From Margin to Center: Bias and Discrimination in Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

That archaeology is welcoming to only a narrow subset of society -- that is, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied, white men -- and far less so to most of us is an open secret. #MeToo stories; the blinding whiteness of the academy, the field, and the museum; and the prohibitive costs of many field schools exemplify archaeology’s culture of discrimination. This paper seeks to flesh out our anecdotal experiences with data. In what ways, forms, and under what conditions does archaeology discriminate against underrepresented groups? How does bias affect career pathways? What interventions might we, as archaeologists, make to address inequity? This paper will provide an overview of the state of North American archaeology for marginalized people. By understanding the scale and structural factors of the systemic discrimination that is pervasive in our discipline, we can take the first steps toward concrete solutions.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• What Have You Done For Us Lately?: Discrimination, Harassment, and Chilly Climate in Archaeology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25387