The Stratigraphy of American Archaeology: Gender, Academia, Authorship, and the Need to Go "Beyond the Critique"

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Gender in Archaeology over the Last 30+ Years" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This presentation will deconstruct American archaeology's past to understand modern socio-politics of gender distributions within the discipline and how these proportions shape archaeological theory, practice, and authority. By connecting the foundations of American archaeology with what they coin the "boys club of archaeological knowledge and authority," the author describes these strata and, with them, unearths American archaeology's problematic tendencies, including the binary bind and the marginalization of feminist epistemologies. Together these layers create heteronormativity and androcentrism, where biases and stereotypes exist. Feminist archaeologists know this and have been critiquing archaeology and its problems these past three decades, resulting in discussions with little change, indicating it is time for American feminist archaeologists to move beyond the critique. By arguing for the inclusion of queer theory, intersectionality, and other feminist epistemologies, the author demonstrates how archaeologists mitigate these problems by using these frameworks, forcing cultural relativism on the researcher, thereby creating a more holistic, inclusive interpretation of the past. The author highlights successful applications of feminist epistemologies in recent years. Together, these case studies demonstrate the benefits of feminist theory and apply it to American archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Gender in Archaeology over the Last 30+ Years   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38462.0