Communities and knowledge production in archaeology

Communities and knowledge production in archaeology
Author: Julia Roberts
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2020-01-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 152613456X

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This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. The dynamic processes of knowledge production in archaeology and elsewhere in the humanities and social sciences are increasingly viewed as the collaborative effort of groups, clusters and communities of researchers rather than the isolated work of so-called ‘instrumental’ actors. Shifting focus from the individual scholar to the wider social contexts of her work and the dynamic creative processes she participates in, this volume critically examines the importance of informal networks and conversation in the creation of knowledge about the past. Engaging with theoretical approaches such as the sociology and geographies of knowledge and Actor-Network Theory (ANT), and using examples taken from different archaeologies in Europe and North America from the seventeenth to the mid-twentieth century, the book caters to a wide readership, ranging from students of archaeology, anthropology, classics and science studies to the general reader.

Archaeology and Apprenticeship

Archaeology and Apprenticeship
Author: Willeke Wendrich
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2013-01-01
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816599300

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Archaeologists study a wide array of material remains to propose conclusions about non-material aspects of culture. The intricacies of these findings have increased over recent decades, but only limited attention has been paid to what the archaeological record can tell us about the transfer of cultural knowledge through apprenticeship. Apprenticeship is broadly defined as the transmission of culture through a formal or informal teacher–pupil relationship. This collection invites a wide discussion, citing case studies from all over the world and yet focuses the scholarship into a concise set of contributions. The chapters in this volume demonstrate how archaeology can benefit greatly from the understanding of the social dimensions of knowledge transfer. This book also examines apprenticeship in archaeology against a backdrop of sociological and cognitive psychology literature, to enrich the understanding of the relationship between material remains and enculturation. Each of the authors in this collection looks specifically at how material remains can reveal several specific aspects of ancient cultures: What is the human potential for learning? How do people learn? Who is teaching? Why are they learning? What are the results of such learning? How do we recognize knowledge transfer in the archaeological record? These fundamental questions are featured in various forms in all chapters of the book. With case studies from the American Southwest, Alaska, Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Mesopotamia, this book will have broad appeal for scholars—particularly those concerned with cultural transmission and traditions of learning and education—all over the world.

Making Heritage Together

Making Heritage Together
Author: Aris Anagnostopoulos
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2022-02-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1000573133

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Making Heritage Together presents a case study of public archaeology by focusing on the collaborative creation of knowledge about the past with a rural community in central Crete. It is based on a long-term archaeological ethnography project that engaged this village community in collectively researching, preserving and managing their cultural heritage. This volume presents the theoretical and local contexts for the project, explains the methodology and the project outcomes, and reviews in detail some of the public archaeology actions with the community as examples of collaborative, research-based heritage management. What the authors emphasize in this book is the value of local context in designing and implementing public archaeology projects, and the necessity of establishing methods to understand, collaborate and interact with culturally specific groups and publics. They argue for the implementation of archaeological ethnographic research as a method of creating instances and spaces for collaborative knowledge production. The volume contributes to a greater understanding of how rural communities can be successfully engaged in the management of their own heritage. It will be relevant to archaeologists and other heritage professionals who aim to maximise the inclusivity and impact of small projects with minimal resources and achieve sustainable processes of collaboration with local stakeholders.

Shared Knowledge, Shared Power

Shared Knowledge, Shared Power
Author: Veysel Apaydin
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2017-11-20
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3319686526

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This volume brings together the experiences and research of heritage practitioners, archaeologists, and educators to explore new and unique approaches to heritage studies. The last several decades have witnessed a rapid increase in the field of cultural heritage studies worldwide. This increase in the number of studies and in interest by the public as well as academics has effected substantial change in the understanding of heritage and approaches to heritage studies. This change has also impacted the perception of communities, how to study and protect the physical residues of heritage, and how to share the knowledge of heritage. It has brought the issue of who has knowledge and how the value of heritage can be shared more effectively with communities who then ascribe meaning and value to heritage materials. Heritage studies, until a few decades ago, exclusively studied the material culture of the past as part of elitist approaches that completely neglected communities’ rights to knowledge of their own heritage. Additionally, heritage practitioners and archaeologists neither shared this knowledge nor engaged with communities about their heritage. Communities were also mostly deprived from contributing to heritage and archaeological studies. This kind of top-down approach was quite common in many parts of the world. But recent studies and research in the field have shown the importance of including the public in projects, and that sharing the knowledge produced through heritage studies and archaeological works is significant for the protection and preservation of heritage materials; it has finally been understood that excluding the public from heritage is not ethical. This publication presents a wide array of case studies with different approaches and methods from many parts of the world to answer these questions.

Collaboration in Archaeological Practice

Collaboration in Archaeological Practice
Author: Thomas John Ferguson
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2008
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9780759110540

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In Collaboration in Archaeological Practice, prominent archaeologists reflect on their experiences collaborating with descendant communities (peoples whose ancestors are the subject of archaeological research). They offer philosophical and practical advice on how to improve the practice of archaeology by actively involving native peoples and other interested groups in research.

