Some archaeologists consider their role to be to explain humanity to itself. Some to be stewards of the past, some to attach communities to place and the post through stories. Why would you allow rich white men to dominate those roles? The lack of diversity undermines the purpose of the discipline - ThreadSky

sarahmay1.bsky.social • 55 days ago

Some archaeologists consider their role to be to explain humanity to itself. Some to be stewards of the past, some to attach communities to place and the post through stories.
Why would you allow rich white men to dominate those roles?
The lack of diversity undermines the purpose of the discipline

Reposted from Catherine Frieman

hey archaeologists: here's a chart (and paper) to get you thinking about the discipline and its future

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sarahmay1.bsky.social•55 days ago

There are, of course, a lot of folks working on opening up the discipline of archaeology, but the barriers are extreme. Convincing folks that suffered from colonialism to work in a discipline founded on it, where white people still hold almost every position of power and influence is tough >

palomaberggren.bsky.social•54 days ago

Gatekeepers mentality. Many European peers express deep-seated doubts about GSGS training in archaeology, the validity of our uni education, and the methods of archaeological work conducted outside their modern world. In 🇸🇪 I’ve been asked many times whether we know what commercial archaeology is…

sarahmay1.bsky.social•55 days ago

Gender diversity in archaeology starts out ok, but cultures of harassment, particularly in the field, combined with challenges with childcare and an 'old boys' attitude means that power has yet to shift away from men >

sarahmay1.bsky.social•55 days ago

And the chart about wealth, archaeology began as a hobby for the rich, and given the precarity of the sector is a big risk for anyone without family wealth to fall back on. Students need to travel & have less time for paid work. Again persistent cultural exclusion is a factor too >

sarahmay1.bsky.social•55 days ago

The discipline also suffers from substantial ableism, again stemming from it's history and it's culture of fieldwork, which is only recently being thought through in terms of accessibility. >

sarahmay1.bsky.social•55 days ago

So those folks who are working to change things need more support. I'm not sure what organisations have moved over here yet, @lheathstout.bsky.social is there a starter pack?
But meanwhile, we need to take archaeology's claims for social benefit within the frame of this extremely narrow profile

lheathstout.bsky.social•54 days ago

Not that I've seen, unfortunately!

sarahmay1.bsky.social•55 days ago

As with many other disciplines, public archaeology, community archaeology, 'outreach' - the parts that actually focus on social benefit, are slightly more diverse than 'research'. Those rich white men get on with the 'big questions' while arguments for support come from the very folks being excluded

jonathanmorris.bsky.social•55 days ago

Wow. That chart is stark.

hannahpethen.bsky.social•55 days ago

Most of the data is first half of the 20th century and it stops at 1970, but I suspect we would find different but equally disturbing trends with today's data. There is a lack of working class archaeologists only exacerbated by fees/department closure and other negative trends in academia.

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