowledge of the lives and times of hunter-gatherers, and have shaped anthropological theory. For CHAGS 12, emphasis will be placed on Southeast Asian peoples, and what they continue to teach us about anthropological models and practices. We aim to cultivate not just diversity in concept-building but good anthropological practices of working with and relating to hunter-gatherers by: (1) drawing into conversation researchers who do not normally identify with CHAGS or hunter-gatherer studies (particularly local and regional scholars), and nearby hunter-gatherer communities and their advocates; (2) promoting discussion and debate across the four fields of anthropology on hunter-gatherer practices and their potential to revitalize anthropological models; (3) highlighting problems in doing and producing hunter-gatherer ethnography that is more aligned with indigenous models of knowledge, and recognizing the value of ethnography across the subfields; (4) encouraging more precise geographical comparisons