Program and Abstract for lecture at the GSI workshop“Migration and Memory of the Place”
December 1, 2023

GSI: Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity
Hokkaido University
Sapporo, Japan,

Introduction‘Human Migration’ has been one of the main features of our long humanhistory. As represented by travel, humans have a high interest in unknown lands
yet to be seen and are still on the move.
Human migrations have given rise to group contacts, which in turn havetriggered the creation of new cultures. The culture diversity of humans has been
formed through repeated history of such migration and cultural contact. The
diversity of human cultures reflects the natural diversity on Earth and is also a
product of the interaction between humans and environment.
In this workshop, we will discuss the history of human migrations in Europe
and Northeast Asia during the Medieval time, the socio-cultural phenomenathat resulted from their impact, and the formation of new identities. Also, theimportance of memories and histories of human activities embedded in place
names will be discussed. Furthermore, there are various factors behind thehuman behaviour of human migration. Volcanic activity and climate change
have been understood as one of the main drivers of 'human migration'. What is
important is human resilience to this environmental change and adaptation to
the new environment.
This workshop will discuss the background to the diversity of humancultures, with the keywords 'human migration' and 'memory'.

Program
13:00-13:10 Opening Speech
13:10-13:50 Norse Migration in the Viking Age: from ‘Expansion’ to ‘Diaspora’
Prof. Neil PRICE (Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden and GSI)
14:00-14:40 Okhotsk Migration in NE Asia: Colonization and Cultural Integration
Prof. Hirofumi KATO (Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan and GSI)
14:40-15:00 TEA BREAK
15:00-15:40 Sámi Mobilities in Colonial Spaces’ Border, Identities, and the Right
to Make a Home
Dr. Carl-Gösta OJALA(Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden and GSI)
15:50-16:30 Aboriginal placenames and geospatial data: Promoting truth-tellingand understanding of Country.
Dr. Kristen SMITH and Mr. Levi MURRAY(University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia)
16:40-17:20 Environmental Catastrophes Drive Human Migration : Apocalyptic
Scenes from A Prehistoric “Super-Eruption”
Prof. Peter JORDAN (Lund University, Lund, Sweden and GSI)
17:30-18:00 The theory of cultural transmission and studies of social contacts ofhunter-gatherers
Mr. Aleksander ULANOV (Hokkaido University Sapporo, Japan)
18:00-18:20 General Discussion
18:20-18:30 Concluding Remarks

Abstract(1) Norse Migration in the Viking Age: from ‘Expansion’ to ‘Diaspora’
Prof. Neil Price (Uppsala University and GSI)
Since the early nineteenth century, scholars and the public alike have conceivedof a so-called ‘Viking Age’, a term describing the approximate period 750-1050
CE when the peoples of Scandinavia began to raid, trade, and travel extensively
across the Eurasian world. In more recent years, however, not only theconceptualisation of the ‘Vikings’ has come into question, but also the premises
on which we characterise what has long been thought of as their ‘expansion’ – anotion that has now been superseded by the more ambiguous, reciprocal andflexible language of ‘diaspora’. Central to this debate is the fact of movement,
whether through violence, mercantile ambition, exploration or settlement, andthus ultimately the question of migration. Linked to this are related questions as
to when, why, and precisely where all this was taking place, and the wide variety
of motives or imperatives behind it. In essence, researchers are now tentatively
shaping a multivocal and pluralistic redefinition of what the Viking Age was, how
it ‘began’ and ‘ended’, and not least a reassessment of the complicated andcontested legacies that still resonate in the social conversation today. This talkwill examine these issues, discussing the population movements of the early
medieval North in terms of ethnicity and identity, and the intricate socio-political
geographies of the diaspora itself.

