The Intersection of Archaeology and Patriotism: Investigations at the San Antonio Mission Complex

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Considering Frontiers Beyond the Romantic: Spaces of Encroachment, Innovation, and Far Reaching Entanglements" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

In this paper I argue that the concepts of nostalgia, remembering, forgetting, and collective cultural memory are strategically employed in official historical discourse to perpetuate certain social projects. These practices are carefully cultivated in the state of Texas, specifically through archaeological and historical discourse in order for Anglo settlers to maintain a certain level of power through narratives of nationalism. In this cultivation of patriotic myths, specific groups, such as indigenous communities, are actively forgotten, thus carrying out a discursive violence. In order to keep with both the themes of revolution and de-romanticizing frontier contexts, this paper seeks to initiate a revolution of sorts in a variety of ways: the ways in which theoretical concepts are utilized in Texas archaeology; how archaeologists in Texas engage with indigenous communities; and the relationship of history with the present day.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Considering Frontiers Beyond the Romantic: Spaces of Encroachment, Innovation, and Far Reaching Entanglements   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 828