Slow Archaeology, Community Engagement, and Collaborative Knowledge Production in the Maya World

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological endeavors around the world have begun to emphasize ethical project design and community engagement. Several projects in Latin America are adopting Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) but the pace of adoption of recommendations from the Indigenous Critique and Black Feminist Anthropology remains slow. Parachute archaeology is still common in the Maya world, following the traditional colonialist archaeology model of the 20th century.

In this article, we address practices that can make Maya archaeology more respectful, focusing on sustainable projects designed with, for, and by local, Indigenous, and descendant communities. We advocate for slow archaeology, which adopts a progressive and dialogical approach to project design, excavations, and the collaborative production of knowledge. We showcase this approach with the preliminary phase of our integral anthropological project in Dolores, Peten, Guatemala.

For years, Doloreños have excelled as archaeological workers on dozens of site projects. Such experience positions Dolores as an outstanding candidate for a CBPR project that can bridge the gap between academic and field crews and capitalize on the vast archaeological knowledge of its community. Our prospective project will provide an opportunity for workers to participate beyond the excavations, in the project design, and in the subsequent production of archaeological knowledge.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37594.0