Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology

Part of: Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology," at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Recent calls for archaeologists to “slow down” invite us to apply facets of the slow science movement to archaeology. Archaeological slow practices include consulting with community members at all project stages, developing social networks beyond academic projects, designing long-term programs, engaging archaeology in politics and policy, and reflecting critically on digital methods in fieldwork. While no cohesive approach to “slow archaeology” exists, slow practice’s intention is to create conditions for meaningful archaeological work that are not beholden to so-called efficiency. In urban settings this can be difficult to foster, when the rapid demolition of cultural resources and the different configuration of archaeological recovery projects reflect a pace of “fast capitalism.” Participants share lessons and experiences from their work to consider the challenges and opportunities for practicing slow archaeology in urban settings, and to discuss broader issues of accessibility, equity, privilege, and collaboration that determine the success of slow archaeological approaches.

Other Keywords
Urban Archaeology • slow archaeology • bioarchaeology • National Park Service • Preservation • Migration • Archaeology • Cultural Resource Management • Massacre • collaboration

Temporal Keywords
19th Century • 1900s • Contemporary • 19th-21st centuries • 1921-2021

Geographic Keywords
Coahuila (State / Territory) • New Mexico (State / Territory) • Oklahoma (State / Territory) • Arizona (State / Territory) • Texas (State / Territory) • Sonora (State / Territory) • United States of America (Country) • Chihuahua (State / Territory) • Nuevo Leon (State / Territory) • Delaware (State / Territory)

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-10 of 10)

  • Documents (10)
Documents
  • Archaeology as a Path to Reconciliation in Tulsa’s Historic Black Wall Street (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alicia Odewale.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Archaeology has been a powerful tool for social justice bearing witness to some of history’s most heinous acts of prejudice and domestic terrorism. However, archaeology can only be an effective tool in the fight for justice when the field itself is equitable, diverse, self-critical,...

  • Being an Enterprising Archaeologist: Knowledge Exchange and Collaboration in the Urban Historic Environment (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Emma Dwyer.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. UK universities are undergoing a culture change, with greater value placed on research collaboration with businesses, charities, NGOs, and government. This knowledge exchange does not just shape research projects and their outcomes – measurement of the success of projects is...

  • Can the "City on the Make" Slow Down for Archaeology?: Remarks from Chicago (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Rebecca Graff.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Nelson Algren (1951) famously titled Chicago the "city on the make”: an urban center self-servingly and frenetically driven by its hustlers. In cities like Chicago, a similar ethos can propel construction projects, often at the expense of cultural resources and archaeological...

  • Detroit vs. Slow Archaeology: Blight Removal and its Obstacles to Local and Community-based Practices (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Krysta Ryzewski. Misty M. Jackson.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. In 2014 one-third of Detroit’s 380,000 parcels were designated as blight. On these vacated lots 40,000 neglected, decaying buildings were slated for demolition. The Detroit Land Bank's demolition campaign, partly financed by federal Hardest Hit Funds, has had disproportionate...

  • Digging Out after Decades of Fast Capitalism: Addressing Richmond’s Incomplete Archaeological Legacy Through Community-Based Projects and Advocacy (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Ellen Chapman. Jolene Smith.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. As the epicenter of the Lost Cause mythology, Richmond is full of edifices to certain historical ideologies. At the same time, its archaeological record is replete with archaeological failures of enormous proportion. Using political history, development data, and the archaeological...

  • Genuinely Collaborative Archaeological Work Is ‘Slow’, Or It Is Nothing: Lessons From The ‘Migrant Materialities’ Project (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Rachael R M Kiddey.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The challenge? To bring a team of 8-12 adult migrants to undertake participatory archaeological interpretation work on data recently recorded in four European locations. The opportunity? To welcome enthusiastic migrant colleagues from eight former European colonies into the heart of...

  • Life Course as Slow Bioarchaeology: Recovering the Lives of Laborers and Immigrants in an Anatomical Collection (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Alanna Warner-Smith.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. I consider the potentials of a slow bioarchaeology of the Huntington Anatomical collection, focusing on the collection’s Irish immigrants, who lived and worked in New York City in the nineteenth century. Taking the skeleton as a record of experience, life course approaches interpret...

  • Of Capitalism and Crabs: Understanding and Challenging the Dynamics of Preservation in Charm City (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Katherine Boyle. Adam Fracchia.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Preservation in Baltimore is guided by local and national regimes of values. Often these values are tied to commercialism and market-based identities. Narratives that contradict or counter these profit-centered and contrived values are often minimized or ignored. The result is the...

  • When Archeology is the Vehicle, Not the Point (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Teresa S. Moyer.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. Beginning in 2012, the National Park Service has held Archeology Corps at parks across the country with youth-serving non-profit organizations. Not quite summer camp, nor field school, the Corps projects have used archeology as a vehicle to provide safe spaces for summer employment,...

  • "You No Longer Leave Your Heart in San Francisco. The City Breaks It": Reconciling the Realities of Urban Displacement and Slow Archaeology. (2020)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Meredith Reifschneider.

    This is an abstract from the session entitled "Slow Archaeology + Fast Capitalism: Hard Lessons and Future Strategies from Urban Archaeology" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology. “Slow archaeology” includes a diverse array of theoretical and methodological concerns that orient scholars towards inclusive and engaged practices that foster longstanding relationships with stakeholder communities to develop meaningful research. This paper explores the suitability...