ARCHON Day 2021: Decolonising Archaeology (original) (raw)
Related papers
Archaeology and decolonization
Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress, 2007
In this forum, patiently achieved through months of cyber-work, participants Nayanjot Lahiri (India), Nick Shepherd (South Africa), Joe Watkins (USA) and Larry Zimmerman (USA), plus the two editors of Arqueologı´a Suramericana, Alejandro Haber (Argentina) and Cristo´ bal Gnecco (Colombia), discuss the topic of archaeology and decolonization.
Reclaiming archaeology (introduction)
In A. González-Ruibal (ed.): Reclaiming Archaeology: beyond the tropes of Modernity., 2013
Archaeology has been an important source of metaphors for some of the key intellectuals of the 20 th century , including philosophers, writers, art historians and historians: Sigmund Freud, Walter Benjamin, Alois Riegl, Michel Foucault or George Bataille to mention but a few. Some of them resorted to archaeological metaphors in a very explicit way (Freud, Foucault), others more unconsciously (Husserl or Heidegger: Edgeworth 2006), but, in any case, the allure of the archaeological is very present in the making of modern thought. However, this power of archaeology has also turned against archaeology, because the discipline has been dealt with perfunctorily as a mere provider of metaphors that other intellectuals have exploited (Olsen 2010: 2), often in more fruitful ways. Not surprisingly, if one searches the word "archaeology" in Google Scholar, the first three results refer to Foucault's work, not to "real" archaeology-which is ironic, because the book is actually a rejection of classical archaeological tropes (such as origins and depth).
Upon being awarded the Peter Ucko Memorial Award: Honourable President Mizoguchi of WAC, the distinguished committee for the Peter Ucko Memorial Award and Lecture, honoured guests and fellow archaeologists: It is a great pleasure to be able to share with you some thoughts and concerns about decolonizing archaeological practice. I will start with a short review of some engrained colonial assumptions in archaeological practice at a global level along with recognition of how change is transforming archaeological practice. I then turn to how Africanists are struggling to decolonize archaeological practice in a part of the world where colonial ways of doing and thinking are deeply entrenched. I will conclude by sharing several case studies from research in Africa that capture what a group of scholars are now calling Archaeologies of Listening—a rubric that privileges knowledge held by people in communities in which we work. The greater majority of you practice archaeology in other parts of the world and may not be familiar with the concerns that have arisen in Africa over issues of inclusion of indigenous communities as well as interpretative stances taken in representing the African past. Given these circumstances, I will focus my discussion on practical examples that illustrate how we are attempting to decolonize archaeological practice and heritage studies in Africa.
EXPLORING DECOLONIZATION IN HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY
Review, 2024
This review consolidates insights from various scholars on the decolonization of historical archaeology, examining the approach, its challenges and limitations, while proposing pathways to advance decolonization based on scholarly suggestions.
(2020) Confronting the Present: Archaeology in 2019
American Anthropologist 122(2), 2020
Post-modernity has a distinctly pre-apocalyptic feel to it, and this feeling has seeped into archaeology. A review of the scholarship from 2019 attests that archaeologists are having to reckon with present-day conditions and phenomena as they structure their research, delineate the material world, and affirm archaeology's relevance. Furthermore, these concerns have moved from the realm of the rarely spoken and come to constitute a critical conversation in the field. In a number of respects, the contours of archaeology now hinge upon the discipline's responses to developments in real time, including: How can archaeological knowledge production escape the logistical and epistemological bounds of late capitalism and its failures? Can archaeology contribute to future-building, and what would that look like? Does archaeology have to be scholar-activism to achieve the goal of making the past matter (to whom) (for what)? [archaeology, contemporary archaeology, future archaeology, current issues]
Gabe Moshenska, Key Concepts in Public Archaeology, 2017
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