Disrupting Cultures of Harassment in Archaeology: Social-Environmental and Trauma-Informed Approaches to Disciplinary Transformation

Abstract

This article is the second in a two-part series that analyzes current research on harassment in archaeology. Both qualitative and quantitative studies, along with activist narratives and survivor testimonials, have established that harassment is occurring in archaeology at epidemic rates. These studies have also identified key patterns in harassment in archaeology that point to potential interventions that may prevent harassment, support survivors, and hold perpetrators accountable. This article reviews five key obstacles to change in the disciplinary culture of archaeology: normalization, exclusionary practices, fraternization, gatekeeping, and obstacles to reporting. Two public health paradigms—the social-environmental model and trauma-informed approaches—are used to identify interventions that can be taken at all levels of archaeological practice: individual, relational, organizational, community, and societal.

Policy Statement: Mental Well‐being among Anthropologists at Universities: A Call for System Transformation

“…Anthropologists returning from the field have reported experiencing physical and sexual violence from the populations they are attempting to work with (Johnson 2016;Kloß 2016;Williams 2017). Importantly, archaeologists and other team-based field anthropologists have also reported worrying rates of sexual harassment and assault from supervisors and colleagues (Clancy et al 2014;Hanson and Richards 2019;Voss 2021aVoss , 2021b. These traumatic events have long-term impacts on mental health.…”

Resistance and Care in the Time of COVID‐19: Archaeology in 2020

“… 2018 ). The year 2020 and the beginning of 2021 saw us beginning to break this culture of silence with several prominent archaeologists speaking out about their own experiences (e.g., Voss 2021 ) and increased reporting on several other cases in Andean archaeology (Balter 2020 ). In each of these cases, it has often been a single brave act of resistance that has set into motion processes of tumbling the houses of cards that harassers have set up.…”

“…This cultural climate in archaeology has even cost individuals their lives. As Voss ( 2021 ) points out, “Stereotypes of risk‐taking, adventurous, white, masculine archaeologists support a widely shared but often unspoken belief that pursuing archaeological research is more important than personal or community safety—in fact, that the risks incurred add value to the research itself.” In her recent oeuvre, We Keep the Dead Close , Cooper (2021) documents the story of Anne Abrahamson, who is sent by her PI to travel with Michael Gramly to search for a lithics source at a site that was several hours’ travel from their main camp. In her diaries, Anne described a series of events where Gramly waited several days before making radio contact with the site PIs, where she was left behind on dangerous tactical hikes, holding onto crumbling rocks.…”

Introduction: Health, Well-Being, and Ability in Archaeology

“…This volume’s authors seek to follow in the footsteps of these intersectional feminists who aim to dismantle stereotypes about bodies in the past so that they can lose traction in the present. This work requires not only confronting how bodies were perceived long ago, but also confronting discrimination and harassment, deeply embedded in our own disciplinary culture (Franklin et al 2020 ; Heath-Stout 2019 , 2020 ; Meyers et al 2018 ; Voss 2021a , b ). Anthropology is a discipline that investigates the taken for granted aspects of our culture, the practices that become invisible, rationalized, and naturalized through repetition and enculturation processes.…”