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Stir the pots of social change: micro-archaeobotany of cooking in East/Southeast Asian prehistory
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Stir the pots of social change: micro-archaeobotany of cooking in East/Southeast Asian prehistory
I am interested in daily practice in the past and the roles of different humans and nonhumans played in various technological systems. My current research investigates how cooking transformed as well as had been transformed under a large social process, especially in periods of great changes, such as urbanization, creation of regional networks or social differentiation. I would consider food preparation as a complex ‘technological system’, composed of heterogeneous human and non-human, material and immaterial elements. By analyzing the ‘chaîne opératoire’ of food preparation while paying attention to the involved agencies of all the things, beings, labour and power, the transforming process could be studied archaeologically.
Methodologically the PhD project aims to explore the potential of the ‘micro-archaeology of food’ in prehistoric East and Southeast Asia. By observing the microstructures of charred food remains under SEM, it is possible to identify different cooking technologies such as boiling or steaming. Instead of providing a list of botanical species consumed by people, I would focus more on various cooking methods of plant food. I am now collecting experimental and ethnoarchaeological food referential data for comparison with archaeological samples from Northern China, Taiwan, and Northeast Thailand.
Another project I have been carrying on since undergrad is to look at ceramic technologies through petrography in addition to relevant clay preparation experiments. Through looking into the technological nuances, I try to discuss the complexity of clay preparation techniques and other social dynamics in Neolithic Taiwan.
I am also devoted to community archaeology and public archaeological outreaches. How heritage and ideas about the past are entangled with constructing identities, paving the way to modern ideological discourses is an important issue in East Asia. I am particularly interested in how archaeological research can contribute to present decolonization struggles and other pursuits in social justice.
Funding
Scholarship of government sponsorship for overseas study by Taiwan Ministry of Education
Education
- BA, Double major in Anthropology and History, National Taiwan University, 2019
- MA, Archaeology, Peking University, 2021
- Publications
Kan Yu-chun: '' ‘Salvages’, Archaeology, and the Critiques of Historical Narratives: Review of The Dawn of Everything (“野蛮人”、考古学与历史叙事的批判性：读《万物的黎明》, in Chinese)'', Young Archaeologists, 3, in press.
Zhang Yixuan & Kan Yu-Chun: ''Education of Anthropological Archaeology in Taiwan: Alternatives of Archaeology (人类学影响下的台湾考古教育：兼论考古学学科定位, in Chinese) ''. Southern Cultural Relics,2021(3):253-266.
Kan Yu-Chun: ''A Feminist Archaeology of Food: Manifesto and Review (食物的性別考古學: 倡議與綜述, in Chinese) '', Ancient Civilizations Review, 89, 2021, 1-23.
Kan Yu-Chun: ''From Objects of Diffusion to Subjects of Gender: A Review on Studies about Li Jingxun's Tomb (從傳播的器物到性別的主體：李靜訓墓研究回顧, in Chinese)'' Shiyi, 39, in press
