Archaeologists like to think of themselves as progressive. We believe we are above the meanderings of the rest of society. Enmeshed in our academic achievements and intellectualism, it’s easy to see where those beliefs come from. When you’ve got a decade of college under your belt, it’s easy to think you’ve actually learned something. That isn’t always true.
My conversations, discussions, and activities at #SHA2016 showed me that the field of archaeology is making advances in addressing racism while we are still living in the 1950s when it comes to gender equality. I learned that sustained advocacy on behalf of the Society for Black Archaeologists and other anti-racism advocates is moving the organization closer towards embracing an anti-racism platform. Conversely, a lack of gender-equality activism in the rest of the field is keeping women below the glass ceiling and that doesn’t seem to be changing.
We have a long way to go.
What did I like about this year’s conference?
The weather was beautiful in Washington, D.C. for this year’s annual Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) conference. I had a great time meeting up with friends, hearing about amazing work, and telling folks about what I did in the previous year. Archaeologists are finding incredible ways to connect with communities and interested publics. It seems like public archaeology was at the fore this year.
The National Park Service turns 100—I didn’t get to attend the session on National Park Service outreach but I did spend significant time talking to a couple NPS archaeologists about their public archaeology programs. I’ve spoken about how the NPS Junior Ranger program has an archaeology component. The Junior Ranger program is one of the best ways I’ve ever seen a government agency connect with young people. I learned in conversation that the NPS is also connecting with young people of diverse ethnic backgrounds to not only get them out in the parks but also get them enthusiastic about archaeology.
Archaeologists in Arizona are linking Latino youth to archaeology through a program that gets them out in national heritage sites where they get a chance to dig, process artifacts, and learn more about how the archaeology of their ancestors is being done. The Urban Archaeology Corps brings African American and other teens living in the Beltway a chance to do archaeology in their community. Black teens are learning how archaeology is a tool for reclaiming overlooked parts of their heritage. The NPS is a leader in finding ways to channel youthful exuberance into public archaeology. The Archaeology for Kids program is an online tool loaded with information about archaeology. Teachers can learn how to teach archaeology through several online distance learning programs.
If the NPS is going to survive another 100 years, it will need to figure out creative ways to bring the parks to the people. The internet provides one vehicle for public archaeology, but it is the dedication of the numerous National Parks Service archaeologists who provide the hands-on experiences that truly create archaeology fans.
Public Archaeology is not just for the NPS—As I mentioned before, this year’s conference had a large number of public archaeology symposia highlighting the efforts non-profits and universities are taking to include the public in archaeological research. These organizations and individuals are also finding ways to connect with descendant communities.
Perhaps the most interesting programs I heard about was the LEARN Program at James Madison’s Montpelier in Virginia. LEARN harnesses public curiosity about the past in a way that allows them to participate in the archaeology that is going on at that historical site. The project is open to people of all ages and has been in operation for about 20 years.
In my experience, it isn’t too difficult to provide opportunities for people to dig but it is hard to get people of color to come work at the site—even if it’s part of their own heritage. Slavery is one of the most disquieting and painful topics for Americans; even more so for African Americans. So, it’s not surprising that the archaeologists at Montpelier were having trouble finding black people who were interested in digging up the site’s slave quarters.
I watched an amazing presentation about how Montpelier archaeologists were able to connect with several groups of black descendants whose ancestors lived at the site as slaves. A group of these descendants even participated in the excavations and have been able to provide insights into the archaeological interpretations for the Euroamerican archaeologists who work there. This interesting collaboration has changed the way Montpelier archaeologists relate to the African American public and has resulted in the co-creation of data in conjunction with black ancestors.
One step closer to training webinars—The Society for American Archaeology (SAA) webinar series have been extremely well-received and the SHA is trying to arrange its own webinar series. The Academic and Professional Training Committee (APTC) meetings at #SHA2016 included discussions of a webinar series and what that might look like. We moved closer to figuring this out and, fingers crossed, the first of these events will take place in 2016. Stay tuned.
What do we need to improve in the field of archaeology?
While I saw a lot of great things this year, I also heard a number of disturbing things that I think we archaeologists need to fix. Things are getting better in some areas while they remain bad in others.
Archaeology is still anti-parenthood— I understand that it is an individual choice to have children, but I keep hearing about how the field of archaeology is not amenable to having a family. This is particularly interesting because of the way archaeologists see themselves as progressive knowledge-workers who strive to make the future better by learning about the past. Perhaps, we need to learn about the 1950s and why they weren’t that great for all Americans.
In the Equity (Issues) for All panel discussion, I heard yet another story of discrimination against a woman who decided to (*gasp) become a mother. She was commended for her excellent work and received high reviews while she was married without children. But, as soon as she became a mother, her supervisors started telling her how disappointed they were in her work. Not only was she taken out of the field, even though her husband was available to take care of the baby when she was out of town, but she was furloughed rather than given maternity leave. It was made clear that she was not welcome in that position anymore so she decided to find a new job somewhere else.
