Page 268. CHAPTER 15 Ethics, Objectivity and Emancipatory Archaeology Dean J. Saitta Part of the ... more Page 268. CHAPTER 15 Ethics, Objectivity and Emancipatory Archaeology Dean J. Saitta Part of the challenge facing an ethical and socially responsible archae-ology is to square traditional, time-honored commitments to 'object ...
The Ludlow Massacre was the defining event of the 1913-1914 Colorado Coal Field Strike. This coal... more The Ludlow Massacre was the defining event of the 1913-1914 Colorado Coal Field Strike. This coal strike was one of the most violent in United States history. It resulted in an estimated 66 deaths and an unknown number of wounded. The question of who “won” the strike—coal companies or organized labor—can be answered differently. Although the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) did not achieve its most important goal of Union recognition, the strike can nonetheless be seen as a victory for organized labor. The striking miners held out for 14 months in makeshift tent colonies on the Colorado prairie. They endured through one of the worst winters in Colorado history. They persevered despite the considerable ethnic diversity of the coal fields—24 different languages were spoken—which undoubtedly made collective action difficult. The strikers were eventually undone by the superior economic and political resources of the coal companies, and the depletion of UMWA strike funds. Certainly,...
Saitta examines historical archaeology's success in reconstructing collective social action i... more Saitta examines historical archaeology's success in reconstructing collective social action in the past and considers the implications of these reconstructions for society today. Recognizing that studies of the past can serve different social interests, creating knowledge that can be used to oppress or emancipate elements of society, Saitta argues that historical archaeology needs to move beyond its emphasis on recovering the individual to acknowledging and asserting its power to effect social change. Developing a theoretical and methodological approach to the archaeology of collective action, Saitta reviews some of the progress archaeologists have made in illuminating race-, gender-, and class-based forms of collective action in shaping the American experience. He then provides a case study illustrating the methods and insights archaeology brings to research on the Ludlow Massacre and the Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-14. Throughout, Saitta frames key issues and definitions in a clear, accessible style and offers compelling and persuasive arguments for the epistemological reorientation of the discipline of historical archaeology. Notably, the book makes explicit the tie between the archaeological past and the political present. Excavations of the strikers' tent colony site at Ludlow, Colorado, provided novel insights into the survival tactics and resistance strategies of ordinary people locked in struggle with state and corporate power. The site became a powerful living memorial, resonating in contemporary labor struggles. Saitta's book will thus have special interest for the audience of scholars, students, and citizens who see archaeology as both a source of historical truth and a comment on the contemporary human condition.
... John's Polychrome 76 1175-1300 Carlson 1970 St. ... very uniform size (clustering ti... more ... John's Polychrome 76 1175-1300 Carlson 1970 St. ... very uniform size (clustering tightly around 5.72 square meters in area), and rela-tively greater amounts of unworked raw materials, finishedtools, or tool-making debris. Loci of ceramic and stone-and bone-tool manufacture, ...
Page 257. DEAN J. SAITTA COMMUNAL CLASS PROCESSES AND PRE-COLUMBIAN SOCIAL DYNAMICS A major goal ... more Page 257. DEAN J. SAITTA COMMUNAL CLASS PROCESSES AND PRE-COLUMBIAN SOCIAL DYNAMICS A major goal of archaeology is to explain past cases of social change. To the extent that archaeology is the only social ...
Methodologies for learning about the past are currently at issue within archaeology. This paper c... more Methodologies for learning about the past are currently at issue within archaeology. This paper considers learning from the standpoint of a ‘radical’ archaeology. One strand of a radical archaeology's approach to learning–a Marxist strand–is discussed, and its main methodological challenge identified. This challenge is the development of middle-range frameworks for recognizing what Binford and others term ‘ambiguity’ – unexpected variation in the archaeological record from which fresh insights about the past can be produced. Concepts and ideas for constructing appropriate middle-ranges for a radical archaeology are discussed.
International Journal of E-Planning Research, 2015
Academic blogging has typically been a form of digital scholarship that is under-utilized in acad... more Academic blogging has typically been a form of digital scholarship that is under-utilized in academia. Although there are both costs and benefits to blogging at different stages in an academic's career, blogs can provide a rewarding platform for bringing research and academic perspectives to a wide-reaching and broader audience. This note explores the different experiences of each of the co-authors in terms of using blogs for their scholarly communication. The experiences and lessons gained are of particular relevance to urban planners, sociologists, and anthropologists, who study the social, economic, and historical elements of the city. The findings suggest that the motivations and approaches of scholarly blogging are diverse but overall add value to the academic community. Moreover, each testimony in this note provides examples of the benefits of blogging for research, collaboration, and engagement.
