What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The conjunction of social justice and anti-discrimination movements like Black Lives Matter and #MeToo has been hailed as a watershed moment for historically marginalized people. Archaeology has likewise felt the reverberations of these broader political movements. Consider, for example, recent discussions of fieldwork and harassment, as well as meditations on the potential impact of the current political climate on archaeology worldwide and efforts to define inroads made by—and future avenues for—social justice in archaeology.

This session builds upon this moment in time by considering the current status of underrepresented groups—women, queer people, people of color, disabled people, low-income people, &c. (as well as those whose identities cross-cut these categories)—in archaeology, both academic and professional. Papers will touch upon various forms of discrimination and harassment, including bias in the workplace, intimidation and/or assault in the field, inequities in publication practices, ethical public engagement, the role of activism in archaeology, and other related topics. We are particularly interested in concrete solutions to discrimination at a variety of scales—from day-to-day interactions to fieldwork best practices, in addition to the little-explored (but exceedingly important) topic of structural and institutional discrimination. This session dovetails with the round table discussion on #metoo in archaeology.

Other Keywords
Ethics • discrimination • Social archaeology • Iconography and epigraphy • Accessibility • Bioarchaeology/Skeletal Analysis • Education/Pedagogy • Iconography and Art • Cultural Resources and Heritage Management

Geographic Keywords
Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre (Country) • Canada (Country) • North America (Continent) • North America • United States of America (Country) • United Mexican States (Country) • Department of Martinique (Country) • Republic of El Salvador (Country) • Department of Guadeloupe (Country) • Cayman Islands (Country)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-7 of 7)

  • Documents (7)
Documents
  • Affording Archaeology: How the Cost of Field School Keeps Archaeology Exclusive (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Elizabeth Hannigan. Laura Heath-Stout.

    This is an abstract from the "What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In response to the contemporary critiques about discrimination and inequality within the archaeological academic community, many individuals and advocacy groups have suggested field school scholarships as one tactic in promoting diversity in the field. In this paper, we will explore the...

  • "The Chilly Climate Is Not Warming as the Old Guys Leave": Identity-Based Discrimination in Archaeology, an Example from Canada (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Catherine Jalbert.

    This is an abstract from the "What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Research that considers the ways current socio-political issues affect our understanding of the past and our interactions with each other in the present are not new to the field of archaeology. However, a renewed focus on ‘turning our gaze inward’ has revived the dialogue regarding...

  • Drawing the Line: Does Sexual Harassment Training Work? (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Thea De Armond.

    This is an abstract from the "What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Training is a favored weapon in the arsenal of those attempting to combat workplace harassment. Every year, university employees across the United States numbly click through sexual harassment training modules; after the March 2018 resignation of Forest Service Chief Tony Tooke due to...

  • From Margin to Center: Bias and Discrimination in Archaeology (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Lindsay Der. Thea De Armond. Anne Duray.

    This is an abstract from the "What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. That archaeology is welcoming to only a narrow subset of society -- that is, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, white men -- and far less so to most of us is an open secret. #MeToo stories; the blinding whiteness of the academy, the field, and the museum; and the prohibitive costs of many...

  • Having It All in the Field: Families, Inclusivity, Career Development, and Archaeological Fieldwork (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kate Kreindler.

    This is an abstract from the "What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Participation in archaeological fieldwork poses numerous practical challenges. This paper will address some difficulties that arise from the decision to start a family. The choice to have children frequently affects archaeologists working to establish their careers, namely (female)...

  • Images of Aphrodite, Sexual Desire, and the 'Chilly Climate' of Classical Archaeology (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Dillon Gisch.

    This is an abstract from the "What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Since 1792, nine catalogues of surviving ancient Roman replicas of the Knidian Aphrodite—the first monumental image of an unclothed woman in Western art—have been compiled. During this time, the number of known ancient replicas has increased by two orders of magnitude, yet analyses of this...

  • Representation Matters: Disabled Professorship and a Move Toward a Higher Standard of Accessibility in the Office and the Field (2019)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Rebecca Gibson.

    This is an abstract from the "What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. While workplace affecting disabilities are covered by the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), oftentimes universities struggle with how to accommodate faculty with disabilities. When conversations between faculty and chairpersons occur, they may cover only the bare minimum that must be...