Periodic Reporting for period 5 - ARTEFACT (The Global as Artefact: Understanding the Patterns of Global Political History Through an Anthropology of Knowledge -- The Case of Agriculture in Four Global Systems from the Neolithic to the Present)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-09-01 bis 2023-08-31
ARTEFACT developed a novel perspective on the history of globalisation, anchored in the cultural evolution of humankind. It specifically examined how the development and diffusion of agricultural knowledge-systems have shaped the formation and transformations of global societal and political orders throughout human history.
To do so, ARTEFACT investigated and compared the cultural-political configurations arising out of four major global agricultural revolutions of the Neolithic, ‘medieval’, ‘modern’, and contemporary eras. In each of these four work packages, analysis focused on the constitution of particular agricultural knowledge-systems and their globalisation through particular networks and pathways of global diffusion and connectivity, and on how they have shaped specific societal, political, and normative structures and processes at a global systemic level. As the comparativist framework was applied over both 'historical' and 'pre-historical' periods spanning pre-agrarian as well as agrarian social orders, this deep-historical perspective provided a new framing of human political evolution, notably by identifying three historical patterns of 'globality' (pre-agrarian, agrarian, and post-agrarian), each defined by a distinctive articulation of technology, ecology, and social organisation.
In addition to its research aims, ARTEFACT also achieved its objective of creating an academic-institutional space for the development of what the PI has termed ‘Global Epistemics’ or 'Global Knowledge Studies', a transdisciplinary field of theoretical and empirical inquiry concerned with the global production, diffusion, exchange, and use of human knowledges throughout human history, across the full spectrum of historical modes of practical and intellectual validation (from ‘prehistorical’ to ‘modern’ paradigms, practices, and technologies and from ‘ancient’ to ‘modern’ science).
The Centre for Global Knowledge Studies (gloknos) was specifically established to serve this wider mission. While gloknos was originally conceived as one of the major outputs of the ARTEFACT project, it quickly transformed itself into an overarching institutional structure within which research conducted within ARTEFACT was brought into fruitful conversations with other projects carried out by, or in collaboration with, gloknos’s partners and associate members, and the broader academic community engaged in similar interests and projects. The Centre supported ARTEFACT’s research, dissemination, and public engagement objectives through its website and blog, academic book series, and social media accounts, including its YouTube Channel.
To do so, ARTEFACT investigated and compared the cultural-political configurations arising out of four major global agricultural revolutions of the Neolithic, ‘medieval’, ‘modern’, and contemporary eras. In each of these four work packages, analysis focused on the constitution of particular agricultural knowledge-systems and their globalisation through particular networks and pathways of global diffusion and connectivity, and on how they have shaped specific societal, political, and normative structures and processes at a global systemic level. As the comparativist framework was applied over both 'historical' and 'pre-historical' periods spanning pre-agrarian as well as agrarian social orders, this deep-historical perspective provided a new framing of human political evolution, notably by identifying three historical patterns of 'globality' (pre-agrarian, agrarian, and post-agrarian), each defined by a distinctive articulation of technology, ecology, and social organisation.
In addition to its research aims, ARTEFACT also achieved its objective of creating an academic-institutional space for the development of what the PI has termed ‘Global Epistemics’ or 'Global Knowledge Studies', a transdisciplinary field of theoretical and empirical inquiry concerned with the global production, diffusion, exchange, and use of human knowledges throughout human history, across the full spectrum of historical modes of practical and intellectual validation (from ‘prehistorical’ to ‘modern’ paradigms, practices, and technologies and from ‘ancient’ to ‘modern’ science).
The Centre for Global Knowledge Studies (gloknos) was specifically established to serve this wider mission. While gloknos was originally conceived as one of the major outputs of the ARTEFACT project, it quickly transformed itself into an overarching institutional structure within which research conducted within ARTEFACT was brought into fruitful conversations with other projects carried out by, or in collaboration with, gloknos’s partners and associate members, and the broader academic community engaged in similar interests and projects. The Centre supported ARTEFACT’s research, dissemination, and public engagement objectives through its website and blog, academic book series, and social media accounts, including its YouTube Channel.
The first stage of the project focused on establishing the structural conditions required to develop and deploy ARTEFACT’s widely transdisciplinary framework and achieve its overall objectives. The PI was joined by two postdoctoral researchers, specialised in the history of agricultural science and international studies respectively. The team developed research frameworks, networks, and activities to foster interdisciplinary conversations and initiate collaborative work. Two complementary sub-projects – ARTEFACT-Hybrid and ARTEFACT-Solidarity – were formulated by the postdoctoral researchers to investigate the micro-social dimension of knowledge-production in the field of plant genetics in (colonial) Britain, and the macro-social impact of global agrarian systems on global solidarity movements.
