The politics and power of American archaeology

Archaeologists and anthropologists don't just study the dynamics of power and politics. They are actively mired in political systems - a position which they need to embrace

The 82nd annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) just took place last week in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was well attended, and with the political climate being what it is in the United States right now, many of the conversations I had centred around advocacy. Most of the professional archaeologists I know (I dare say all the professional archaeologists I know) are committed to fighting efforts that weaken protections for cultural resources. It is not cynical to say that as a discipline we are committed to the continuing protection for sites that are hundreds or thousands of years old, to ensure that such sites continue to exist for hundreds and thousands years more. There are dissonant voices, however, questioning just how political archaeologists should be, how deeply into the fray we should delve. As scientists should we not be above politics, focusing on our studies of the past?

To me, there is no question about our place in the fray. Politics is about the practice of achieving and asserting power. Archaeology and anthropology have long played an important role in both reinforcing and subverting the dominant mythologies upon which such power is built. In many ways modern American Archaeology- focused on the systematic recovery of data to answer research questions about past human behavior- was born out of challenges to nineteenth century justifications for eradicating American Indian populations. As Euro-Americans raced across the north American continent, they found great earthen mounds in the southeast and mid-west that were the remnants of ancient cities like Cahokia.