Tamas Polanyi, research affiliate at the University of Michigan, will speak in the Whitney Auditorium (Room 1315, School of Education Building) at noon on Thursday, March 28, as part of the UMMAA Brown Bag Lecture Series.

On Thursday, March 28, Tamas Polanyi, a research affiliate at the University of Michigan, will speak in the Whitney Auditorium (Room 1315, School of Education Building) at noon as part of the UMMAA Brown Bag Lecture Series.

Polanyi will discuss the challenge of understanding the role human agency and interaction play in the flows of history. In his current project, he attempts to redirect archaeological focus from easily discernible events to political discourse—to the processes that lead up to change and to the ways in which agency constitutes the texture of history. Through the analysis of mortuary practice, he will present a case study exploring the ways in which members of the Bronze Age Kajászó community engaged in political action surrounding change and persistence in the wake of some momentous transformations.

The Museum’s Brown Bag Lecture Series is free and open to the public.