(2) Okhotsk Migration in NE Asia: Colonization and Cultural Integration
Prof. Hirofumi KATO (Hokkaido University and GSI)
In the Northeast Asian, the maritime hunter culture expanded from the northwest
coast to the southern coast of Okhotsk sea after the 6th century. Thisarchaeological phenomenon is known as the "Okhotsk culture," and it greatly
influenced the subsequent formation of peoples along the Sea of Okhotsk coast.
From southern Sakhalin Island to Hokkaido Island, it is known that this culture ofmarine hunters encountered the local culture and was linked to the formation of
the Ainu and their culture. The migration of human groups, including fur trade
networks, the distribution of metal products, and the development of bearceremony, caused this cultural integration. This report discusses the socio-cultural
impact of this migration phenomenon of maritime peoples based on the resultsof recent research on Rebun Island.

(3) Sámi Mobilities in Colonial Spaces’ Border, Identities, and the Right to Makea HomeDr. Carl-Gösta OJALA (Uppsala University and GSI)
This paper discusses Sámi mobilities within colonial spaces and power dynamics.
Focusing on voluntary and involuntary Sámi mobilities in the early modern period,
the paper also addresses Sámi early modern material objects in motion, and thecollecting and exchange of Sámi ancestral remains. Recent homecomings of Sámi
material culture and ancestral remains, as part of cultural revitalization,
repatriation and decolonization processes, demonstrate the development of new
mobilities and power dynamics. Challenging colonial notions of Sámi people as
being bound to the perceived traditional Sámi domains, as well as the nationalist
cartographies projected in much of earlier research, this paper aims to stimulate
a rethinking of Sámi mobility and agency, and the right to make a home. The
main focus of the paper is on present-day Sweden, but with comparative
perspectives from Norway, Finland and northwestern Russia. In the paper, Sámirelated place names are also discussed, as a way of exploring histories of Sámi
mobilities and homemaking, within and beyond present-day Sápmi.
(4) Aboriginal placenames and geospatial data: Promoting truth-telling andunderstanding of Country.
Kristen SMITH and Levi MURRAY (University of Melbourne)
Indigenous placenames and their embedded Indigenous Knowledges represent
a critical mechanism to promote truth-telling and understanding of Country for
Indigenous peoples in Australia and internationally. Article 13.1 of the United
Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People outlines the right ofIndigenous peoples to “revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations
their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems andliteratures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places
and persons” (UNDRIP 2007). Australia is one of 144 signatories to thisDeclaration, yet the formal restoration of Aboriginal placenames remains a pointof controversy across much of mainstream Australia. In this paper, we discuss thespace-place gap in geographic information system science and spatial
technologies and outline the work in progress by the Indigenous Data Network
to re-embed Indigenous Knowledges in national geospatial frameworks anddigital infrastructure of Australia. This work aims to bind Indigenous Knowledges
to standard spatial data practices used by research communities and otherstakeholders, including national and international governments. It also supports
ongoing efforts to highlight the significance of Indigenous Knowledges of places
and Indigenous communities and peoples for both economic development andbroader mainstream visibility, which is inalienable from national recognition andtruth-telling.

(5) Environmental Catastrophes Drive Human Migration: Apocalyptic Scenes
from A Prehistoric “Super-Eruption”
Prof. Peter JORDAN (Lund University and GSI)
Today around three billion people live in close proximity to volcanic geohazards
including many Indigenous cultures and descendent communities. This paper
examines the degree to which TLK (“Traditional and Local Knowledge”) Systems
can ever evolve to cope with living, surviving and indeed thriving in high-risk
geological environments, where adaptation to one catastrophe shapes culturaland ecological responses to the next. In most cases, migration and long-rangesocial networks are deployed to bolster resilience and support eventual humanreturn to damaged landscapes and ecosystems which tend to recover at different
rates. These processes are viewed within a long-term historical perspective tounderstand how extreme events of unexpected magnitudes may stretch
traditional coping mechanisms to breaking point, preventing cultures fromreturning to their previous developmental pathways, and tipping them into
entirely different trajectories. The paper presents emerging results from CALDERA,
a new Nordic-Japan research initiative focusing on the cultural significance ofcatastrophic environmental shocks. The main case-study examines how
prehistoric populations in Northeast Asia started to “worship” volcanic
geohazards as part of a wider suite of coping mechanisms, but were eventually
overwhelmed by impacts of a volcanic “super-eruption”, one of the largest

