Black Lives Matter: The Fight Against Intersectional Operations of Oppression Within Historical Archaeology

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Black Lives Matter: The Fight Against Intersectional Operations of Oppression Within Historical Archaeology," at the 2019 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

St. Charles is 15 miles from Ferguson, Missouri, the place in which the Black Lives Matter became nationally recognized for its street demonstrations following the 2014 death of Michael Brown and the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer in 2013. #BlackLivesMatter is a political organizing tool with important lessons for archaeologists and anthropologists as we navigate intersectional structural forms of oppression and privilege in our professional and personal lives. Historical archaeologists and the Society for Historical Archaeology more broadly are taking efforts to dismantle systemic racism. At the same time, anthropologists of color can see racism faithfully reproduced in every aspect of the discipline. Panelists will discuss the ways they see institutional racism inhibiting progressive change and the potential to build from the #BlackLivesMatter movement and SHA’s antiracism training to create change in their institutions, classrooms, and research projects.