An engaged archaeology field school with a remote aboriginal community: Successes, failures, and challenges

Smith, Claire; Jackson, Gary; Ralph, Jordan; Brown, Nell; Rankin, Guy; Community, Barunga

doi:10.1080/20518196.2020.1804112

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…This paper articulates with global trends relating to human rights, inequality and social injustice for Indigenous peoples (see Mizoguchi and Smith 2019). The views expressed here develop ideas presented in previous work by the authors on issues relating to social justice, colonialism, the Indigenous transformation of archaeological practice and community archaeology (Smith 2007;Birt and Copley 2005;Jackson and Smith 2005;Smith and Wobst 2005;Burke and Smith 2010;Wilson 2020;Ralph and Smith 2014;Pollard et al 2017;Pollard 2019;Menzies and Wilson 2020;Smith et al 2018;Smith et al 2020). Though the authors discussed differences between community archaeology and public archaeology, their views show they see synergies between the two.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

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Indigenous views on the future of public archaeology in Australia

Pollard

Smith²,

Willika

et al. 2021

AP Journal

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This paper was written in response to a request by the editors of the AP: Online Journal of Public Archaeology, Jaime Almansa Sánchez and Elena Papagiannopoulou, for Claire Smith to write on the future of public archaeology in Australia. In Australia, public archaeology focusses on high profile colonial sites such as The Rocks in Sydney (Karskens 1999) and Port Arthur in Tasmania (Steele et al. 2007; Frew 2012), tourism (e.g. Cole and Wallis 2019) or enhancing school curricula (Nichols et al. 2005; Owens and Steele 2005). However, given her decades-long relationships with Jawoyn and Ngadjuri people (Smith 1999; Smith et al. 2016; Smith et al. 2020), Claire Smith decided that a useful way of approaching this topic would be to obtain Indigenous views on the subject. Accordingly, she contacted the Aboriginal co-authors of this article and invited them to co-author the paper. The possibility to write in free form was a boon. The ‘conversation’ format we settled on was designed to facilitate the voices of individuals, to present a range of Indigenous views, to allow people to express their views frankly, and to deal with the constraints of people being located in different parts of Australia as well as occasional lock-downs due to COVID-19. We decided on five topics/questions that would be the basis of the conversation. Each Aboriginal author gave their views either by email or by phone. These views were interwoven into a ‘conversation’. The language has been edited lightly for clarity and to simulate a real-life conversation. The final text was approved by all authors.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…It is the person giving the ideas. We've written about this before (Smith et al 2018). Also, I'm not quite sure that early researchers recorded verbatim, or once it is said it the words and thoughts of the anthropologist or the archaeologist, not the person giving the information.…”

Section: Q: What Are Your Concerns About Archaeology As It Is Practicmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous views on the future of public archaeology in Australia

Pollard

Smith²,

Willika

et al. 2021

AP Journal

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Multiple scholars have advanced the theoretical and methodological development of Indigenous archaeologies by articulating its diverse facets and applications. For example, Atalay (2006), Cipolla and Quinn (2016), Colwell (2016), and Smith and colleagues (2021) advocate for community-based archaeology, whereby Indigenous communities participate in the fieldwork and other phases of the research process, including research design, interpretation, data management, and outreach. Similarly, Nicholas (2008) contends that Indigenous archaeologies approaches acknowledge that archaeological practice has been a colonialist endeavor and that alternative approaches are needed to empower Indigenous peoples with respect to their own pasts.…”

Section: Case Study Overviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a field school model, the HPW course contributes to a growing trend in inclusive and collaborative archaeological practice in the northeastern United States and beyond (Kerber 2006; Silliman 2008; Smith et al 2021). These types of initiatives are well positioned to serve descendant communities and make meaningful change for them through archaeology.…”

Section: A Collaborative Coastal Field Schoolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Indigenous Archaeologies, Shell Heaps, and Climate Change

Newsom

Soctomah²,

Blackwood

et al. 2023

Adv. archaeol. pract.

