"The point, however, is to change it": Marxist archaeology and praxis in Spain through Randall McGuire's work

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Praxis Makes Perfect: Celebrating the Academic Life and Times of Randy McGuire" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

For those of us who seek to apply Marxist thought to our academic career and personal live to interpret and -at least try to- change the world, Randall McGuire’s work is an unquestionable reference. The wide range of topics he has tackled throughout his large career and his personal compromise with the communities involved in them has opened multitude of possibilities not only for compelling interpretations of the archaeological record, but also for a critical and political commitment with the social reality through cultural heritage. In this contribution, I will firstly explore how his work has been received in Spain and how it has helped to develop a Marxist archaeology in the country in the last decades, analyzing the historical, political and academic particularities of the Spanish context. Second, I will discuss two case studies, those of the early medieval peasant societies and the archaeology of the Spanish anti-Francoist guerrilla, building upon some of Randall’s concepts. Finally, I will make some suggestions as to how to continue his theoretical and methodological work in the future.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Praxis Makes Perfect: Celebrating the Academic Life and Times of Randy McGuire

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 50320