The History and Practice of European Prehistory through a Black Feminist Lens

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Deepening Archaeology's Engagement with Black Studies" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Classics is undergoing a very public and painful reckoning with its use by white nationalists. Prehistoric archaeologists working in Europe have largely stayed out of the fray, perhaps due to many practitioners seeing our research subjects as “pre-racial” or our work as otherwise unrelated to these discussions. However, if we look at the intellectual history of European prehistory, there is a long thread of anti-Black sentiment that has had a profound impact on how the deep past is studied and presented. Indeed, intersectional anti-Blackness has actively hampered knowledge production, and will continue to do so without serious self-reflection about notions of “the primitive” and progress, and how these concepts have been developed. Models of cultural evolution that inevitably result in modern Western patriarchy are not neutral representations of observed data; rather, they are the result of and justification for colonialism that occasionally finds its way into white nationalist discourse. Beyond providing productive critique, a Black feminist perspective on the history and present practices of prehistory in Europe can also help us better understand the archaeological past and build a sustainable future for the discipline.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Deepening Archaeology's Engagement with Black Studies   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36313.0