Archaeology as an Engine or a Camera?
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 "Archaeology as an Engine or a Camera?," at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
From international espionage to NSF funding, the role of the state in modern archaeology has taken many forms over the last century. At a theoretical level, it is unclear how these relationships have impacted the interpretations of archaeologically recovered cultures. While this is not a unique academic relationship to state, in other cases it may have been more critically examined. In economics, for example, Donald MacKenzie has noted internal and external concerns that the field has often functioned more as an engine—meant to drive specific behavioral responses—rather than as a camera—meant to record accurate representations. Given the dependency of archaeological fieldwork on substantial resources, this symposium addresses the forms of impact that relations to state may have and what alternatives are either available or even viable. Through the frames of hegemonic, counter-hegemonic and ahegemonic archaeological approaches, we explore potential impacts on interpretation as well as the relationships they might facilitate with fields such as Indigenous, Ethnic and Feminist Studies.
Other Keywords
Maya: Classic •
Landscape Archaeology •
Iconography and epigraphy •
Bioarchaeology/Skeletal Analysis •
Identity/Ethnicity •
cave archaeology, traditional knowledge •
Ahegemonic
Geographic Keywords
United Mexican States (Country) •
Peten (State / Territory) •
Yucatan (State / Territory) •
Belize (Country) •
Orange Walk (State / Territory) •
Cayo (State / Territory) •
Corozal (State / Territory) •
Belize (State / Territory) •
Stann Creek (State / Territory) •
Quintana Roo (State / Territory)
Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-3 of 3)
- Documents (3)
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Alternative Interpretive Lenses for Landscape at Mulch’en Witz, La Milpa, Belize (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology as an Engine or a Camera?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper discusses ongoing archaeological investigations at the Late Classic Period (CE 600-800) Maya site of Mulch’en Witz, La Milpa, Belize. Survey and excavation at the site have revealed an unconventional geographical density of man-made subterranean spaces ("chultuns") in association with provocative architectural and geological features....
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Interpreting Identities: An Ahegemonic Archaeological Approach (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology as an Engine or a Camera?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Mulch’en Witz (glossed ‘Hill of Many Caves’) is located in northwestern Belize within the periphery of the ancient Maya site of La Milpa. Preliminary investigations have recorded a high concentration of chultuns associated to architectural features and groups and, thus far, all cultural material dates to the Late Classic period (CE 600-800). Human...
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Notions of Value and Ahegemonic Archaeological Interpretation (2019)
DOCUMENT Citation Only
This is an abstract from the "Archaeology as an Engine or a Camera?" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This paper takes up a theoretical exploration of the concept of "value" as it is articulated explicitly and implicitly within archaeological investigation. Recognizing that the issue is related to social science inquiry broadly, this paper looks to Bourdieu’s "Forms of Capital" to develop a framework for interpretation that does not rely on...