The Frobenius Institute for Research in Cultural Anthropology, in collaboration with University of Groningen, has organized an interdisciplinary workshop from 22 May to 25 May 2024 on the theme of “Cereal Cultures in South and Central Asia” at the Taunus Tagungshotel both online and in presence.

The workshop was attended by Prof. Dr. Roland Hardenberg (Frobenius Institute), Dr. Peter Berger (University of Groningen), Prof. Dr. René Cappers (University of Groningen) and Dr. Sonja Filatova (University of Groningen). The workshop was also attended by doctoral researchers from collaborative projects on Cereal Cultures (SFB-1070, DFG, NWO) Indhubala Kesavan, Suneet Kumar, Shilanjani Bhattacharyya, Bijayini Mohanty, Ashutosh Kumar, Togzhan Utetileuova and Nidhi Trivedi.

The workshop focused on the results and findings of the ongoing PhD studies dealing with the current state of Cereals in South and Central Asia from anthropological as well as archaeobotanical perspectives. Several aspects of cereals in relation to local people who cultivate it and the implication of state led agro-economic policies on the cereals were enumerated and discussed. Some of the questions that were foregrounded in the workshop were:

What does a staple crop like rice, wheat or millet mean to the local people?
How does a staple crop like rice enable the communication of respect and in succession sustain social relationship between humans, and between human and gods?
How do current agro-economic policies and (money) market economy implicate the values and choices of the local people with respect to cereal cultivation?
How does archaeo-botanical perspective shed light on new dimensions of the cereals?

In addition, the discussions also brought focus on archaeobotanical sample collection and analysis, data management, the progress of ongoing documentary film on Cereal Cultures, planning of future publications, and conferences.

© Togzhan Utetileuova

© Togzhan Utetileuova

© Togzhan Utetileuova