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What is archaeological ethnography?

What is archaeological ethnography?
What is archaeological ethnography?
In this introductory essay to this volume, we chart and survey an emerging field, that of archaeological ethnography. We show its links and associations with both disciplinary and social-political trends in archaeology and in social anthropology in the last decades, and discuss some of the key recent work that has been carried out under this rubric. We argue that archaeological ethnography needs to be defined broadly, as a trans-disciplinary and transcultural space that enables researchers and diverse publics to engage in various conversations, exchanges, and interventions. Material traces from various times are at the centre of this emerging space. The production of his space requires a radical rethinking of the ontological and epistemological basis of archaeology, questioning the modernist roots of official archaeologies, and demonstrating the existence of other, public discourses, practices and engagements with the material past which can be defined as alternative archaeologies. Archaeological ethnography can bring to the fore these alternative engagements without necessarily endorsing their premises, being constantly alert to their political connotations and renderings. The main interconnected facets of archaeological ethnography as we propose it here are its critical reflexivity, its holistic and multi-sited nature, its multi-temporal rather than presentist character, its sensuous and sensory engagement with the world, its political commitment, and its conception as collective and team practice, which transcends the boundaries between the researcher and his or her diverse publics.
archaeological ethnography, social anthropology, modernist archaeology, alternative archaeologies, materiality, temporality, kalaureia, greece
9781906540739
1465-5187
65-87
Hamilakis, Yannis
e40e6a1a-e416-4561-bf0d-e9e3337ede6a
Anagnostopoulos, Aris
8bf97a95-a9e1-4410-bee0-8adaa165d79d
Hamilakis, Yannis
e40e6a1a-e416-4561-bf0d-e9e3337ede6a
Anagnostopoulos, Aris
8bf97a95-a9e1-4410-bee0-8adaa165d79d

Hamilakis, Yannis and Anagnostopoulos, Aris (2009) What is archaeological ethnography? [in special issue: Archaeological Ethnographies] Public Archaeology, 8 (2-3), 65-87. (doi:10.1179/175355309x457150).

Record type: Article

Abstract

In this introductory essay to this volume, we chart and survey an emerging field, that of archaeological ethnography. We show its links and associations with both disciplinary and social-political trends in archaeology and in social anthropology in the last decades, and discuss some of the key recent work that has been carried out under this rubric. We argue that archaeological ethnography needs to be defined broadly, as a trans-disciplinary and transcultural space that enables researchers and diverse publics to engage in various conversations, exchanges, and interventions. Material traces from various times are at the centre of this emerging space. The production of his space requires a radical rethinking of the ontological and epistemological basis of archaeology, questioning the modernist roots of official archaeologies, and demonstrating the existence of other, public discourses, practices and engagements with the material past which can be defined as alternative archaeologies. Archaeological ethnography can bring to the fore these alternative engagements without necessarily endorsing their premises, being constantly alert to their political connotations and renderings. The main interconnected facets of archaeological ethnography as we propose it here are its critical reflexivity, its holistic and multi-sited nature, its multi-temporal rather than presentist character, its sensuous and sensory engagement with the world, its political commitment, and its conception as collective and team practice, which transcends the boundaries between the researcher and his or her diverse publics.

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Published date: 1 August 2009
Additional Information: This volume charts archaeological ethnography as a new territory of engagement and research. Archaeological Ethnography is defined here as a trans-disciplinary and trans-cultural space, a meeting ground for diverse publics and researchers, in archaeology, social anthropology, and potentially other disciplines practices and traditions. It is a space that encourages and fosters dialogue, collaboration and critique on materiality and temporality, on archaeology as a social practice in the present, on the links, interactions and associations amongst things and people, on local and trans-local valorisations of past material remains. Bringing together the most notable practitioners of this new area from archaeology and social anthropology, and building on a wide range of case studies from England, Greece, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Thailand, and the United States, the volume explores issues of definition and ontology, epistemology and method, but also ethics and politics. This dialogic book will inspire readers to shape their own view and position on this emerging field, and experiment with their own archaeological ethnographies.
Keywords: archaeological ethnography, social anthropology, modernist archaeology, alternative archaeologies, materiality, temporality, kalaureia, greece
Organisations: Archaeology

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Local EPrints ID: 156475
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/156475
ISBN: 9781906540739
ISSN: 1465-5187
PURE UUID: f88feaeb-d6d7-425d-8412-4bd8059283c3

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Date deposited: 02 Jun 2010 13:07
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 01:43

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Author: Yannis Hamilakis
Author: Aris Anagnostopoulos

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