Archaeology of Gatherings Conference | Institute of Technology Sligo Ireland |

October 2013 | Part I

Originally posted online on 24 April 2014 at rmchappleblogspotcom

(httprmchappleblogspotcouk201404archaeology-of-gatherings-conferencehtml)

The weekend of the 25th to 27th October 2013 saw an influx of visitors to Sligo town Some were there for the Sligo Live Music Festival some had travelled long distances to be part of the Bram Stoker Weekend However a select band had come for the Archaeology of Gatherings Conference The year 2013 had been designated the year of lsquoThe Gatheringrsquo ndash an initiative to draw tourists to the country Thus the organisers had conceived of this conference to draw archaeologists historians sociologists and allied disciplines together This diverse group representing an incredibly broad spectrum of specialities had been assembled to discuss the very topic of Gathering What is it How do you define it How do you record it Even from the bare list of speakers and topics I was convinced that this was going to be an intellectually packed weekend I wasnrsquot wrong The speakers were truly enthralling with everyone bringing different facets to what felt like a peculiarly communal experience

It was a brilliant conference that was pretty well attended and the folks at Institute of Technology Sligo did an amazing job on all fronts getting the speakers organising the venues ndash all the usual stuff ndash but more than that they really tried to make all participants both speakers and delegates feel genuinely welcome and part of something special Irsquove learned in the last while that they are hopeful that theyrsquoll be able to put together a peer-reviewed volume of the collected conference papers As an interim measure before the publication of the book I would like to post a series of review pieces summarising the papers I hope that this will give readers who couldnrsquot make it a feeling for the conference and perhaps spur them on to consider attending next yearrsquos one Also Irsquom hoping that it piques the interest of many who will go and buy the book when it is published

Irsquom going to add in just one brief warningapology (warology) there was an immense amount of data presented over these two days and Irsquove done my honest best to record it accurately and fairly However Irsquom currently looking at over 50 pages of hastily scribbled notes that Irsquove not looked at in over two months so Irsquom not entirely sure how successful Irsquom going to be in translating my rough demotic into readable English If Irsquove missed out on anything or incorrectly understood any point that an author was trying to get across I sincerely apologise I would invite any of the presenters so ill-served to contact me and I will make any appropriate additions or changes to the text I just hope that the authors can recognise their work in my rendition of it

As Irsquove noted elsewhere there was an informal drinks reception at the Glasshouse Hotel on Friday evening On Saturday morning we made our way to the IT Sligo campus though I did manage to get lost on the way and my passenger witnessed the rare occurrence of a straight white guy stopping to ask directions Once registration was complete we all took our places in the lecture theatre Sam Moore chairing the first session welcomed us on behalf of the organising committee and briefly introduced the idea that sparked this conference the perceived difficulty in identifying large-scale religious and social gatherings The hope of the conference was to create a gathering of our own bringing people from different academic backgrounds and specialisms together with the hope of mutual enlightenment and cross-fertilisation of ideas

Ccedilatalhoumlyuumlk under excavation (Source)

The first speaker to the podium was Dr Jonathan Lanman (Institute of Cognition and Culture QUB) to speak on Ritual and Divergent Modes of Cohesion Lanman began with the deceptively simple idea that gatherings lsquodo thingsrsquo to people and that one of these things is that they provide social cohesion There have been many theories as to what they do and how they do it but there have been few systematic investigations True there is a wealth of ethnographic material examining gatherings but there has been less emphasis on the systematic analysis and testing of these ideas Beyond this there has been almost no attempt at understanding the mechanics of social cohesion One of the biggest problems is that we have yet to ask basic questions like what is lsquoritualrsquo What do we mean by lsquocohesionrsquo It is this lack of a precise terminology that Lanman argues has hampered research up until now However there are a number of new efforts and there is some cause for optimism Lanman is part of the lsquoRitual Community and Conflictrsquo project based at the University of Oxford One of the things that the project has done is divide the idea of ritual into separate parts Dysphoria Synchrony and Signalling Signalling is the showing allegiance to the group Synchrony is defined as a unity of movement and engagement while Dysphoria is the experience of pain fear and anxiety Cohesion on the other hand is broken down into lsquoGroup Identificationrsquo and lsquoIdentity Fusionrsquo lsquoIdentity Fusionrsquo is a visceral sense of oneness where the participant feels that lsquoI am the grouprsquo Alternatively lsquoGroup Identificationrsquo is built on Social Identity Theory and sees the individual comparing themselves to a prototypical group member The project is on-going and has so far drawn evidence from six countries They have shown a strong correlation between the feeling of fusion with a group identity and the willingness to fight and die for that group For example this correlation of fusion levels correctly predicted the individuals who either physically assisted or donated money and goods in the wake of the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings One of the aims of the Oxford project is to devise (and answer) new more precise questions They see that is it less fruitful to ask if lsquoritualrsquo gatherings make people feel lsquocohesiversquo Instead the questions they are attempting to formulate include Does synchronous movement increase group identification Does shared dysphoria produce fusion

