T24/S01: Indigenous Knowledges and the Philosophy of Archaeology and Historical Sciences [This session is currently closed]
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers: Kellie Pollard, Charles Darwin University, Faculty of Arts and Society, Northern Institute, Larrakia Country, Australia; kellie.pollard@cdu.edu.au
Nicolas J. Bullot, Charles Darwin University, Faculty of Arts and Society, Humanities and Social Sciences, Larrakia Country, Australia; nicolas.bullot@cdu.edu.au
Martin Porr, University of Western Australia, Archaeology/Centre for Rock Art Research + Management, School of Social Sciences, Australia; martin.porr@uwa.edu.au
Philosophers of archaeology and the historical sciences investigate foundational theories and methods used by researchers to acquire knowledge about the past. However, they rarely acknowledge the critical need for developing a decolonised philosophy in their respective fields. Decolonised philosophy ought to include the contributions of Indigenous knowledges and Indigenous philosophies. Informed by local, place-based connections to lands, Indigenous knowledges have recently been acknowledged for the value they bring to interpretation, theoretical modelling, and methods of historical disciplines. The current status quo in philosophy, which omits Indigenous knowledges from philosophy of science, perpetrates a colonial epistemic injustice: it unjustly decreases the testimonial credibility of Indigenous knowledges and philosophies. Indigenous philosophies of knowing (epistemology), being (ontology), and doing (axiology and ethics) are therefore critical to decolonising research methodologies and philosophical practice in the academia. To remediate the lack of representation of Indigenous knowledge and philosophies, we invite papers investigating how Indigenous and Western knowledge systems can work alongside each other and produce impactful decolonisation studies. We welcome contributions examining different ways of knowing the past and negotiating the political philosophy of historical disciplines. We invite participants to consider questions relevant to debating different ways of knowing. For example, what is the relevance of philosophy to archaeology and the historical sciences? How can conceptual tools developed in philosophy—such as the philosophy of critical thinking, confirmation bias, racialisation, and white ignorance—benefit your approaches to decolonising the practice of research with, by, and for Indigenous communities? How could Indigenous epistemologies challenge philosophical paradigms that have justified the perpetration of colonial and epistemic injustices? Academic power is embedded in the ways university disciplines organise and police themselves to serve their own interests. How can research in Indigenous-led truth-telling and collaborations challenge hegemonic power and decolonise research practice in disciplines like archaeology and philosophy?
T24/S02: Looking Elsewhere: Understanding Contemporary Mobility and Migration Beyond the South to North Axis
Organisers: Fernando Castro, University of Tarapacá, Arica, Chile, fycaguilera@gmail.com
Henrik Lindskoug, Escuela Nacional de Ciencias Forenses, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba-CONICET, Argentina, henrikblindskoug@gmail.com
Dante Angelo, Universidad de Tarapacá, Chile, dangeloz@gmail.com
Gabriella Soto, Assistant Teaching Professor, Arizona State University, USA, gasoto@asu.edu
This session aims to bring together archaeological research on contemporary migration and its multiple impacts on societies. Although mobility has been recognised as a constant in human history, studies of this phenomenon in modern and contemporary times have been predominantly addressed as “a crisis” in Europe and North America and mainly discussed and theorised as almost a unilineal movement from the Global South to Europe and the US. This hegemonic approach has rendered invisible other forms of migratory experiences outside the global North-South axis, as well as the importance to understand the motivations (forced or voluntary) underlying the decision to leave certain places and territories for others. In this way, archaeologies of contemporary migrations between and within different regions of the Global South are practically non-existent, which underlines the urgency of addressing it from an integrative perspective that transcends the artificial articulations and divisions between centres and peripheries. From a material perspective, human mobility is generally understood as a complex phenomenon that involves affects, sensibilities, materials and materialities, configuring and reconfiguring this process. We seek to open a space for archaeological research that explores the contextual variability of global forced migration. Along these lines, we invite potential contributors to reflect and discuss issues such as heritage, corporality, landscape, border security regimes, materials in transit and other related dimensions. The objective of this session will be to foster new theoretical-methodological perspectives that allow us to understand the complexity of the phenomenon in a comprehensive manner and from situated perspectives. Therefore, this session hopes to contribute not only to the archaeological understanding of the phenomenon of forced mobility, but also seeks to engage with contemporary, and sometimes tremendously abstract debates about the social, cultural, economic, political and ethical implications at a global level.