The second stage of the project focused on developing the methodological and conceptual framework, and on data collection through historical, archival, and ethnographic research. The third stage focused on the dissemination and communication of the project's ongoing and final results, including the PI's proposal for a new theorisation of globalisation that captures the entirety of humanity's cultural evolution.
Throughout the Action, the team gave a total of 55 presentations and talks, including 9 public and outreach interventions, and published 13 journal articles, 3 book chapters, 1 monograph, and 1 edited volume. The project also produced 60 online videos of academic events developed during the project. Other core outputs arising from the project, especially addressing its final results, are currently in preparation, including three monographs, an edited volume, and a book chapter.
The PI has also pursued ARTEFACT’s other objective of developing the transdisciplinary field of ‘Global Epistemics’ beyond the PI's specific research project. Following the launch of the Centre for Global Knowledge Studies in October 2018, the Centre’s website (www.gloknos.ac.uk) went live a few months later, followed by a blog, YouTube Channel, social media accounts, and periodic newsletters, but also a new academic book series on Global Epistemics with publisher Rowman & Littlefield. Over the duration of the Action, the Centre organised 16 lectures, 15 research seminars, 12 workshops and symposia, 10 book launches, 1 international conference, 2 summer schools, 3 webcast series, 1 docuseries, 1 online exhibition, 6 public engagement panels in Cambridge, as well as three conference sections at the European International Studies Association conferences in Prague, Sofia, and Potsdam. 6 international and interdisciplinary research groups were established, as well as 5 reading groups and 2 student networks.
The second stage of the project focused on developing the methodological and conceptual framework, and on data collection through historical, archival, and ethnographic research. The third stage focused on the dissemination and communication of the project's ongoing and final results, including the PI's proposal for a new theorisation of globalisation that captures the entirety of humanity's cultural evolution.
Throughout the Action, the team gave a total of 55 presentations and talks, including 9 public and outreach interventions, and published 13 journal articles, 3 book chapters, 1 monograph, and 1 edited volume. The project also produced 60 online videos of academic events developed during the project. Other core outputs arising from the project, especially addressing its final results, are currently in preparation, including three monographs, an edited volume, and a book chapter.
The PI has also pursued ARTEFACT’s other objective of developing the transdisciplinary field of ‘Global Epistemics’ beyond the PI's specific research project. Following the launch of the Centre for Global Knowledge Studies in October 2018, the Centre’s website (www.gloknos.ac.uk) went live a few months later, followed by a blog, YouTube Channel, social media accounts, and periodic newsletters, but also a new academic book series on Global Epistemics with publisher Rowman & Littlefield. Over the duration of the Action, the Centre organised 16 lectures, 15 research seminars, 12 workshops and symposia, 10 book launches, 1 international conference, 2 summer schools, 3 webcast series, 1 docuseries, 1 online exhibition, 6 public engagement panels in Cambridge, as well as three conference sections at the European International Studies Association conferences in Prague, Sofia, and Potsdam. 6 international and interdisciplinary research groups were established, as well as 5 reading groups and 2 student networks.
By approaching globalisation from a holistic anthropological perspective anchored in the deep time of agricultural knowledge, ARTEFACT has inscribed modern and contemporary phenomena in the full temporality and history of human cultural evolution. This has provides a much-needed depth to our understanding of the origins and future developments of today’s globalised world, as well as a common frame of reference to conceptualise our common global history as a cosmopolitan species.
Through its dissemination, outreach, and teaching activities, ARTEFACT has contributed to developing transdisciplinary conversations, networks, and collaborations that have the potential to feed back into various disciplines and open up new ways of conceptualising the human global condition, connect historical knowledge to future-oriented discussions about the 'Anthropocene', foster critical reflections on interdisciplinary methodologies, as well as epistemological discussions on historical periodisation, and on the nature-culture divide.
Through its dissemination, outreach, and teaching activities, ARTEFACT has contributed to developing transdisciplinary conversations, networks, and collaborations that have the potential to feed back into various disciplines and open up new ways of conceptualising the human global condition, connect historical knowledge to future-oriented discussions about the 'Anthropocene', foster critical reflections on interdisciplinary methodologies, as well as epistemological discussions on historical periodisation, and on the nature-culture divide.