Beyond this there is a matrix of types of cohesion For example there are high frequency events that produce low arousal levels such as attending church This form of gathering is capable of producing large-scale diffuse cohesion On the other end of the spectrum are low-frequency events (on a generational scale) that produce high levels of cohesion The important thing to remember is that it is not a case of one-or-the other but that there are lots of in between places Other research questions that the project is attempting to address are related to the ideas that there are certain packages of shared beliefs that allow groups to succeed For example rebel groups in Sierra Leone use horrific initiation rituals to bind members of the group together Other work includes a re-examination of the archaeological remains at Ccedilatalhoumlyuumlk in terms of

ritual and group cohesion The project is also beginning the task of putting together a database of rebel groups that they intend to expand into a world-wide resource and reference over the coming decades

Allianz Arena (Source)

Dr Hans K Hognestad (Centre for Cultural and Sports Studies Telemark University Norway) spoke on Identity power and the sociality of football Irsquom going to be quite honest here and say that I met Hans the previous evening at the drinks reception and found him a very interesting and engaging individual Then he told me that his paper was to be on soccer and my heart fell Irsquom among the worldrsquos least sporty people ndash of all the sports that donrsquot interest me football is up there at the top I had little doubt from our conversation that his paper would be a good piece of research but I wondered if Irsquod really be able to engage with it given my joint lack of interest and knowledge in the game That feeling persisted right up until he explained that he would be examining football as a social drama Irsquod never before thought of the game in this context When my fears that Irsquod be treated to yet another explanation of the off-side rule (that I have repeatedly failed to understand) did not materialise I relaxed into a remarkably engaging insightful paper that was one of my personal highlights of the conference

Hognestad began by acknowledging the privileged position that football has held among other sports for the last two or three decades Within the sport there are numerous contested identities and moralities that demarcate notions of what constitutes lsquogoodrsquo support This quest for authenticity is set against a background of globalisation and lsquoCasino Capitalismrsquo Complicating the situation further are numerous ethno-political dimensions For example these may be religioussectarian rivalries of the RangersCeltic Old Firm or FC Barcelona which has become a symbol of Catalan opposition Other teams that embody this form of division include FC St Pauli SS Lazio and Athletic Bilbao He argued that gatherings for football matches include (quasi) religious dimensions mixed with carnivalesque laughter (following the work of Mikhail Bakhtin) These gatherings are defined by their intensity (feeding on elements of patriotism and rivalry) along with distance (incorporating laughter and inclusion) In a section on Sociality in a Neoliberal Age Hognestad argued that football has undergone a number of structural changes in the last two decades These include responses to stadium tragedies such as Heysel Hillsborough and Bradford City along with bending to the twin forces of modernisation and commercialism Taken together these represent a challenge for some supporters who seek local authenticity and a sense of ownership and belonging Going against this form of modern football has been a rise in activism among fans resulting in a number of fan-owned clubs

In contemplating the Stadium as Modern Sanctuary Hognestad turned to John Balersquos (1993) idea of the stadium producing a topophilic feeling where the ground becomes a sacred space to the fans Parallel to this are feelings of topophobia especially in cases where the stadium was the scene of violence and disaster Post-1990 there has seen the emergence of a dystopic vision (following Ritzer 2009) of the stadium as the site of disenchantment and social control In this light the stadium becomes a prison a cathedral or even Disneyland In the latter sense it is the site of mere entertainment but not one of social connection Looking at Football as Opera Hognestad examined the prestige buildings and major sponsors of the elite clubs including Bayern Munich and their sponsorship relationship with Allianz at the Allianz Arena At the other end of the scale he noted that even Sligo Rovers still needed and sought sponsorship Following Richard Giulianottirsquos paper lsquoSupporters Followers Fans and Flacircneurs A Taxonomy of Spectator Identities in Footballrsquo (2002) he presented a breakdown of the four types of lsquoidealrsquo fan The lsquosupporterrsquo is topophilic with a grounded identity while the lsquofanrsquo is influenced by the teamrsquos market identity and is prone to buying the latest shirt etc The lsquofollowerrsquo is described as having a nested identity and is often considered to be a lsquo90 minute patriotrsquo All of these stand in contrast to the lsquoflacircneurrsquo who is the product of the hyper commodification of the sport They have no sense of personal or social commitment to any individual team and are most likely to change allegiance to the latest or biggest clubs