Archaeology of Archaeology

Archaeology of Archaeology
Author: Seyed Emad Adin Khazraee Afzali
Publisher:
Total Pages: 602
Release: 2014
Genre: Archaeology
ISBN:

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This dissertation focuses on the sociotechnical aspect of knowledge production in multidisciplinary, collaborative, and data-intensive scholarly practices, specifically focusing on the archaeological communities of practice. This research explores the logico-scientific and the narrative modes of knowing in the practice of archaeology. Much research has focused on the logico-scientific mode while little work has been done on the narrative mode of knowing. Drawing on theories developed in Science and Technology Studies (STS) and ethnographic and qualitative methods, archaeological narrative construction has been investigated at three levels. Based on theories of Communities of Practice (CoP) and Networks of Practice (NoP), this study presents an expanded conceptualization of archaeological NoP as a nexus of materially-mediated activities, which spans multiple CoPs. Three configurations of practice as Organizational CoPs, Disciplinary CoPs and NoPs are suggested. The process of archaeological knowledge production is conceptualized as the emergence of epistemic objects which are created in response to the breakdowns resulted from the observation of anomalies. The wider adoption of epistemic objects depends upon the researcher's ability to develop and stabilize a compelling theoretical narrative. The study findings suggest that the success of such narratives depends on the enrollment of allies through two strategies of reinforcement and expansion. Information recording objects play a crucial role in both strategies. The wider acceptance of a stabilized narrative in the global Networks of Practice, then, depends on the socio-political processes of the NoPs and the struggles for domination among power positions in the network as well as the larger cultural narratives. The deeper understanding of knowledge-in-practice achieved by this study will help us better address the design requirements of complex information ecologies for interpretive, multidisciplinary, and data-intensive practices such as archaeology.

The Archaeology of Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World

The Archaeology of Knowledge Traditions of the Indian Ocean World
Author: Himanshu Prabha Ray
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 300
Release: 2020-11-18
Genre: History
ISBN: 1000220737

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This book examines knowledge traditions that held together the fluid and overlapping maritime worlds of the Indian Ocean in the premodern period, as evident in the material and archaeological record. It breaks new ground by shifting the focus from studying cross-pollination of ideas from textual sources to identifying this exchange of ideas in archaeological and historical documentation. The themes covered in the book include conceptualization of the seas and maritime landscapes in Sanskrit, Arabic and Chinese narratives; materiality of knowledge production as indicated in the archaeological record of communities where writing on stone first appears; and anchoring the coasts, not only through an understanding of littoral shrines and ritual landscapes, but also by an analysis of religious imagery on coins, more so at the time of the introduction of new religions such as Islam in the Indian Ocean around the eighth century. This volume will be of great interest to researchers and scholars of archaeology, anthropology, museum and heritage studies, Indian Ocean studies, maritime studies, South and Southeast Asian studies, religious studies and cultural studies.

Complex Communities

Complex Communities
Author: Benjamin W. Porter
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2013-11-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0816530327

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Introduction: the persistence of community -- Communal complexity on the margins -- Measuring social complexity in the early iron age -- Producing community -- Managing community -- Conclusion: the complex community.

Community Archaeology and Heritage in Africa

Community Archaeology and Heritage in Africa
Author: Peter R. Schmidt
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2016-06-17
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317220757

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This volume provides new insights into the distinctive contributions that community archaeology and heritage make to the decolonization of archaeological practice. Using innovative approaches, the contributors explore important initiatives which have protected and revitalized local heritage, initiatives that involved archaeologists as co-producers rather than leaders. These case studies underline the need completely reshape archaeological practice, engaging local and indigenous communities in regular dialogue and recognizing their distinctive needs, in order to break away from the top-down power relationships that have previously characterized archaeology in Africa. Community Archaeology and Heritage in Africa reflects a determined effort to change how archaeology is taught to future generations. Through community-based participatory approaches, archaeologists and heritage professionals can benefit from shared resources and local knowledge; and by sharing decision-making with members of local communities, archaeological inquiry can enhance their way of life, ameliorate their human rights concerns, and meet their daily needs to build better futures. Exchanging traditional power structures for research design and implementation, the examples outlined in this volume demonstrate the discipline’s exciting capacity to move forward to achieve its potential as a broader, more accessible, and more inclusive field.

Community-based Archaeology

Community-based Archaeology
Author: Sonya Atalay
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2012
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0520273354

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"Community Based Participatory Research in archaeology finally comes of age with Atalay's long-anticipated volume. She promotes a collaborative approach to knowledge gathering, interpretation, and use that benefits descendant communities and archaeological practitioners, contributing to a more relevant, rewarding, and responsible archaeology. This is essential reading for anyone who asks why we do archaeology, for whom, and how best can it be done." - George Nicholas, author of Being and Becoming Indigenous Archaeologists "Sonya Atalay shows archaeologists how the process of Community Based Participatory Research can move our efforts at collaboration with local communities beyond theory and good intentions to a sustainable practice. This is a game-changing book that every archaeologist must read." - Randall H. McGuire, author of Archaeology as Political Action