Publisher Summary This chapter explores the consequences of an empiricist epistemology for both a... more Publisher Summary This chapter explores the consequences of an empiricist epistemology for both archaeology and society and presents an alternative set of philosophical issues that might serve to focus a philosophy of archaeology. Schiffer (1981) appealed for development of a more explicit philosophy of archaeology. Schiffer identified two issues within archaeology warranting philosophical treatment from archaeologists and philosophers of science alike. One of these issues concerns the borrowing of theoretical concepts from other disciplines (specifically ecology) to apply to human behavior; the other issue concerns the problem of confirmation in ethnoarchaeology. The basis of empiricist epistemology is the notion that thought and reality can be treated as independently existing realms of life. The consequences of empiricist epistemology are as profound for society as they are for the discipline. Schiffer's call for a set of procedures to mediate theory building and for some guidelines for confirming knowledge-claims clearly reflects an allegiance to empiricist epistemology. Dialectical materialist asserts that no theoretical framework regardless of its epistemological underpinnings can deliver the essence or truth of reality. The empiricist's claim that such truth can be known via programmatic adherence to a set of procedures for mirroring reality is, thus, rejected. Dialectical materialism specifies a form of critique that is distinctly nontraditional.
International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2002
Field schools are a rite of passage for archaeologists, the first experience of what for many is ... more Field schools are a rite of passage for archaeologists, the first experience of what for many is the defining activity of the discipline: fieldwork. While teaching competence in practical techniques is the minimum goal of any field school, this technical training must be situated within the broader goals that drive the fieldwork. The University of Denver Archaeological Field School provides
Archaeologists who seek to examine people's roles in past societies have long assumed, consci... more Archaeologists who seek to examine people's roles in past societies have long assumed, consciously or unconsciously, the existence of individuals. In this study, we explore various concepts and dimensions of ‘the individual’, both ethnographic and archaeological. We show that many protagonists in the debate over the existence of ‘individuals’ in prehistory use the same ethnographic examples to argue their positions. These positions range from the claim that any suggestion of individuals prior to 500 years ago simply projects a construct of western modernity onto the past, to the view that individual identities are culturally specific social constructs, both past and present. Like most contributors to the debate, we too are sceptical of an unchanging humanity in the past, but we feel that thinking on the topic has become somewhat inflexible. As a counterpoint to this debate, therefore, we discuss Bourdieu's concept of habitus in association with Foucault's notion of power...
Page 268. CHAPTER 15 Ethics, Objectivity and Emancipatory Archaeology Dean J. Saitta Part of the ... more Page 268. CHAPTER 15 Ethics, Objectivity and Emancipatory Archaeology Dean J. Saitta Part of the challenge facing an ethical and socially responsible archae-ology is to square traditional, time-honored commitments to 'object ...
The Ludlow Massacre was the defining event of the 1913-1914 Colorado Coal Field Strike. This coal... more The Ludlow Massacre was the defining event of the 1913-1914 Colorado Coal Field Strike. This coal strike was one of the most violent in United States history. It resulted in an estimated 66 deaths and an unknown number of wounded. The question of who “won” the strike—coal companies or organized labor—can be answered differently. Although the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) did not achieve its most important goal of Union recognition, the strike can nonetheless be seen as a victory for organized labor. The striking miners held out for 14 months in makeshift tent colonies on the Colorado prairie. They endured through one of the worst winters in Colorado history. They persevered despite the considerable ethnic diversity of the coal fields—24 different languages were spoken—which undoubtedly made collective action difficult. The strikers were eventually undone by the superior economic and political resources of the coal companies, and the depletion of UMWA strike funds. Certainly,...
Saitta examines historical archaeology's success in reconstructing collective social action i... more Saitta examines historical archaeology's success in reconstructing collective social action in the past and considers the implications of these reconstructions for society today. Recognizing that studies of the past can serve different social interests, creating knowledge that can be used to oppress or emancipate elements of society, Saitta argues that historical archaeology needs to move beyond its emphasis on recovering the individual to acknowledging and asserting its power to effect social change. Developing a theoretical and methodological approach to the archaeology of collective action, Saitta reviews some of the progress archaeologists have made in illuminating race-, gender-, and class-based forms of collective action in shaping the American experience. He then provides a case study illustrating the methods and insights archaeology brings to research on the Ludlow Massacre and the Colorado Coalfield Strike of 1913-14. Throughout, Saitta frames key issues and definitions in a clear, accessible style and offers compelling and persuasive arguments for the epistemological reorientation of the discipline of historical archaeology. Notably, the book makes explicit the tie between the archaeological past and the political present. Excavations of the strikers' tent colony site at Ludlow, Colorado, provided novel insights into the survival tactics and resistance strategies of ordinary people locked in struggle with state and corporate power. The site became a powerful living memorial, resonating in contemporary labor struggles. Saitta's book will thus have special interest for the audience of scholars, students, and citizens who see archaeology as both a source of historical truth and a comment on the contemporary human condition.
