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SUMMARY:Globalisation in Deep Time: Postdisciplinary Lessons from the ‘P
 alaeolithic’ - Dr Inanna Hamati-Ataya (University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20230216T160000Z
DTEND:20230216T170000Z
UID:TALK197206@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:112606
DESCRIPTION:Historicising globalisation entails crossing chronological thr
 esholds—‘the present’\, ‘modernity’\, ‘antiquity’\, etc.—t
 hat often operate as conceptual or epistemological boundaries. The greates
 t and most enduring has been the threshold of ‘history’ itself\, beyon
 d which the notions of society\, culture\, or civilisation apparently ceas
 e to be meaningful analytical frameworks for understanding the condition o
 f humanity as a social and natural species. In this talk I make the case f
 or a deep historical perspective on globalisation and argue that extending
  the chronology beyond the longue durée to encompass so-called ‘prehist
 ory’ does more than just illuminate other/older configurations of our co
 mmon global condition. To do so I first show\, using a standard definition
  of globalisation\, that humanity experienced its first truly ‘global ag
 e’ during the period known as the ‘Palaeolithic’. Focusing on the ro
 le of specific epistemic innovations and cultural practices in establishin
 g and maintaining the structures and processes of connectivity\, exchange\
 , and integration characteristic of that period\, I then propose ‘cultur
 al biogeography’ as the most fruitful analytical framework to explain Pa
 laeolithic globalisation\, understood as the distinctive globality of a fo
 rager lifeway deployed in the Pleistocene’s uniquely challenging environ
 mental conditions and the historically unique circumstances of planetary c
 olonisation. In conclusion I argue that a deep-time perspective allows us 
 to understand and break down the great wall of ‘history’ as a distinct
 ively agrarian category\, to illuminate the process of globalisation as fu
 ndamental to the nature of humanity qua cultural species\, but also to dra
 w on pre-Holocenic life and lessons for a better understanding and anticip
 ation of the Anthropocenic future. 
LOCATION:Audit Room\, King’s College\, Cambridge
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