Collaborations and Competition between Professionals and Nonprofessionals in the Production of Archaeological Knowledge in the Americas

The archaeological record has always intrigued a wide variety of people with

different interests, aesthetics, and aspirations, only some of whom became

recognized as professionals--and they, too, are a diverse group, as the

succession of "new archaeology" movements attests. How Americanist

archaeological institutions emerged and grew from the interactions of such

"founders," how professional identities were forged--both by excluding and

embracing collectors, antiquarians, amateurs or avocationalists in complex

social networks--and how the creation of new knowledge depended on the

patterns of those interactions, are intriguing and enduring questions in the

history of Americanist archaeology. A Gordon R. Willey symposium focused on

the relationships of avocationalists (who lack professional credentials but

aspire to contribute comparably to professionals) or amateurs, antiquarians,

and collectors (who often had/have their own independent goals) with

professionals opens up a wide field of inquiry aimed at better understanding

the meaning and means of professionalization and its alternative

conceptions, as well as the contingencies of knowledge production.