Struggling with Complex Decision-Making in Public Policy

Author(s): Vincas Steponaitis; Lynne Goldstein

Year: 2019

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Attention to Detail: A Pragmatic Career of Research, Mentoring, and Service, Papers in Honor of Keith Kintigh" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and other archaeological organizations struggled with a variety of public policy decisions and organizational policies that eventually resulted in major public laws on both the state and federal levels (NMAI Act and NAGPRA, for example). The work done at that time also set the stage for SAA positions on a variety of other proposed laws. The purpose of this paper is to outline and analyze the process of decision-making by which the SAA reached the positions it took. In this regard, Keith Kintigh stands out as someone who was not necessarily the public face of SAA, but who carefully negotiated the SAA position with archaeologists, Native Americans, Native American organizations, and congressional representatives. This aspect of Kintigh’s work, which required a significant amount of time and focus, is often overlooked, even though this approach can also be seen in his research, and is a hallmark of thoughtful, respectful negotiations.

Cite this Record

Struggling with Complex Decision-Making in Public Policy. Vincas Steponaitis, Lynne Goldstein. Presented at The 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Albuquerque, NM. 2019 ( tDAR id: 451954)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -168.574; min lat: 7.014 ; max long: -54.844; max lat: 74.683 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24016