A Weaver’s Work: The Concurrent Advancement of Tribal Sovereignty and Archaeological Practice in Southern California

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Braiding Knowledge: Opportunities and Challenges for Collaborative Approaches to Archaeological Heritage and Conservation" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Reflecting on work within a Serrano community and their ancestral territory, in this presentation, I will discuss how community-based conceptions of self and landscape, cultural mores related to the treatment of ancestors and artifacts, and the application of knowledge transmission protocols inform and direct not only the archaeology performed on behalf of the Tribe, but also archaeological praxis and the implementation of environmental, historic preservation, and human rights laws across much of Southern California. Working alongside a native sovereign nation as it participates in, undertakes, and guides the performance of regulatory-based archaeology in the United States requires one to operate in a liminal space where multiple worldviews meet and seek to co-exist. In such a landscape where realities, understandings, and constraints have collided continually for over two decades, much has been learned about how to create a space where a multi-vocal, equitable convergence of knowledge can be encouraged and generated anew. Discernment has also been gained about how to ensure this kind of shared understanding does not devolve into "value-added" Western science or an anesthetized form of data transmission and integration that does injustice, if not outright harm, to original thoughts and unique values that must be honored.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Braiding Knowledge: Opportunities and Challenges for Collaborative Approaches to Archaeological Heritage and Conservation

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24548