globally in the last 10,000 years. This extreme disaster triggered both major lossof life, but also significant out-migration, and the eventual return of humans toisland ecosystems utterly transformed by the catastrophe and its enduringecological legacies. The paper concludes with a brief overview of future plans andactivities, and argues that much more empirical work is required to critique
simplistic notions of “collapse” and also “resilience”, as neither capture the fullcomplexity and historical contingency of cultural responses to abrupt
environmental “forcing” mechanisms.

(6) The theory of cultural transmission and studies of social contacts of huntergatherers
Mr. Aleksander ULANOV (Hokkaido University, Japan)
The theory of cultural transmission and related conceptions of culturalconvergence and social intimacy have an important epistemological andmethodological role in current anthropological and archaeological studies.
Epistemology of current cultural transmission is highly interesting because it iscritical, on the one hand, toward the traditional culture-historical approach, andon the other hand, toward cultural transmission theory when it applies to researchmodels borrowed from biological studies.
Cultural transmission theory and culture-historical theory have a common origin.
However, the current theory of cultural transmission criticizes ethnocentric andpurely typological views of culture-historical archaeology. The object of critics
inside the theory of cultural transmission is the phylogenetic studies of material
culture and other direct analogies from biological studies. This problematizationof a biological discourse in archaeology and anthropology seems valuable for thecurrent anthropology and decolonization narrative. The biological narrative of
academic discourse is a vivid mark of the colonial approach in anthropology. Thus,in this sense “debiologization” of cultural studies means decolonization.
Methodologically cultural transmission theory aimed to explain diversity inmaterial culture as well as temporal and spatial spread of phenomena of material
culture. The spread of certain types of material culture objects could be studied
in the frameworks of the theory of cultural transmission, in the middle-range
theory of stimulus diffusion, or in the theory of cultural convergence. All these
theories are based on the assumption of social contacts of different intensities.

The cultural transmission process requires close social contact. Stimulus diffusion
related to social contact of low intimacy (for example visiting the camp’s edge).
The cultural convergence process is related to the emergence of similar types ofartifacts in different social groups without social contact.
However, there are significant similarities between the results of the culturalconvergence process and stimulus diffusion. The result of both social processes
is the emergence of artifacts with similar morphology and different technologies
of production in several regions.
Differentiating these two social processes requires specific research procedures
such as examination of the geographical spread of the artifact’s type andchronology of the emergence of this type in both study regions. In other words,
an analysis of the probability of social contact is required.
Another vital research procedure for the studies of cultural convergence is thedevelopment of the morphospace model. However, examples of differences
between mouth harps in continental Siberia (vargan, khomus) made of metal andin Hokkaido ( mukkury) made of bamboo demonstrate that the range of possible
raw materials needs to be examined as well as the range of possible morphology.
Research problems of cultural transmission, cultural convergence, and stimulus
diffusion studies demonstrate common methodological challenges ofarchaeological and cultural anthropological methodology and the possibility ofinterdisciplinary collaboration in this field. Studies of the spatial spread of typesof artifacts in this methodological framework spot light on the social processesof migration or cultural exchange.

