Reconsidering the Role of Archaeology in Shaping “Affective Places”: Case Scenarios from Hawai'i and Yucatán

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Rethinking Persistent Places: Relationships, Atmospheres, and Affects" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Western-trained scholars like to take for granted that the discipline of archaeology plays a foundational role in providing data from ancient sites from which scientists reconstruct histories, social organization, and what drew people to such places. Government institutions use such information to assign values to cultural places in the context of heritage management, which typically translate into eligibility for preservation funding. I will present two case scenarios of potent ancient sites with material vestiges which Indigenous people have reconstructed on multiple levels and with whom they practice active agentive relationships. Archaeology plays a minimal role or is not wanted. One is the famous chiefly birthplace Kukaniloko on O`ahu island, Hawai`i, and the other are the many muul or stone mounds in the Yucatec Maya landscape. Although local histories and cultural issues are completely different, both question the need for archaeology. I open discussions of how Indigenous and Western ways of knowing (archaeology) might come together so that we learn how to apply lessons from both systems to help shape a regenerative future.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Rethinking Persistent Places: Relationships, Atmospheres, and Affects   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38122.0