Reflecting on Point of View: Telling Stories with Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "“Historical Archaeology with Canon on the Side, Please”: In Honor of Mary C. Beaudry (1950-2020)" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Mary Beaudry pioneered the art of telling first-person narratives that enable artifacts to come alive. She taught us that although there are many mediums for archaeological writing, the primary goal of an archaeologist is to tell stories. Stories enable us to connect places and things with people, the ultimate subject of archaeology as anthropology. Even though Mary never explicitly required me to experiment with this narrative tool, I find myself following her example and continually seeing and telling stories as I research and write. In particular, stories help me to see plantations through the eyes of enslaved men, women, and children. I privilege their stories, in an effort to reshape narratives of St. Inigoes Plantation in southern Maryland, and other Jesuit sites throughout the Middle Atlantic region.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• “Historical Archaeology with Canon on the Side, Please”: In Honor of Mary C. Beaudry (1950-2020)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology