Building a Working-Class Archaeology: The Colorado Coal Field War Project

McGuire, Randall H.; Reckner, Paul

doi:10.1179/iar.2003.25.2.83

Cited by 21 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…A few archaeological field projects have tried to implement collectivist strategies to explore new forms of organization for archaeological fieldwork. Notably, the excavations of the Colorado Coal Field (Ludlow Collective 2001;McGuire and Reckner 2003) examined structural class inequalities and attempted to create a field school that mitigated the inherent hierarchy of archaeological site structures (Walker and Saitta 2002). They found hierarchy and authority unavoidable while teaching students on site and were unable to effect much change other than opening up staff meetings to the students so they could see the process of decision-making.…”

Section: Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

Single Context Archaeology as Anarchist Praxis

Eddisford

Morgan

2019

JCA

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The organization of archaeological fieldwork often resembles a military-style campaign structured around rigid, top-down hierarchies. This is reflected in many aspects of current practice, including the ultimate authority of the site director, the use of excavation methodologies that remove the act of interpretation from field archaeologists, and the general deskilling and reification of archaeological labor in fieldwork. Though there have been several examples of resistance to this hierarchical model we maintain that a sustained critique could stem from an unexpected source: the creation of communities that model anarchist principles through the implementation of the single context methodology in archaeology. In this article we explore the potential for anarchist praxis in archaeological fieldwork and the implications of anarchist thought on the issues of authority and non-alienation of labor in a neoliberal landscape.

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Section: Bodymentioning

confidence: 99%

Single Context Archaeology as Anarchist Praxis

Eddisford

Morgan

2019

JCA

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“…Labour relations and working class groups have also been prominent (e.g. McGuire and Reckner, 2003;Shackel, 2000;Walker, 2003), as in the UK and Ireland where class divisions are one of the main sites for the production of conflicting forms of memory (e.g. Casella and Croucher, 2010;Cooper, 2005;Smith, 2006).…”

Section: Oral History Memory and Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Archaeology, Memory and Oral Tradition: An Introduction

Jones

Russell

2012

Int J Histor Archaeol

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This paper serves as an introduction to this special edition of the International Journal of Historical Archaeology on the theme of archaeology, memory and oral history. Recent approaches to oral history and memory destabilise existing grand narratives and confront some of the epistemological assumptions underpinning scientific archaeology. Here we discuss these approaches to memory and explore their impact on historical archaeology, including the challenges that forms of oral and social memory present to a field traditionally defined by the relationship between material culture and text. We then review a number of themes addressed by the articles in this volume.Keywords: memory, oral history, belonging, narrative, place, heritage Archaeology has a lengthy tradition of using oral history and as a form of historical enquiry it has long contributed to the production of public memory. Yet, recent approaches to oral and social memory undermine existing master narratives and confront some of the epistemological assumptions underpinning scientific archaeology. The active selection and construction of memory in the present has been emphasised, along with memory's capacity to disturb dominant ways of understanding the past. In archaeology these developments have been prominent in post-colonial contexts and Indigenous archaeology. Yet there are also parallel trends in Europe, where oral history and social memory are seen as a means to access vernacular culture and subaltern understandings of the past.It was against this intellectual background that we decided to organize a theme titled Memory, Archaeology, and Oral Traditions at the Sixth World Archaeological Congress in Dublin in July 2008. Under this theme, as in this volume, we included oral history in the traditional sense of oral narratives based on first-hand experience, along with broader forms of transgenerational oral tradition, folklore, and social memory. These different forms of oral memory are frequently the focus of distinct bodies of research and publication. Nevertheless, these different kinds of oral memory intersect with one another in complex ways and all are socially and materially mediated to a greater or lesser degree. Their juxtaposition thus raises interesting and productive avenues of enquiry.We asked participants to consider the following questions, which we consider important in the future development of archaeological research on memory. How should we conceive of oral tradition and social memory? In recognizing their significance, how do we avoid objectifying and romanticizing them? Does a dichotomy between memory and history still prevail and if so what are its effects on our understandings of the past? How do we deal with the intersection of written and oral history? To what extent is social memory disparate, located and fragmented and how do authoritative narratives emerge and persist? What roles do archaeological remains play in the production of social memory and what of other 'memory props', such as, texts, images, folktales, myt...

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Archaeological Finds: Legacies of Appropriation, Modes of Response

Nicholas

Wylie

2009

The Ethics of Cultural Appropriation

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Building a Working-Class Archaeology: The Colorado Coal Field War Project

Cited by 21 publications

References 25 publications

Single Context Archaeology as Anarchist Praxis

Single Context Archaeology as Anarchist Praxis

Archaeology, Memory and Oral Tradition: An Introduction

Archaeological Finds: Legacies of Appropriation, Modes of Response

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