"The Site Mama": Mothering and Mentorship as the Taproot of Community Driven Research Projects

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Women’s Work: Archaeology and Mothering" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Most every site, every crew, has their “site mama”; a lady who reminds everyone to drink water, pick up their garbage, and check for ticks. The Site Mama does the unpaid labor of keeping the crew and site well. Community oriented archaeology, which thrives only under an ethic of care, is many times formulated and dependent on this same principle. Womxn take on the unpaid and rarely recognized labors to birth, raised, and nurture community based programs. Small, community driven programs within (and without) archaeology are often a one womxn show, reliant on her to do the extra work and go the extra mile to cultivate meaningful relationships and ethical programs. This paper will critically evaluate the role of “Site Mama” relationships in community based research practices, how they are integral to the success of these programs, and hypothesize about why we don’t have more men taking on these roles.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• Women’s Work: Archaeology and Mothering

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 775