Speakers
Prof. Neil Price holds the Chair of Archaeology at Uppsala University, Sweden,
where he has also been appointed Distinguished Professor by the Swedish
Research Council and is Director of the Uppsala Research Centre for the World in
the Viking Age. He has previously taught at the Universities of Oslo, Stockholm,and Aberdeen. A specialist in the Viking Age, his fieldwork, teaching, and research
has taken him to 50 countries. Neil is a Fellow of numerous learned academies in
Britain and Scandinavia; in 2017 he was awarded the Thuréus prize for his lifetime
achievements in Viking studies, and in 2023 he received the Rudbeck Medal for‘extraordinary contributions to Science’. His publications have appeared in 20
languages, and he is a frequent consultant and contributor to television and film.
Dr. Carl-Gösta Ojala is Senior Lecturer in archaeology at Uppsala University,
Sweden, and Associate Professor at the Global Institution for Collaborative
Research and Education, Hokkaido University, Japan. His research focuses onarchaeology and heritage in Northern Fennoscandia, especially Sámi history andheritage, and the politics and ethics of archaeology, including debates on
indigeneity, cultural rights, repatriation and reburial. Ojala has worked withseveral research projects dealing with early modern colonial history in Sápmi,early modern collecting of Sámi material culture, 19th- and early 20th-century
collecting of human remains in Sápmi, and prehistoric East-West contacts and theimportance of modern borders in Northern Fennoscandia.
Prof. Peter Jordan is member of the international faculty of GSI-Hokkaido andalso Professor of Archaeology at Lund University in Sweden. He is PI of CALDERA,
a new Nordic-Japan research programme focusing on prehistoric environmental
catastrophes and their human and ecological consequences. In 2019-2020 he wasa JSPS Invitational Research Fellow at Hokkaido University.
Dr. Kristen Smith is a medical anthropologist and Director of Research in the
Indigenous Studies Unit within the Melbourne School of Population Health. Her
interdisciplinary work traverses the fields of medical anthropology, epidemiology,
human geography, public health and health promotion, and data science. Her
contributions to health research centre on her innovative, ground-breaking workin Australian Indigenous medical anthropology, policy analysis, data analysis andcomplex multidisciplinary theoretical and methodological development. Dr Smith
has been a named investigator on 26 national and international research grants,
totalling more than $12 million. She works collaboratively across academic,
government, Aboriginal community-controlled and not-for-profit sectors,
applying participatory methods framed by medical anthropology, rights-based
and public health frameworks. Her specialisation in data interpretation acrossqualitative and quantitative domains is distinctly relevant to improving outcomesin Indigenous health.
Mr. Levi Murray is an expert health strategist with over sixteen years of crosssector experience in Health and Education. Murray has worked in a dynamic rangeof primary healthcare settings throughout Australia, including; Aeromedical,
Youth and Adolescent Forensic Health, Rural and Remote Health and Aged Careand Disability. Murray is committed to the perpetual independence, growth andevolution of healthcare and infrastructure of our First Nations and their respective
communities. Throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic, Murray has delivered
senior clinical leadership and advocacy to Victoria's Aboriginal Community
Controlled Health sector and nationally as the Executive Manager of ClinicalExcellence - VACCHO. Murray's expertise in both Public and Population Healthwere central in developing Covid Positive Pathways for Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islanders and the co-development of new clinical models of care for COVID19 vaccinations, pathology and diagnostics. In April 2022, he was appointed as
the Strategic Manager of Indigenous Data with the Indigenous Studies Unit
at Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, overseeing the HASS

Research Data Commons and Indigenous Research Capability Program Project.
Mr. Aleksander Ulanov is a Ph.D. student at the Graduate School of Humanities
and Human Sciences at Hokkaido University. His research interests include the
Paleolithic archaeology of Northeastern Asia, lithic technologies, andmethodological problems of the archaeology of the Stone Age. He employs
experimental archaeology to study social processes, such as the transmission ofcultural information among the prehistoric societies of hunter-gatherers. He is arecipient of the Japanese Government (MEXT) scholarship, which enables his
ongoing research at Hokkaido University.

Prof. Hirofumi KATO is a director of GSI, Hokkaido University, and also a directorof Centre for Ainu and Indigenous Studies, Hokkaido University in Japan. He
currently doubles as a program officer at the Research Centre for Science system
of Japanese Society of Promotion of Science (JSPS). His current research interests
include developing the projects of Indigenous archaeologies throughout
Hokkaido.