Critical Public Archaeology as Social Change: Five Years of Public Outreach at the Anthracite Heritage Program

Author(s): V. Camille Westmont

Year: 2020

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Community Archaeology in 2020: Conventional or Revolutionary?" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Archaeologists from the University of Maryland have been carrying out excavations in Northeastern Pennsylvania coal company towns since 2009. Since 2013, there has been a concerted effort within this work to use public archaeology and archaeological interpretations to effect social change in the surrounding communities through the utilization of critical theory. These efforts have sought to address social tensions related to immigration and its corresponding social issues, including ethnic discrimination, class conflict, place (un)attachment, and more. This paper reviews the variety of approaches the project has adopted over the last five years and its efforts to use local history and public archaeology to promote social inclusion and social justice for the recent immigrant community.

Cite this Record

Critical Public Archaeology as Social Change: Five Years of Public Outreach at the Anthracite Heritage Program. V. Camille Westmont. 2020 ( tDAR id: 456903)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 408