Them and Us, Then and Now: an archaeology of empathy

Overview:

Empathy is central to how we understand and interact with fellow humans. The ability to see the world through others’ eyes plays a fundamental role in social cohesion within and between groups. Most research on empathy focuses on present-day contexts and relations between peoples separated by geographical or cultural distance. But can we also empathize across time and use empathic insights to understand those who came before us and those who will follow? Networking expertise from the arts, social sciences, and sciences, this project explores how empathy is currently theorized and deployed across a range of disciplines in order to inform a critical investigation of the role of empathy in motivating and shaping understanding of the archaeological past. By expanding the scope of empathy research to encompass contexts with no living correspondents, and typically few or no textual sources, a larger and more diverse range of peoples and cultures are brought into consideration. Through an interdisciplinary approach to empathy, this RDP hopes not only to enrich and improve our understanding of the past but also to open possibilities for consideration of empathy with unborn generations, and its potential for future-oriented thinking in addressing some of today’s societal challenges.

Aims:

With external collaborator with Dr Daniël van Helden (Leicester University), this project aims to initiate an interdisciplinary dialogue on empathy in archaeological research. Networking specialists from fields such as anthropology, classics, education, english, history, translation studies, philosophy and psychology. The project will establish how empathy, alterity and familiarity are currently theorised and deployed across disciplines.

Research Questions:

• How does empathy work temporally?
  
  
• How has empathy motivated and shaped the study of different archaeological periods and cultures?
  
  
• What are the ethical implications of historical empathy?
  
  
• Can and should archaeological interpretations require us to perceive the world from others’ perspectives?
  
  
• Can empathy be deployed more systematically as an archaeological method to bridge between familiarity and alterity?

Existing research on historical empathy is largely confined to literate societies, with limited consideration of the full sweep of human history; an archaeological perspective therefore has potential to expand the scope of debate, both chronologically and in terms of diversity of cultures. By critical examination of how empathy operates across time, we also hope to open discussion of empathy with the future: if it is possible to empathize with ancestors, can we empathize with descendants and could this motivate future-oriented thinking, for example, around climate change?

Events and Activities:

A two-day hybrid workshop will bring together Durham researchers and external keynotes to establish the current state of research on empathy across the arts, social sciences and sciences, and to pool ideas for its application to the archaeological past.

The format will include presentations, discussion and a session to explore empathetic, cognitive and creative responses to archaeological case studies drawing on the Durham World Heritage Site. This research conversation will inform the writing of a position piece for publication in an archaeology journal (e.g. Archaeological Dialogues) and underpin a larger interdisciplinary grant application (initially planned for an AHRC standard grant).