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Cited by 19Historical and Cultural Archaeology StudiesCritical and Liberation PedagogyArchaeology and Cultural Heritage

Teaching Anti-Colonial Archaeology

Hutchings, Rich, La Salle, Marina·2014·Archaeologies
DOI 10.1007/s11759-014-9250-y
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Abstract

Archaeology is deeply troubled, but students are unlikely to learn about it in their ARCH 100 class. Our experience with ‘World Prehistory’ and ‘Introductory Archaeology’ courses and reviewing common textbooks charts a discipline securely anchored in the 19th century ideological harbour that is science, evolution, imperialism and progress. This includes so-called ‘middle road’ and ‘post-colonial’ approaches, which reinforce the status quo by limiting political action. In our search for an alternative, we discuss here our attempts to teach an anti-colonial archaeology rooted in critical pedagogy, political activism and anti-oppressive practice. At its core are three tenets: archaeology is personal, political and all about the present. While we are gratified by the many students who relish this opportunity for critical enquiry, we are faced with this lingering problem: most people do not want to hear the “negative reality” of archaeology.

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Authors
Hutchings, R., & La Salle, M.
Venue
Archaeologies
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2014-04
Volume
10
Issue
1
Pages
27-69
ISSN
  • 1555-8622 (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-3987
DOI
10.1007/s11759-014-9250-y
OpenAlex
W2058214518
Semantic Scholar
6c125a0b514a9df4e7f1164e0abeeb8960c2f60c
Cited by
19
References
127
Citations by year
2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2
FWCI
5.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
Locations
Archaeologies (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Education › Critical and Liberation Pedagogy
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Archaeology and Cultural Heritage
Keywords
critical pedagogy, archaeology education, postcolonial archaeology, imperialism, evolutionism, idea of progress, political activism, anti-oppressive practice

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