Cited by 151Historical and Cultural Archaeology StudiesRace, History, and American SocietyCultural Identity and Heritage

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 153 of the 153 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 64 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.

“The Future of Archaeology Is Antiracist”: Archaeology in the Time of Black Lives Matter

Open access

Abstract

This forum builds on the discussion stimulated during an online salon in which the authors participated on June 25, 2020, entitled “Archaeology in the Time of Black Lives Matter,” and which was cosponsored by the Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA), the North American Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG), and the Columbia Center for Archaeology. The online salon reflected on the social unrest that gripped the United States in the spring of 2020, gauged the history and conditions leading up to it, and considered its rippling throughout the disciplines of archaeology and heritage preservation. Within the forum, the authors go beyond reporting the generative conversation that took place in June by presenting a road map for an antiracist archaeology in which antiblackness is dismantled.

Overview

AI snapshot

Written from the paper’s full text.

TL;DR

This forum argues that archaeology must dismantle antiblackness and rebuild as an antiracist, Black feminist, Black Study–rooted praxis. It offers a four-phase roadmap and calls for accomplices, public heritage reorientation, and mentorship to retain Black archaeologists.

Key findings

  • The authors define antiblackness, drawing on Vargas, as the “fundamental, structural, ubiquitous, and unique” logic of Black suffering and subjugation, and they call for an antiracist archaeology that dismantles it.
  • They propose a four-phase approach: Phase I demolition of barriers to racial equity; Phase II foundational construction with accomplices rather than allies; Phase III rebuilding through clarified understandings of race; and Phase IV sustainability through mentorship.
  • They argue Black archaeology is more than archaeology of the African diaspora or archaeology done by people of African descent; it requires methodological and theoretical reconceptualization rooted in Black Studies and Black feminism, with intersectional, collaborative, and political practice.
  • For public heritage, they argue BLM monument contestation should shift focus from preservation/removal toward interrogating which histories are chosen to steward, and they discuss preserving damage or displaying damaged monuments.
  • Contextual numbers include: in the 1994 SAA membership survey, only 2 of over 1,600 respondents self-identified as Black; based on a rough SBA membership estimate, Black archaeologists increased from a handful to over 80 in two decades; the June 25, 2020 salon had over 1,700 Zoom attendees, its Vimeo recording was viewed over 2,000 times in two months, and the event series produced a 40-page resource guide.

Methods

  • The article is a forum piece building on the June 25, 2020 online salon “Archaeology in the Time of Black Lives Matter,” cosponsored by the Society of Black Archaeologists, the North American Theoretical Archaeology Group, and the Columbia Center for Archaeology.
  • The authors use the most-engaged tweeted panelist quotations as guideposts, then collaboratively expand on them, producing a polyvocal discourse; the event series also included a read-in and a workshop.
  • No original data were presented; the piece is a commentary/roadmap rather than an empirical study.

Limitations

  • Stated: “No original data were presented in this article.”
  • Evident: as a forum/commentary, it does not systematically test the four-phase approach or measure outcomes; recommendations rest on the authors’ and salon participants’ perspectives.
  • Evident: the Zoom and Vimeo figures describe reach, not representativeness or effectiveness, and no formal sampling or evaluation is reported.

Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1017/aaq.2021.18

Cites

153 of 153 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

0 of 64 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged

Show all 20 claims

  • Probably not a substantial claim. 33
  • It may state two separate claims as one. 24
  • The quote only partly states this claim. 1
45 of 45
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The effects of a global pandemic coupled with police brutality against Black people made stark racial disparities hypervisible to the larger public.

    “Together, both made stark racial disparities, already known and experienced by Black Americans, hypervisible to the larger public.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    State-sanctioned violence against Black people is underwritten within the founding of the United States of America.

    “State-sanctioned violence against Black people is underwritten within the founding of the United States of America, so it is ages old.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The hypervisibility of Black death seen through the coupling of COVID-19 and police brutality has had effects that have rippled through the profession as archaeologists confront the field's racist foundations.

    “But the hypervisibility of Black death seen through the coupling of COVID-19 and police brutality has had effects that have rippled through the profession as archaeologists confront the field's racist foundations.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The murder of George Floyd and the disproportionate number of people of color, especially African Americans, dying from COVID-19 have underscored racial inequality as America's dominant social problem.

    “The murder of George Floyd and the disproportionate number of people of color, especially African Americans, dying from COVID-19 have underscored racial inequality as America's dominant social problem.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The interventions of Black feminists are consistently sidelined in conversations around inequality within public and private domains.

    “The interventions of Black feminists are consistently sidelined in conversations around inequality within public and private domains.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The discipline has witnessed previous interventions (e.g., the New Archaeology, feminist archaeology, post-processualism) whereby archaeologists promoted new agendas, methods, and theories.

