Praxis Makes Perfect: Celebrating the Academic Life and Times of Randy McGuire

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Praxis Makes Perfect: Celebrating the Academic Life and Times of Randy McGuire" at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Beginning in the 1970s, Randy McGuire’s career has spanned an impressive spectrum of methodological, regional, and theoretical contributions in archaeology. Trained in the Southwest U.S. and Northwest Mexico with an emphasis on the Hohokam and Trincheras traditions, his pursuits have evolved into directions that encompass, but are not limited to Marxism and archaeological theory, historical and contemporary archaeologies, borderlands studies, and decolonizing Americanist archaeology. McGuire’s dedication to praxis underlies these engagements: the use of archaeology to gain knowledge of the world, to critique it, and to take action toward a more humane future. His activist stance has inspired projects ranging from the Colorado Coalfield Wars of the early 1900s to the current migration and humanitarian crisis on the U.S. and Mexican border. This eclectic session is a testament to the wide-ranging impact of McGuire’s ideas and collaborations in North America, Latin America and Europe.