Decolonizing the Past & Education: Expanding the Classroom and Using Archaeology to Transform the Way History Is Taught. Chavín De Huántar – Perú: A Case Example

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Representations of the past outside of academia are based--to a certain degree--on archaeological or historical investigations; however, they are often outdated and/or manipulated. This has the worrisome ability to disenfranchise Indigenous peoples from their history. As public archaeologists that critique and study knowledge production and consumption from archaeological work, it is our responsibility to create and ensure responsible education outreach. My research explores different ways archaeologists can effectively engage in decolonized educational projects in communities living near archaeological sites. During my 12-month research in Perú, I collaborated with archaeologists, educators, and community members to co-teach a Summer Camp for elementary school children in Chavín de Huántar. We expanded the classroom by taking them to the archaeological site and museum, engaging with these locations in different ways, as well as exploring different archaeological artifacts such as ceramics, bones, and musical instruments. We also provided children with lessons from the past--not typically addressed--such as the environment and humans' impact on it, gender, oral histories, and folk stories. In this paper I will discuss this Summer Camp and the lessons learned. In addition, I will provide suggestions for engaging with local communities in archaeological and historical education efforts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24631