Watson Events

Uzma Z. Rizvi -- Points: Reinterpreting Movement, Material, and Heritage in Iraq

Check Points: Reinterpreting Movement, Material, and Heritage in Iraq," with Uzma Z. Rizvi, PhD, Assistant Professor, Anthropology and Urban Studies, Pratt Institute.

Cosponsored by Middle East Studies, Office of the Vice President for International Affairs, Deputy Provost's Office, Joukowsky Institute.

Uzma Z. Rizvi is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Urban Studies at Pratt Institute where she teaches archaeology, ancient urbanism, complex societies, and heritage politics in the contemporary world. In addition, her current research interests include ancient South Asia, political economy, social aspects of metallurgy, and the postcolonial critique. Since receiving her doctorate from the Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania in 2007, Rizvi has been Faculty Fellow and Chair for the Initiative on Art, Community Development and Social Change at the Pratt Center (2007-2008) and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at Stanford University (2008-2009).

Rizvi's research strives to expand the theoretical scope of archaeological practice. In 2005 she organized (with Matthew Liebmann) one of the first sessions at the Society for American Archaeology to explore the applications of postcolonial theory to archaeological practice. The edited volume, Archaeology and the Postcolonial Critique (Altamira Press, 2008) emerged out of the ideas articulated in that session. Rizvi has also edited (with Jane Lydon) World Archaeological Congress Research Handbook on Postcolonialism and Archaeology (Left Coast Press, forthcoming). Rizvi's research has been supported by grants received from Fulbright Hayes DDRA (2003), George Dales Foundation (2004), and the Mellon Foundation (2006-2007). Her research work in India on community based archaeology and public interest projects can be read about in "Accounting for Multiple Desires: Decolonizing Methodologies, Archaeology and the Public Interest" (India Review, 2006) and an upcoming manuscript based on her archaeological survey of Northeastern Rajasthan. She is currently completing a catalogue for British Archaeological Reports, Crafting Capital: Third Millennium BC Copper Arrowheads from Ganeshwar, Rajasthan. Rizvi served on the Committee on the Status of Women in Archaeology (2005-2008), and directed the documentary Telling Stories, Constructing Narratives: Gender Equity in Archaeology (2007). She also serves in an advisory board capacity to various academic and cultural institutions, including the journal Dialectical Anthropology, the Queens Museum of Art, South Asian Women's Creative Collective (SAWCC) and South Asian Theater Arts Movement (SATAM). 

Location: Joukowsky Forum, Watson Institute, 111 Thayer Stree