14. Artisanal Histories Intersecting Archaeology and Art History: Reflections from fieldwork in South Asia

Both the disciplines of archaeology and art history engage with temporality, space, society, and culture to offer perspectives on material culture. The orientalist approach towards material culture in South Asia, conveyed through studies carried out by and for the colonial regime, has pervaded the methodologies of both disciplines and still informs the way we contribute to archaeology and art history nowadays. The critique of the colonial knowledge paradigm demanded a reorganisation of the existing disciplinary practices, resulting in an institutional division between archaeology and art history despite their shared roots. A possible response to the distinct approaches of the disciplines of archaeology and art history is to bring perspectives from material culture studies, which also marks a departure from 19th-century orientalist methods. A common aspect of art history and archaeology is the use of classifications as a methodological tool for understanding the past. This is not without a critique, and by all accounts, it is most often artificially created to provide the insights. Yet it also acts as a means of dividing artisanal or craft practices, which belies the fluid relationship across materials and crafts. In an attempt to bridge archaeological and art historical methodological inquiry, we posit artisanal histories as a crucial link between them. Primarily tacit and sensorial, the bodily knowledge of artisans connects archaeological objects, archival material, historicity and contemporaneity. Commitment to immersive fieldwork with artisanal communities not only expands the scope of historiographical inquiry but also shapes the perceptions, experiences, and thought processes of the researchers.

This panel welcomes contributions from researchers, students and scholars in archaeology and art history interested in tackling the difficulties inherent to documenting past artisanal techniques. We encourage presentations involving research grounded in hands-on practice and fieldwork, primarily attentive to the perspectives of makers in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, alongside India.

Themes: Archaeology, Art History, Artisanal Knowledge

Lead ConLead Convenor: Rajarshi Sengupta, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India

Co-convenors: Smriti Haricharan, Associate Professor, Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India

Lola Cindric, Assistant Professor at the Department of Social Sciences of Liberal Arts (SSLA), Institute of Business and Administration (IBA) Karachi, Pakistan

To submit a Paper to this Session, please follow the guidance on our website and complete the AAH 2027 Call for Papers Proposal Submission Form.