GRK 1576: Value and Equivalence - The Genesis and Transformation of Values from an Archaeological and Anthropological Perspective

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Value and equivalence are basic concepts in all societies, past and present. Moreover, value is a fundamental characteristic of material things, the embedding of which in a culture depends on the property of having value. Providing specific competencies for the exploration of objects and their societal context and for the study of material culture in general, archaeology and cultural anthropology are two disciplines particularly suited to dealing with questions of value and equivalence. Based on well-defined empirical fields in a wide range of different areas and epochs, the Research Training Group aims to achieve a deeper understanding of value and equivalence. Concepts on how societal definitions of material values are constituted have received growing attention in the international debate in recent years. Thus, the Research Training Group will provide a contribution to the internationalisation of participating disciplines by the active participation of its members based on their own research relevant to the discourse. The planned dissertation topics are grouped around the questions (1), how values are generated and how they circulate within a society, and (2), the transformations of values, when objects are traded or transported beyond cultural boundaries. The central challenge of the Research Training Group is to combine methodological capacities in the study of material culture with the current theoretical debate on the description of values as a characteristic of things. Creation, circulation and transformation of values can be reconstructed in many cases through the principle of equivalence. Archaeology and cultural anthropology explore how this is possible in their own particular case studies. The point of common interest is, therefore, the theoretical harvest from the different dissertations and the interdisciplinary work on a broader concept of value and equivalence. The doctoral candidates realise their dissertations in a scientific environment in which empirical methods as well as theoretical competencies are required. They will participate in a structured qualification programme specifically designed for archaeologists and cultural anthropologists. A practical component in the form of the conceptualisation, planning and realisation of a museum exhibition is envisioned as part of this programme.