Archaeology, Memory, and Politics in the 2020s: Changes in Methods, Narratives, and Access

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Archaeology, Memory, and Politics in the 2020s: Changes in Methods, Narratives, and Access," at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Only a few years into the 2020s, paradigm shifts have taken place in the ways that archaeology and heritage studies conduct research, work with communities, and communicate narratives about the past. During the COVID-19 pandemic, sites had to rethink their methods of disseminating knowledge and narratives of the past, prompting a focus on digital and distance research and education. As the Black Lives Matter movement fostered an enormous wave of social justice activity, direct action and public debate raised pressing questions about what pasts should be remembered and memorialized, unsettling many received narratives. Amidst the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, studying and understanding how the recent past is retold and ‘weaponized’ have taken on renewed urgency. This symposium brings together global and varied case studies that seek to understand and theorize such changes, asking: how can these movements toward inclusive and equitable research and retelling of the past be sustained?