Finding the Balance: Case Studies in Collaboration and Community Engagement from the American Southwest

Summary

In this paper we explore the challenges and benefits of conducting archaeological field work in rural communities where many stakeholders have vested interests in our research. Doing work in such situations can often feel like a complicated juggling act as one seeks to build relationships with local landowners, diverse community members, and various government agencies, while at the same time meeting the needs of student participants and achieving research goals. The benefits to all parties, however, can be substantial. Our paper highlights two ongoing multi-institutional collaborations that are engaging the public, training young scholars, and answering "big picture" archaeological questions. We focus particularly on balancing public outreach with student education as we strive to raise awareness of the importance of cultural resources and the ethics of responsible archaeology.

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Cite this Record

Finding the Balance: Case Studies in Collaboration and Community Engagement from the American Southwest. Karen Schollmeyer, Suzanne Eckert, Deborah Huntley. Presented at The 80th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, San Francisco, California. 2015 ( tDAR id: 395923)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -115.532; min lat: 30.676 ; max long: -102.349; max lat: 42.033 ;