Creating and Supporting a Harassment- and Assault-Free Field School

Abstract

Given the hierarchical nature and structure of field schools, enrolled students are particularly susceptible to harassment and assault. In 2018, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) released recommendations to help prevent sexual harassment and assault of women in academia. Although these recommendations are specific to higher education and exclusive to women, some can be modified and applied to the context of archaeological field schools. We review the NASEM's recommendations, with particular attention to those applicable to the field school setting, and provide suggestions for making field schools safer and more inclusive learning environments for all students. Although we present recommendations for practices that can be implemented at field schools, additional research is needed to understand how sexual harassment occurs at field schools and how the implementation of these recommendations can make learning safer.

Mitigating Chronic Diseases during Archaeological Fieldwork

“…Many of these problems can be anticipated, prepared for, and mitigated with adequate knowledge. Further resources on mental health (Eifling 2021a), disability and archaeology (Fraser 2008; O'Mahony 2015; Phillips et al 2007), sexual harassment and assault (Colaninno et al 2020; Nelson et al 2017), building a safe and inclusive culture in archaeology (New Ethnographer 2019; Peixotto et al 2021; Phillips and Gilchrist 2012; Phillips et al 2007), and medical emergency and safety preparedness (Davis et al 2021; Eifling 2021b; Emerson 2021; Hawkins and Simon 2021; Hawkins and Winstead 2021; Meyers et al 2021; White 2021) may also be of use.…”

Recommendations for Safety Education and Training for Graduate Students Directing Field Projects

“…As discussed by Peixotto and colleagues (2021) and others (e.g., Colaninno et al 2020; Meyers et al 2018; Nakhai 2017; VanDerwarker et al 2018), gender discrimination as well as sexual harassment and assault remain consistently alarming issues in fieldwork settings. Student field directors need to be aware that it is crucial to develop policies and procedures for handling harassment and assault.…”

“…Student field directors need to be aware that it is crucial to develop policies and procedures for handling harassment and assault. Several (Colaninno et al 2020; Nelson et al 2017) have developed general fieldwork and archaeology-specific recommendations for tactics, policies, and procedures to mitigate the risk of sexual harassment and assault and to build safer, more inclusive field school environments. We further recommend the archived Society for American Archeaology (SAA) online seminars by Maureen Meyers (2019) and Carol Colaninno (2020).…”

“…Clear behavioral expectations and a reporting system can reduce issues of misunderstanding, discomfort, harassment, and bullying, as well as violence, abuse, or assault. Perry (2019), Colaninno and colleagues (2020), and Emerson (2021) provide guidance on ensuring safe field school experiences, much of which can be adapted for general field settings. Professional organizations such as the SAA and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR 2020) provide additional resource guides or policies to consider, and examples of conduct policies can be found in the Supplemental Materials for this article (see Supplemental Text 1 and Supplemental Text 3).…”

Toward a Safe Archaeology Field School

“…An information officer who is not under the authority of the field school director(s) can also fill the listening and reporting role. More detailed policy suggestions for archaeology field schools can be found in a recent article drawing on recommendations of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine for preventing harassment of women in academia (Colaninno et al 2020).…”