T24/S03: Archaeologies of Cities: Critical Perspectives on Ancient, Historical and Contemporary Cities
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers: Cristopher González, Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile, cristopher.castro.gonzalez@alumnos.uta.cl
Rocío Fuenzalida, Departamento de Antropología, Universidad de Tarapacá, Arica, Chile, rocio.fuenzalida.caceres@alumnos.uta.cl
Alfredo González-Ruibal, Institute of Heritage Sciences, alfredo.gonzalez-ruibal@incipit.csic.es
The advent and origin of urban life was a critical and revolutionary moment in history that brought significant changes to the social and material life of human beings. In times of planetary urbanisation, it is expected that the vast majority of humans will live in cities in the near future. This includes both practitioners of the discipline and their audiences, who participate in urban life and its local and global dynamics. Archaeology has contributed to our understanding of cities through its perspective, which focuses on the material world, deep time, and a comparative effort. This has allowed it to investigate the origins of cities, as well as its subsequent development in historical and contemporary times. Archaeological research focused on cities has contributed to knowledge and sparked discussions on cultural evolution, complexity and sociopolitical inequality, architecture, ecology and sustainability, technology, infrastructure, identities, among others. In the process, it has been able to observe the continuities and differences in urban settings over time and space, and is prepared to provide innovative answers to the problems and phenomena that define life in the city.
This session calls for a critical discussion of the various methodological and theoretical aspects involved in the study of cities, whether ancient, historical, or contemporary, that we inhabit and/or study in the Global North and South. We believe that paying attention to cities and how we approach them is crucial. We aim to answer questions such as (but not limited to): What methodological and theoretical challenges exist in the archaeological understanding of cities? How can urban archaeology contribute to current urban issues? Which groups and which places of the city have received less attention and what can we do to visibilise them? And, primarily: What differences and similarities exist in urban archaeology research in the Global North and South?
T24/S04: “Time for Transformation and Change is Now!” Towards Epistemological, Ontological and Axiological Pluralism in Indigenous-led Archaeology
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers: Lesley Hatipone Machiridza, Alexander von Humboldt Post-doctoral Fellow, Institute of African Studies and Egyptology, University of Cologne, Germany; Senior Lecturer, Dept of Development Studies, History and Archaeology, Simon Muzenda School of Arts, Culture and Heritage, Great Zimbabwe University, Mashava, Zimbabwe, lmachiri@uni-koeln.de
V. Selvakumar, Associate Professor, Dept of Maritime History and Marine Archaeology, Tamil University, India, selvakumarodi@gmail.com
Kellie Pollard, Faculty of Arts and Society, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin University, Larrakia Country, Australia, kellie.pollard@cdu.edu.au
Ever since the 15th and 16th centuries, archaeology has never ceased to evolve as multiple ideas coalesced and crystallised into the myriad subdisciplines we enjoy today. Correspondingly, the last 500 years has come to be dominated by historical, applied, public, community, and Indigenous archaeologies, among others, which continue to rapidly mutate. Despite these transformations, certain behaviours have remained stagnant and continue to constrain our full exploration of the past. For a long time, archaeologists have been challenged to relinquish their ‘pseudo powers’, academic authority and old-fashioned intellectual traditions that continue to glorify materiality over subjective epistemologies and ontologies, but they remain unfazed in their comfort zones. Implicitly, Indigenous narratives in the form of myths, legends, taboos, proverbs, folklore, idioms, and tales, among other traditional communication modes, have remained submerged and peripheral. Thus, Indigenous archaeology should champion a new transformative agenda towards the comprehensive appreciation of Indigenous metaphors. It should (re)position and (re)centre Indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) as equally valid archaeological datasets. Therefore, this session will explore Western and Indigenous epistemic cultures, current theoretical and methodological approaches, and associated ethical considerations for the advancement of Indigenous-led archaeology. Specifically, it anticipates promoting a mutual dialogue between Indigenous peoples and their ever privileged ‘scientific partners’.
T24/S05: Balancing Obligations and Recalibrating Ethical Approaches to Archaeology in Colonised Spaces
Format: Paper presentations with discussion
Organisers: Craig Shapiro, The Ohio State University, USA, shapiro.285@buckeyemail.osu.edu
Jonathan Soon Lim, Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies (CAST), University of Arkansas, USA, jonlim@uark.edu
Miranda Lowe, Natural History Museum, London, UK, m.lowe@nhm.ac.uk
A decolonial approach to archaeology reflects on the power archaeologists maintain over historical epistemology, the damage Western archaeologists have caused to indigenous and marginalised communities, and how the continued neglect of Indigenous agency perpetuates injustice. Recognising archaeology as inherently destructive and extractive, and that this methodology was inherited from the colonial era, what is our responsibility to compensate for the archaeologists whom we have inherited the discipline from? How may we navigate forming such an ethical approach which centres the communities being studied? Is equitable knowledge co-creation and exchange feasible, and how might it be achieved? For archaeologists with European ancestry working in the Global South, especially, what does it mean to be an ally to the communities you work with? For archaeologists coming from underrepresented backgrounds in the field, what is the allyship you have seen or still need to see, and how does it manifest itself in decolonial approaches to archaeological methodologies? This proposed session is intended to be more optimistic than daunting, as we have the opportunity to challlenge ourselves to consider what is most ethical and inclusive, rather than what is simply possible.