... John's Polychrome 76 1175-1300 Carlson 1970 St. ... very uniform size (clustering ti... more ... John's Polychrome 76 1175-1300 Carlson 1970 St. ... very uniform size (clustering tightly around 5.72 square meters in area), and rela-tively greater amounts of unworked raw materials, finishedtools, or tool-making debris. Loci of ceramic and stone-and bone-tool manufacture, ...
Page 257. DEAN J. SAITTA COMMUNAL CLASS PROCESSES AND PRE-COLUMBIAN SOCIAL DYNAMICS A major goal ... more Page 257. DEAN J. SAITTA COMMUNAL CLASS PROCESSES AND PRE-COLUMBIAN SOCIAL DYNAMICS A major goal of archaeology is to explain past cases of social change. To the extent that archaeology is the only social ...
Methodologies for learning about the past are currently at issue within archaeology. This paper c... more Methodologies for learning about the past are currently at issue within archaeology. This paper considers learning from the standpoint of a ‘radical’ archaeology. One strand of a radical archaeology's approach to learning–a Marxist strand–is discussed, and its main methodological challenge identified. This challenge is the development of middle-range frameworks for recognizing what Binford and others term ‘ambiguity’ – unexpected variation in the archaeological record from which fresh insights about the past can be produced. Concepts and ideas for constructing appropriate middle-ranges for a radical archaeology are discussed.
International Journal of E-Planning Research, 2015
Academic blogging has typically been a form of digital scholarship that is under-utilized in acad... more Academic blogging has typically been a form of digital scholarship that is under-utilized in academia. Although there are both costs and benefits to blogging at different stages in an academic's career, blogs can provide a rewarding platform for bringing research and academic perspectives to a wide-reaching and broader audience. This note explores the different experiences of each of the co-authors in terms of using blogs for their scholarly communication. The experiences and lessons gained are of particular relevance to urban planners, sociologists, and anthropologists, who study the social, economic, and historical elements of the city. The findings suggest that the motivations and approaches of scholarly blogging are diverse but overall add value to the academic community. Moreover, each testimony in this note provides examples of the benefits of blogging for research, collaboration, and engagement.
Publisher Summary This chapter explores the consequences of an empiricist epistemology for both a... more Publisher Summary This chapter explores the consequences of an empiricist epistemology for both archaeology and society and presents an alternative set of philosophical issues that might serve to focus a philosophy of archaeology. Schiffer (1981) appealed for development of a more explicit philosophy of archaeology. Schiffer identified two issues within archaeology warranting philosophical treatment from archaeologists and philosophers of science alike. One of these issues concerns the borrowing of theoretical concepts from other disciplines (specifically ecology) to apply to human behavior; the other issue concerns the problem of confirmation in ethnoarchaeology. The basis of empiricist epistemology is the notion that thought and reality can be treated as independently existing realms of life. The consequences of empiricist epistemology are as profound for society as they are for the discipline. Schiffer's call for a set of procedures to mediate theory building and for some guidelines for confirming knowledge-claims clearly reflects an allegiance to empiricist epistemology. Dialectical materialist asserts that no theoretical framework regardless of its epistemological underpinnings can deliver the essence or truth of reality. The empiricist's claim that such truth can be known via programmatic adherence to a set of procedures for mirroring reality is, thus, rejected. Dialectical materialism specifies a form of critique that is distinctly nontraditional.
International Journal of Historical Archaeology, 2002
Field schools are a rite of passage for archaeologists, the first experience of what for many is ... more Field schools are a rite of passage for archaeologists, the first experience of what for many is the defining activity of the discipline: fieldwork. While teaching competence in practical techniques is the minimum goal of any field school, this technical training must be situated within the broader goals that drive the fieldwork. The University of Denver Archaeological Field School provides
Archaeologists who seek to examine people's roles in past societies have long assumed, consci... more Archaeologists who seek to examine people's roles in past societies have long assumed, consciously or unconsciously, the existence of individuals. In this study, we explore various concepts and dimensions of ‘the individual’, both ethnographic and archaeological. We show that many protagonists in the debate over the existence of ‘individuals’ in prehistory use the same ethnographic examples to argue their positions. These positions range from the claim that any suggestion of individuals prior to 500 years ago simply projects a construct of western modernity onto the past, to the view that individual identities are culturally specific social constructs, both past and present. Like most contributors to the debate, we too are sceptical of an unchanging humanity in the past, but we feel that thinking on the topic has become somewhat inflexible. As a counterpoint to this debate, therefore, we discuss Bourdieu's concept of habitus in association with Foucault's notion of power...
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