Co-practice amongst Non-Western Peoples: Abandoning Theory at Center Stage

Summary

Theory as Western performance in archaeology has hogged center stage so long that other actors standing in the wings ready to play their roles are not included in the drama. Indigenous theories of knowledge have been relegated to permanent off-stage status. Yet those who have had the privilege to work with and collaborate with historically-minded counterparts in other cultures have incrementally accumulated local beliefs and have, both consciously and unconsciously, woven local epistemologies into interpretation. These new interpretative tapestries are not ethnographic uses of best inference, but constructions drawing on meanings arising out of mutual co-practice that lead us in new theoretical directions. Discourses arising out of co-practice in heritage work in NW Tanzania capture how heritage is theorized today. Embodied experiences, such as building shrines, bring multiple meanings to the surface--including human rights claims and religiously informed ethical principles pertaining to sacred places--that differ significantly from how indigenous heritage was previously theorized and how the West theorizes heritage today. Acceptance of indigenous theories of heritage requires moving off center stage, embracing local practice, and discovering how co-practice may enrich Western theory.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• Sound of Theory

Keywords

Spatial Coverage