Archaeological Ethnographies

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“This collection is a major, ground-breaking contribution from archaeology to the Public Culture area.  In this diverse, much contested field,  this volume  takes us on a major enquiry into the role that archaeology as a collective practice can play in transforming  this wider area … The answers given in this volume are perhaps the most insightful  in a decade of such discussions. “ Mike Rowlands, University College London

“The archaeological ethnographies depicted in this volume open a door away from the habitual disciplinary monologue…” Alejandro Haber, Universita de Catamarca, Argentina

“This volume explore ways of enfranchising those who live near archaeological sites… [it] will be required reading for students and scholars seeking to formulate new protocols for archaeological practice in the twenty-first century”.  Charles Stewart, University College London

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.

ARTICLES

1. What is Archaeological Ethnography?
Yannis Hamilakis and Aris Anagnostopoulos

2. Researching Ekina ta Khronia [Times Past] in a Rural Greek Community
Hamish Forbes

3. Rhythm, Tempo, and Historical time: Experiencing Temporality in the Neoliberal Age
Michael Herzfeld

4. Archaeological Sites and Local Places: Connecting the Dots
Anna Stroulia and Susan Buck Sutton

5. Using Ethnographic Methods to Articulate Community-Based Conceptions of Cultural Heritage Management
Julie Hollowell and George Nicholas

6. Practicing Archaeology – As If It Really Matters
K. Anne Pyburn

7. Researching Biographies of Archaeological Sites: The Case of Sikyon
Eleftheria Deltsou

8. Myth of the Anasazi: Archaeological Language, Collaborative Communities, and the Contested Past
Chip Colwell-Chanthaphonh

9. Scripta Manent: Notes on a Book
Anastasia Chourmouziadi

10. Situating the Greenham Archaeology: An Autoethnography of a Feminist Project
Yvonne Marshall, Sasha Roseneil and Kayt Armstrong

11. Reflections on an Archaeological Ethnography of ‘Looting’ in Kozani, Greece
Ioanna Antoniadou

12. The ‘Past’ as Transcultural Space: Using Ethnographic Installation in the Study of Archaeology
Quetzil Castañeda

13. Postcards from the edge of time: Archaeology, Photography, Archaeological Ethnography (a photo essay),
Yannis Hamilakis, Aris Anagnostopoulos, Fotis Ifantidis

COMMENTARIES

1. A comment on Hybrid Fields and Academic Gate-keeping
Cornelius Holtorf

2. Concluding Remarks
Roger Just