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Indigenous communities globally are challenged by threats to heritage resources due to residual effects of colonization, outsider encroachment on traditional spaces, and economic and political inequities. The effects of climate change add another dimension to these challenges, not only by altering familiar ecosystems and landscapes but also through the destruction of Indigenous heritage spaces. The University of Maine's Northeast archaeology program supports Indigenous resilience to climate change through community-engaged approaches to archaeological research. Recent shell heap research at the Holmes Point West site in Machiasport, Maine, exemplifies these efforts by blending archaeological science with service through Passamaquoddy language preservation and community engagement. This article discusses the University of Maine's partnership with the Passamaquoddy Nation and reflects on the nexus of Indigenous archaeology, heritage protection, and climate change resilience.

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“…Fong et al 2022;Furlong Minkoff and Morris 2016; Hays-Gilpin, Herr, and Lyons 2021;Sayer 2022;Smith et al 2021; Wallis et al 2023).…”

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confidence: 99%

Holding Space for Communities in Heritage Practice: Relationships and Management of Underwater and Near Water Heritage in Taranaki, Aotearoa New Zealand

Rawson

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Heritage spaces that are composed of sites and objects in coastal and riverine environments (described as underwater and near water or UWNW) of Aotearoa New Zealand are deteriorating due to natural and human activity. Passive management, reduced resources for managing agencies and poor legislative protection indicates that the future of identifying, preserving and managing heritage will be through concerted community effort. It is then necessary for heritage professionals to ‘hold space’ for these communities that interact with UWNW heritage spaces to understand the relationships and management approaches that exist in a regional context. This thesis seeks to identify how community relationships with UWNW heritage can be used to inform professional heritage practice.Through a constructivist research paradigm based on grounded theory, I draw on qualitative social science research methods to make observations resulting in an inductive reasoning approach. I use the theory of Authorised Heritage Discourse to explore community as an outsider to professional heritage practice in ‘top-down’ approaches, countered with models of Communities of Practice and Community Engaged Research which seek to create inclusive environments and ‘thinking together’. Actor-Network Theory is applied to visualise the interrelationships between communities and UWNW heritage spaces demonstrating the complicated influences of actors over processes. I then conducted face-to-face interviews with 35 people from 18 organisations that represented communities with vested interests in this unique category of heritage to identify community relationships with UWNW heritage spaces. The interviews revealed that people indeed connect with heritage spaces in many ways including through storytelling, ancestry, childhood experiences, connections with nature, a sense of community and processes of collecting or fossicking. Māori participants highlighted the philosophical differences underlying their perspectives, pointing to their visceral relationships with the natural world and sites of significance through whakapapa (ancestry). Views on preservation were consistent with professional definitions and actions, that is, being interventive, preserving the knowledge embodied in the object, ability of objects to be use for sharing knowledge, adding longevity to materials and providing protection. Community perceptions are that there are no active heritage management processes in place. These observations resulted in two main research findings: communities relate to heritage in similar and different ways and passive management, through administration, is the only management taking place. An ’us’ and ‘them’ approach persists throughout management and engagement structures, particularly with regional issues, and there is little cohesion between agencies to provide protection and implement active management strategies. The research shaped my own professional practice and philosophy for heritage practice including creating an inclusive practice environment based on increased engagement with stakeholders of cultural materials conservation processes leading to a new Community of Practice approach.

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An engaged archaeology field school with a remote aboriginal community: Successes, failures, and challenges

Cited by 12 publications

References 35 publications

Indigenous views on the future of public archaeology in Australia

Indigenous views on the future of public archaeology in Australia

Indigenous Archaeologies, Shell Heaps, and Climate Change

Holding Space for Communities in Heritage Practice: Relationships and Management of Underwater and Near Water Heritage in Taranaki, Aotearoa New Zealand

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