Centering the Margins

Abstract

Teaching introductory archaeology courses in U.S. higher education typically falls short in two important ways: the courses do not represent the full picture of who contributes to reconstructing the past, and they do not portray the contemporary and future relevance of the archaeological past. In this article, we use anti-colonial and decolonial theories to explain the urgency of revising the introductory archaeology curriculum for promoting equity in the discipline and beyond. We detail the pedagogical theories we employed in revising an introductory archaeology course at a small liberal arts college in the United States and the specific changes we made to course structure, content, and teaching strategies. To examine the impacts on enrolled students and on who chose to enroll in the revised archaeology curriculum, we analyze student reflection essays and enrollment demographics. We found that students developed more complex understandings of the benefits and harms of archaeological knowledge production and could articulate how to address archaeology's inequities. We also found that enrollment in archaeology courses at the college shifted to include greater proportions of students of color. These results support the notion that introductory archaeology courses should be substantially and continually revised.

Archaeology in 2022: Counter‐myths for hopeful futures

“…Even as most archaeologists have nominally distanced themselves from the progressivist ordering of world history, the deeper framing remains steadfast (Frieman, 2023). This myth continues to underwrite one of the most orthodox assumptions within archaeology: the line of progress that we draw through the origins of agriculture, to the rise of civilizations, to the eventual (and by implication, inevitable and unavoidable) development of modern empires, capitalism, and European colonial dominance (Quave et al., 2021; Tsing, 2015).…”

A Collections-Based View of the Future of Archaeology

“…This collections work is situated within evolving, future-oriented, disciplinary dialogues that consider decolonizing archaeology so as to move toward more inclusive practices (Flewellen et al 2021), more responsive and responsible work with regard to repatriation (Dunnavant et al 2021), revising curricula to reflect the changing priorities of the discipline (Quave et al 2021; Thomas 2023), and the growth and role of cultural resource management (CRM; Altschul and Klein 2022). The deeply entrenched “curation crisis” and its pervasive effect across all areas of archaeology (Marquardt et al 1982; Price 2023) also shapes this theme issue.…”

“…These include the interrelationships between ethics, collaboration, and training; the long-term preservation and management of digital records and data; collections discovery and reuse; collections-based research; training in material culture; making collections knowable to constituencies outside the archaeology profession; and the intricacies of the archaeological digital data system. This collections work is situated within evolving, future-oriented, disciplinary dialogues that consider decolonizing archaeology so as to move toward more inclusive practices (Flewellen et al 2021), more responsive and responsible work with regard to repatriation (Dunnavant et al 2021), revising curricula to reflect the changing priorities of the discipline (Quave et al 2021;Thomas 2023), and the growth and role of cultural resource management (CRM; Altschul and Klein 2022). The deeply entrenched "curation crisis" and its pervasive effect across all areas of archaeology (Marquardt et al 1982;Price 2023) also shapes this theme issue.…”

Archaeology as Service

“…Archaeologists want to believe that their work improves the world through understanding the foundations of our institutions and the revival of ancient knowledge (Agbe-Davies 2010:1). We see that our students and colleagues are searching for different ways to study and engage with the past (Quave et al 2021), and we want to do work that matters (Douglass et al 2023; Mikel and Olson 2021). Finding relevance—which might include concepts of service—through archaeological methods and practice is one way to ensure that archaeology is not an esoteric science conducted by people with the privilege and security to choose a vocation that is often undercompensated.…”