Pragmatism and Peacebuilding: Building an Empirically Honest, Ethically Engaged Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Activating Heritage: Encouraging Substantive Practices for a Just Future" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Building on literature from peace and conflict studies as well as social justice movements, I consider the role and responsibilities of archaeologists as we grapple not only with our positionality in the present, including our roles as citizens and scholars, but the manner in which we mobilize the past in aid of the future. I address recent critiques of engaged archaeologies and argue for the central importance of both empirical honesty and an underpinning in pragmatic philosophy as we frame our explorations of the past for purposes of social justice. I draw specifically from my work in embedding archaeology and heritage with conflict transformation in Northern Ireland to argue for a pragmatic approach that engages archaeological evidence as an active component of peacebuilding dialogue that is challenging and constructive rather than uncritically conciliatory. Pragmatism, in these circumstances, is the most effective paradigm for a future-oriented, epistemologically honest, and ethically-grounded archaeology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Activating Heritage: Encouraging Substantive Practices for a Just Future   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38910.0