    “The discipline has witnessed previous interventions (e.g., the New Archaeology, feminist archaeology, post-processualism) whereby archaeologists promoted new agendas, methods, and theories.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Black communities historically opposed racist monuments through a variety of strategies, including sustained engagement with defacement that has persisted to the present day.

    “Black communities historically opposed these monuments through a variety of strategies, including sustained engagement with defacement that has persisted to the present day.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Renovations happen silently without recognition of vandalism, and the monumentality of these racist objects is often normalized as part of the everyday.

    “In addition, renovations happen silently without recognition of vandalism, and, most dangerously, the monumentality of these racist objects is often normalized as part of the everyday.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The lesser known history of radical Black dissent is regularly either rendered invisible or demonized.

    “Moreover, the lesser known history of radical Black dissent is regularly either rendered invisible or demonized.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Reducing care guidelines and prioritizing the preservation of damage are already being considered.

    “For instance, reducing care guidelines and prioritizing the preservation of damage are already being considered.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Keeping up defaced and destroyed monuments has been proposed as a striking alternative to removal.

    “From an interpretive standpoint too, keeping up defaced and destroyed monuments has been proposed as a striking alternative to removal.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The possible display of damaged monuments in museums is being discussed as a way to cut through some of the risks of reinforcing white supremacist history in white spaces.

    “Similarly, the possible display of damaged monuments in museums is being discussed as a way to cut through some of the risks of reinforcing white supremacist history in white spaces.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    In the United States, nonwhite racialized groups experience larger wealth and income gaps, higher poverty rates, lower home ownership, failing school systems, and higher incarceration rates than their nonwhite counterparts.

    “In the United States, this daily reality impacts nonwhite racialized groups in many different ways-for example, families of African descent wrestle with a larger wealth and income gap, higher poverty rates, lower rates of home ownership, failing school systems in “urban areas,” and higher incarceration rates than their nonwhite counterparts.”
13 of 13

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Show all 149 references

Research works printed but not linked: 16

  1. Jones, 2011, Archaeology and My Mission to Empower the Youth of My Community, SAA Archaeological Record, 11, 30
  2. Hartman, 2019, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals
  3. Watson, 2020, Allyship and Accomplice: Two Sides of the Same Coin, Equity Dispatch, 4, 2
  4. Rutecki, 2016, Towards an Inclusive Queer Archaeology, SAA Archaeological Record, 16, 9
  5. Khan-Cullors, 2017, When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
  6. Nassaney, 2011, Race and the Society for Historical Archaeology: Steps towards Claiming an Antiracist Institutional Identity, SHA Newsletter, 44, 4
  7. Agbe-Davies, 2010b, Archaeology as a Tool to Illuminate and Support Community Struggles in the Black Metropolis of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, Public Archaeology, 9, 171
  8. Agbe-Davies, 2002, Black Scholars, Black Pasts, SAA Archaeological Record, 2, 24
  9. Labode, 2016, Reconsideration of Memorials and Monuments, AASLH History News, 71, 7
  10. Colwell-Chanthaphonh, 2008, Collaboration in Archaeological Practice: Engaging Descendant Communities
  11. Sharpe, 2016, In the Wake: On Blackness and Being
  12. Harden, 2019, Moving from Ally to Accomplice: How Far Are You Willing to Go to Disrupt Racism in the Workplace?, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 36, 32
  13. Kandaswamy, 2007, Beyond Colorblindness and Multiculturalism: Rethinking Antiracist Pedagogy in the University Classroom, Radical Teacher, 80, 6
  14. Reeves, 2004, Places in Mind: Public Archaeology as Applied Anthropology, 71
  15. Carey, Mia 2019 Toward an Antiracist Archeology. Activist History Review, September 27. https://activisthistory.com/2019/09/27/toward-an-antiracist-archeology/#_edn2, accessed July 28, 2020.
  16. Coates, 2015, Between the World and Me

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Items 101–151 of 151

Metadata

Authors
Flewellen, A. O., Dunnavant, J. P., Odewale, A., Jones, A., Wolde-Michael, T., Crossland, Z., & Franklin, M.
Affiliations
  • University of California, Riverside (US)
  • Vanderbilt University (US)
  • University of Tulsa (US)
  • Smithsonian Institution (US)
  • Columbia University (US)
  • The University of Texas at Austin (US)
Corresponding author
Flewellen, Ayana Omilade
Venue
American Antiquity
Published
2021-04
Volume
86
Issue
2
Pages
224-243
ISSN
  • 0002-7316 (ISSN-L)
  • 2325-5064
OpenAlex
W3154196164
Cited by
151
References
149
Citations by year
2026: 28 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 39 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 5
FWCI
48.44
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
American Antiquity (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Race, History, and American Society
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Cultural Identity and Heritage
Keywords
Black Lives Matter, anti-Blackness, cultural heritage preservation, social unrest, decolonizing archaeology, racial justice

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