Archaeology for the Incarcerated

Summary

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

Anthropologists have long defended the social value of their work beyond the immediate acquisition of new knowledge. In archaeology, community engagement and public outreach are now common and desirable. In general education, we tout the powers of archaeology classes to inform students of where we have come from, to appreciate diversity, and to be more compassionate. A form of outreach we rarely talk about, however, is to the incarcerated. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of offering higher education to inmates, fewer college programs are offered to prisoners today than there were 25 years ago. In this paper I present observations of my time teaching archaeology courses in a Texas prison, supported with research, and the unique effects it has on my students. Though it poses many unique challenges, I argue that teaching our discipline in a prison setting can help dismantle racist beliefs, build strong, positive identities, and inform people of pressing contemporary issues through references to the past. In conclusion, I argue that we should advocate for more prison education as part of our outreach efforts, and that it is equal in value to the public engagement we promote among the un-incarcerated.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26020