The West Clare Railway (Source)

Edel Barry (Built Heritage Collective Ireland) spoke on Gatherings The Archaeology of Railways in Ireland This paper is based on her MPhil thesis on the narrow gauge railways of Munster She began by attempting to overturn the traditional notion that when we think of railways as a means of communication we tend to think of the dispersal of people rather than gatherings While such forms of dispersal did occur (including assisting in large-scale immigration from the 19th to the 21st centuries) they also facilitated gatherings She traced the development of the railway system from the efforts of Charles Bianconi who made travel relatively inexpensive in Ireland during the early 19th century though it was still beyond the reach of most people Despite early developments in the 1830s it was not until the middle of the 19th century that there were significant improvements in the rail infrastructure By the 1870s there was investment in the construction of lsquofeederrsquo lines which were often narrow gauge to reduce cost One significant development was the passing of The Railway Regulation Act 1844 which introduced compulsory third class services priced at a maximum of 1d per mile travelled Railways also allowed unprecedented independence to many women through the provision of ladies-only carriages and waiting rooms that allowed movement without having to be escorted by male relations or chaperones

Politicians were not slow to capitalise on the opportunities offered by the railways For example the lsquowhistle stoprsquo tour was begun in the UK by William Ewart Gladstone effectively turning railway stations into political platforms and sites of gatherings Another growth area associated with the railways was in their potential for leisure uses and numerous lsquoExcursion Specialsrsquo became commonplace This was part of a burgeoning awareness of health and recreation needs within the general population For example this was the prime reason for the development of the Lahinch Hotel with its own rail links to the West Clare Railway While such recreational activities were initially confined to the upper and moneyed classes they eventually became affordable to the working classes too Barry argued that the role of railways in facilitating gatherings is manifest in facilitating the attendance at sporting events This included various GAA fixtures but also extended to football cricket rugby boating and horse racing The close relationship between the railways and their dependence on providing transport to sporting fixtures can be seen in their sponsorship of the Interprovincial Championship (better known by the name of its prize The Railway Cup) for both Gaelic Football and Hurling In examining the physical station as a focal point within local society Barry gave the example from Lahinch where the women of the community would come sit and knit under the shady awnings

Newgrange in the 19th century (Source)

The last speaker in this session was Dr Robert Hensey speaking on Crowd-sourcing in the Boyne Valley Linking to the previous speaker he noted that the modern fame of Newgrange was inextricably linked to the rise of the railways in the nineteenth century making access to the site easier and more affordable The paper proper began with a brief introduction to the modern (typically online) phenomena of lsquocrowd sourcingrsquo which Hensey defined as the practice of obtaining needed services by soliciting work or contributions from a wide population base The motives behind this may be manifold and include philanthropy political activism product design etc The hallmarks of the process are that it is not coercive ndash there is an open call to participate it relies on an undefined group for support and that it usually involves reward or recognition for the donor

Turning to Newgrange and the passage tombs of the Boyne valley Hensey noted that the traditional narratives for site construction involved elite control or elite authority He asked the apparently simple question lsquois this really a balanced view of what was happeningrsquo From here he gave an overview of passage tomb development in Ireland This was partially founded on his recent Radiocarbon dating project at Carrowmore (Bergh amp Hensey 2013) He outlined three primary phases of passage tomb development in Ireland each represented by distinct

patterns of change in the design and role of the monuments as they ultimately progressed towards lsquotemple-likersquo centres

As passage tombs increased in scale increased levels of community involvement were required too Returning to the idea of the elite control of Neolithic society Hensey argued that such gatherings could have served wider social purposes including bringing together rival groups to promote peace or stave off warfare He noted that if work transforms lsquothingsrsquo into lsquopropertyrsquo the Boyne valley community may have had a considerable sense of ownership of these sites When viewed from this perspective the wider collective may have had a much greater sense of ownership of the monuments than previously thought Hensey argued that a strong centralised authority was still necessary to instigate and manage these great projects but that the willingness of the community was also required and that this latter narrative has for too long been under-theorised and examined

With the time just gone 1100 we broke for refreshment