Now, her company had done nothing illegal. They could justify all of their actions. I’m also going off of her own personal opinion and don’t actually know the details of this situation, but this isn’t the first time I’ve heard and seen CRM management act in a similar fashion. Women in CRM hide their pregnancies out of fear that they’ll be marginalized or will lose their job. An even greater number simply don’t have kids even though they want them.
This gender-based, anti-parenthood stance in the archaeology industry (both in academia and CRM) is very much out of place in our society. Companies in other industries are learning that creating awesome parental leave policies is a great way to keep skilled workers happy. Many large corporations are following the lead of giants like Amazon, Facebook, and Netflix and are offering generous maternity and paternity benefits. Some hail 2015 as the year corporate America woke up and smelled the coffee. Many learned that, in addition to the fact that keeping an employee is cheaper than hiring a new one, they won’t have customers if they don’t work and make money to buy your stuff. It hurts the economy when one parent drops out to take care of the kids because that’s less money for Americans to spend.
As usual, archaeology is waaaaaaay behind the trends in corporate America. We’re usually the last to jump on any business trend (still using paper in the field anyone?), but this is one trend we can’t afford to miss. There are myriad reasons why skilled archaeologists are dropping out of the workforce so we cannot allow well-trained, experienced women and men to stop doing archaeology in order to have children. It is the skills and experiences of cultural resource managers that protect our material heritage and it takes years to gain that experience. Our national heritage suffers when the people best able to preserve it have to take a knee in order to be a mom or dad. This must change.
Historical archaeology is becoming less and less racist—Last year’s anti-racism workshop was well-attended and amazing. I went last year and learned a lot about becoming an anti-racism advocate. Another anti-racism workshop was held at #SHA2016 and, despite the fact it was held on Sunday morning after the rest of the conference, it was sold out.
I did not go this year but I was comforted to know that this may be turning into an annual thing. Funding is the only thing preventing this workshop from being conducted every year. Maybe we can use the webinars to fund the anti-racism events.
Also, the SHA is close on crafting an anti-racism statement which would make fighting race-based discrimination an objective of the organization. This is welcome news because of the way archaeology can be used to dispel incorrect theories about the past and bring people together to learn more about each other through collaboration. As I said before, archaeologists are not racist but we work in a society rooted in structural racism. Taking a stance against this is one way we can make archaeology a force for change.
There are no black underwater archaeologists—Now, you’ve got to take this one with a grain of salt because it’s not like there’s an archaeology census where we all fill out a paper that states our race. However, I became aware that there is not an archaeologist with a graduate degree that practices underwater archaeology (NOTE: There are a number of skilled Caribbean and African scuba divers that help with underwater archaeology projects, but none of these underwater techs can be considered an archaeologist [i.e. somebody who derives their living by doing underwater archaeology and has a graduate degree]).
Fortunately, this will soon change. The Society of Black Archaeologists is teaming up with a number of different organizations including the National Association of Black Scuba Divers, the Smithsonian Museum, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to train a group of black archaeologists in underwater archaeology. The goal is to increase diversity among the archaeologists participating in the Slave Wrecks Project—an international campaign to document wrecked slave ships in the Old and New Worlds. A list of potential candidates was collected at the SHA this year. More on this in the future.
The Seahawks won another playoff game while I was at the conference– As much as I love the Hawks, I truly feel bad for the kicker who missed this field goal. The Seahawks’ campaign for Super Bowl 50 continues and I saw it happen while I was at SHA2016
Are historical archaeologists heeding the Call to Action?
Historical archaeology has always been activist archaeology. The SHA was created in 1967 as a reaction to the negative perception other archaeologists of the Society for American Archaeologists had of those scholars interested in studying the material remains of people who lives after Christopher Columbus. Today, the SHA has developed into a group of committed researchers who have forged careers dedicated to learning about what happened in societies around the world over the last 500 years. There is no way this research could avoid addressing issues of gender and race-based inequality. Througuht the years, historical archaeologists have provided illuminating perspectives on these topics and many more.
It is always difficult to observe yourself. Looking inward at one’s own self is harder than looking outward towards other people. We haven’t done the work on ourselves as archaeologists, citizens, and as advocates for change.
This is one reason why the field of archaeology has been slow to change with regard to racism and sexism. We all stand to learn much from interactions with the general public and descendant communities. Public archaeology is the archaeology of the future. It was encouraging to see so many collaborations that brought young people and diverse groups to work with archaeologists. Both groups are enriched by these interactions. It was discouraging, however, to see how much further we have to go with regard to enabling parenthood in archaeology. SHA2016 was titled “A Call to Action”, which is why I urge all of you to do whatever you can to address inequality in all of its forms.
Were you there at #SHA2016? What did I miss? Tell me. Write a comment below or send me an email.
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