Interrogating Decolonization

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

“Decolonization” is now frequently used as the term for repatriating human remains and artifacts housed in institutions of the dominant European-derived societies of the Americas. The term does not fit a postcolonial position. “Decolonization” implies, as a derivative from an action verb, an agent performing an act, i.e., an agent of the dominant society’s institution removing the object from its colonial placement. Because most of the directors and employees of the dominant society’s institutions are themselves of European derivation, these agents will seldom be members of the object’s original community. Those from the original community will likely be in a subordinate role, receivers not agents who decolonize. The pair of roles remains within the colonial situation of European-derived dominance and power to act. “Postcolonial” is a very different term, an adjective describing the political stance of a person or situation recognizing these roles of dominance and subordination and working to respect, listen to, and if feasible, collaborate with First Nations persons and communities. In contrast to a decolonizing agent, a postcolonial person may have no authority over collections in institutions, no power to repatriate. Who has power is significant in the context of archaeological practice.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35600.0