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Director's
Message Creating knowledge the CIOA way  by Charles Stanish On November 9, the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA held its second Cotsen Seminar. The theme of this year's seminar was agriculture and political organization. A dozen scholars from the United States and Canada participated in a day-long session on the role that agricultural intensification plays in the development of political organization. Over the centuries, scholars have consistently noted that agriculture was central to the development of complex society or civilization. The relationship between society and agriculture has been one of the enduring themes in social science for generations. Our ability to hold such scholarly meetings is central to the mission of the Cotsen Institute. This is how theoretical knowledge is often created: groups of scholars get together and bring new perspectives on the major issues of an academic discipline. Even more significant is that the endowments that we have to support these symposia allow us to experiment and take risks that most institutions cannot afford. What do I mean by this? Most institutions expect that such a large investment in bringing so many people together has to result in a tangible product. That product is usually a book or a series of public presentations. In our case, we are not constrained by such expectations. As a result, we were able to try some new ways to create knowledge. One of the main complaints of symposium participants is that there is insufficient time for discussion. We therefore allowed an hour for each participant. A second problem that I have noticed is that people inevitably are required to write a paper before they arrive at such a symposium. The problem with this is that scholars who have invested much time and thought into writing the paper are less inclined to change their ideas. We decided to take a risk and explicitly ask the participants not to write a paper beforehand. Rather, we asked them to send a paragraph or two as a position statement, and we circulated copies of their previous work in advance of meeting. The idea behind this experiment was that people would come to the symposium ready to begin the thought process. The papers that will come of this process should therefore incorporate other ideas that developed over the day and evening of the symposium. In theory at least, we should produce new theoretical knowledge in a better way with all of the papers beginning out of a common dialogue. Taking such an approach is risky. The feedback and observations from the symposium participants indicate, however, that the approach was successful. Several scholars told me that they looked at their data in new ways. Certainly, without the prewritten presentations, people were forced to think their ideas in response to others. In the end, we will solicit an additional twelve to fifteen papers from other scholars. Combined with the dozen at the symposium, these will be published, through the Publications Unit, as an essential book on this major theoretical issue in archaeology. The
freedom to experiment and take risks is one of the great advantages of
the the Cotsen Institute. We look forward to more symposia, more lectures,
and more meetings of archaeologists to place us in the forefront of the
discipline for years to come. On May 3, the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology
presented its highest award, the Trowel Award, to Professors Giorgio Buccellati
and Merrick Posnansky. The trowel is an archaeologist's most essential
tool, and the Trowel Award is given in recognition of the recipient's
dedication to the field of archaeology and to the Cotsen Institute. Giorgio
Buccellati was the founding director, establishing the Institute thirty
years ago as a research center that united archaeologists from several
departments on campus. Merrick Posnansky was instrumental in expanding
the Institute and developing new programs. The Trowel Award has been presented
only three times before: to Franklin D. Murphy, to Lloyd Cotsen, and to
the Friends of Archaeology. |
On May 3, the
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology presented its highest award, the Trowel
Award, to Professors Giorgio Buccellati and Merrick Posnansky. The trowel
is an archaeologist's most essential tool, and the Trowel Award is given
in recognition of the recipient's dedication to the field of archaeology
and to the Cotsen Institute. Giorgio Buccellati was the founding director,
establishing the Institute thirty years ago as a research center that
united archaeologists from several departments on campus. Merrick Posnansky
was instrumental in expanding the Institute and developing new programs.
The Trowel Award has been presented only three times before: to Franklin
D. Murphy, to Lloyd Cotsen, and to the Friends of Archaeology.