Race and racism in South American archaeology

Curtoni, Rafael Pedro; Politis, Gustavo G.

doi:10.1080/00438240500510080

Cited by 21 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Instrumental uses of archaeological heritage figure prominently in politicized struggles. This has most often been described for the construction of nationalist agendas (Dietler 1994;Glover 2006;Hamilakis 1996;Kohl 1998;Kohl & Fawcett 1995;Meskell 2002) including in the Andean region (Benavides 2008;Curtoni & Politis 2006;Kojan & Angelo 2005;Scarborough 2008).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Archaeological pasts, viewed through lenses of racism and hegemonic colonialism, have been used to construct essentialized social otherness (e.g. Arkush 2012;Curtoni & Politis 2006). Modern national politics, tourism and economic development can substantially shift attitudes, creating competing attitudes that alternately downplay or emphasize archaeological heritage within environments of conflict.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Más Allá Encuentran Los Antiguos: Temporality, Distance and Instrumentality in Aymara Interactions with Archaeological Landscapes

Vining¹

2015

CAJ

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Aymara herders in the highland regions of southern Peru and Bolivia express highly ambivalent attitudes towards archaeological patrimony. In this post-colonial setting, they follow strong avoidance behaviours towards archaeological sites directly associated with gentiles-the mummified remains of prehistoric, pagan individuals. Conversely, certain archaeological features are incorporated into modern discourses. This selective embracing of archaeological landscapes inscribes socially relevant features within contemporary identities, while repudiating others. Aymara use perceived spatial and temporal distance, reinforced with linguistic and mytho-historic constructs, to map social difference onto archaeological landscapes. Perceived distance separates Aymara from undesirable gentiles, whose threatening characteristics are embedded in historic experience. They relegate these dangerous social others to the past and envelop them in notions of remoteness. Simultaneously, Aymara use perceived proximity with favourable sites to draw inclusive social and geographic boundaries around their communities and to establish strategic priority for themselves, often in the context of conflicts. These divergent responses are highly sensitive to economic aspirations, political environments and resource-rights disputes, indicating that instrumental motivations factor significantly in Aymara attitudes towards archaeological heritage. Such opposing interactions underscore the contingency of attitudes towards the archaeological past. Both, however, can be understood as part of a coherent worldview that uses space, time and distance to construct social landscapes.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Más Allá Encuentran Los Antiguos: Temporality, Distance and Instrumentality in Aymara Interactions with Archaeological Landscapes

Vining¹

2015

CAJ

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“…Kohl & Fawcett 1995, Atkinson et al 1996, Diaz-Andreu & Champion 1996, Graves-Brown et al 1996, Meskell 1998, Hamilakis 2007. Further reflection on these subjects will continue its development in the following decades by enlarging its geopolitical perspectives, notably by opening it out towards Asia and South America (Curtoni & Politis 2006, Glover 2006Silverman & Isbell 2008). However, in some areas of the globe where ethnic conflicts and nationalist aspirations are ongoing, archaeology has often been excluded from such reflections, and local archaeologists have largely disregarded or distanced themselves from theoretical developments, both potentially debasing and damaging career-wise.…”

Section: Archaeology and Nationalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thracology and Nationalism in Bulgaria. Deconstructing Contemporaneous Historical and Archaeological Representations

Marinov

Zorzin

2017

Ex Novo

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It is now widely acknowledged that Bulgarian academic discourses of the country’s so-called communist era (1945-1989) were heavily politicized with the aim of nationalizing and ethnicizing the history of the Bulgarian people. This communist era phenomenon subscribes to a chronologically vaster process of nationalist continuum recognized to have spanned from the middle-end of the nineteenth century to at least the early 1990s. Despite this trend, Bulgarian academics, especially in the field of archaeology, have more recently presented their post-communist, transition period disciplines as ideology-free, objective, scientific research. In this paper, we provide examples of recent theoretical developments and interpretations in the sub-field of thracology – studies of ancient Thracian culture – that indicate that this claim to objectivity is unfounded. Based on the examples provided we argue that not only have Bulgarian academic discourses in the fields in question not severed with the ethnicizing practices of the so-called nationalist continuum of the pre-communist and communist eras, but they are now flourishing on the nationalist foundation of the preceding century and a half. As such discourses are reproduced unquestioningly in specialized publications, their influence on right wing populism is incontestable as they provide the latter, wittingly or not, with the scientific authority it needs to justify its ethnicizing of “historical” tenets of racial and social discrimination.

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“…En este sentido, la negación de los pueblos indígenas contemporáneos conformaba parte de la esencia de la cosmovisión moderna y del modus operandi instaurado a partir del imaginario colonial. Estas estrategias, conjuntamente con la elaboración de ideas racistas y etnocéntricas, constituyeron la base de los proyectos de construcción nacional hacia fines del siglo XIX en diferentes países sudamericanos en general y de Argentina en particular (Curtoni y Politis 2006).…”

Section: Comentarios Finalesunclassified

Acerca de las consecuencias sociales de la arqueología. Epistemología y política de la práctica

Curtoni

2008

Come

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ResumenEn este trabajo se discute acerca de las consecuencias sociales de la arqueología considerando que buena parte de la misma funciona de acuerdo a los principios y postulados de la ciencia moderna occidental. Consideramos que esos mandatos constituyen una contradicción y un obstáculo para el involucramiento social dado que prescriben un deber ser sustentado en la neutralidad valorativa y la asepsia epistemológica. Como contrapartida, se propone considerar epistemología y política en conjunto como ámbito de oportunidades teniendo en cuenta las localizaciones geopolíticas de producción de los saberes.Palabras clave: Arqueología, Epistemología, Política. AbstractIn this paper the social involvements of archeology are discussed regarding that almost all of the discipline functions following the principles and paradigms of the western modern science. We regard that these principles constitutes a type of contradiction and a obstacle to the social involvement as they prescribe a way of being that is supported by neutrality and epistemological freedom. On the contrary, it is proposed to consider epistemology and politics as a whole and as arena of opportunities accounting the geopolitics of knowledge production.

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Race and racism in South American archaeology

Cited by 21 publications

References 12 publications

Más Allá Encuentran Los Antiguos: Temporality, Distance and Instrumentality in Aymara Interactions with Archaeological Landscapes

Más Allá Encuentran Los Antiguos: Temporality, Distance and Instrumentality in Aymara Interactions with Archaeological Landscapes

Thracology and Nationalism in Bulgaria. Deconstructing Contemporaneous Historical and Archaeological Representations

Acerca de las consecuencias sociales de la arqueología. Epistemología y política de la práctica

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