A Sense of Community: Archaeology, Participatory Democracy and Social Justice in Canada's Easternmost Province

Author(s): Lisa Rankin; Barry Gaulton

Year: 2019

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Archaeology as a Public Good: Why Studying Archaeology Creates Good Careers and Good Citizens" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Memorial University, located in St. John’s, Newfoundland, was developed in 1925 to help build a better future for the people of Canada’s easternmost province, whose largely rural fishing communities were rapidly transforming through industrialization and urbanization. Mandated by a "special obligation to the people of the province" university archaeologists embraced applied, community-based projects which encouraged local solutions to the social and economic issues arising from the transformation to modernity. Today, community-archaeology remains integral to our research program and the majority of our research is undertaken in partnership with rural and Indigenous populations who continue to be marginalized both geographically and economically. Two case studies will describe how archaeological resources are being used to promote economic and social justice, as well as reconciliation, and how archaeology has the potential to make valuable local contributions that change lives in the present.

Cite this Record

A Sense of Community: Archaeology, Participatory Democracy and Social Justice in Canada's Easternmost Province. Lisa Rankin, Barry Gaulton. Presented at The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, NM. 2019 ( tDAR id: 450383)

Spatial Coverage

min long: -141.504; min lat: 42.553 ; max long: -51.68; max lat: 73.328 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24664