Reconstruction, Replication and Re-Enactment in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Performative methods are playing an increasingly prominent role in research into historical production processes, materials, bodily knowledge and sensory skills, and in forms of education and public engagement in classrooms and museums. This book offers, for the first time, sustained, interdisciplinary reflections on performative methods, variously known as Reconstruction, Replication and Re-enactment (RRR) practices across the fields of history of science, archaeology, art history, conservation, musicology and anthropology. Each of these fields has distinct histories, approaches, tools and research questions. Researchers in the historical disciplines have used reconstructions to learn about the materials and practices of the past, while anthropologists and ethnographers have more often studied the re-enactments themselves, participating in these performances as engaged observers. In this book, authors bring their experiences of RRR practices within their discipline into conversation with RRR practices in other disciplines, providing a basis for interdisciplinary cross-fertilization.

Sven Dupré is Professor of History of Art, Science and Technology at Utrecht University and the University of Amsterdam. Anna Harris is Associate Professor of Social Studies of Medicine at Maastricht University. Julia Kursell is Professor of Musicology at the University of Amsterdam. Patricia Lulof is Associate Professor of Mediterranean Archaeology at the University of Amsterdam. Maartje Stols-Witlox is Associate Professor of Conservation and Restoration at the University of Amsterdam.

1. Introduction, 2. Replication as a Play on Categories: The Case of Taxidermy,Petra Tjitske Kalshoven, 3. Bringing the Past to Life: Material Culture Production and Archaeological Practice,Jill Hilditch, 4. Making Musicians Think: The Problem with Organs,Hans Fidom, 5. Making Sound Present: Reenactment and Reconstruction in Historical Organ Building Practices,Julia Kursell and Peter Peters, 6. Reconstructions of Oil Painting Materials and Techniques: the HART Model for Approaching Historical Accuracy,Leslie Carlyle, 7. Imperfect Copies. Reconstructions in Conservation Research and Practice,Maartje Stols-Witlox, 8. Re-working Recipes and Experiments in the Classroom,Peter Heering, Thijs Hagendijk, Sven Dupré, and Lawrence Principe, 9. A Walk as Act / Enact / Re-enactment: Performing Psychogeography and Anthropology,Jo Vergunst, 10. Recreating Reconstructions: Archaeology, Architecture and 3D Technologies,Patricia S. Lulof, 11. Science and the Knowing Body: Making Sense of Embodied Knowledge in Scientific Experiment,H. Otto Sibum, Index.|- interdisciplinary methodological reflection (books below are more typical mono-disciplinary) - inclusion of arts-based methods - focus on skills, application, best practices.