Heritage as liberation
Open accessAbstract
Why aren't archaeologists engaging in more substantive heritage work, and how might we do so? This article offers a conceptual framework for mobilizing our praxis toward the achievement of collective emancipation—what I am calling heritage as liberation. Heritage as liberation provides a mechanism for reckoning. It asks us to reevaluate our motivations and more clearly articulate what we stand for as archaeologists and heritage practitioners. I offer reflections on recent attempts by archaeologists to organize toward a just future, sketch what I think a practice of heritage as liberation offers that agenda, and then analyze the Equal Justice Initiative's (EJI) heritage work as an example of what is possible when we practice heritage as liberation. I close the article with thoughts on where archaeology stands in attempts to repair and redress past wrongs and on the range of contexts that might see an emancipatory heritage praxis enacted.
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Research works printed but not linked: 5
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- 10.5744/florida/9780813056784.001.0001 · DOI
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Cited by
Still being checked.
- Authors
- Fryer, T. C.
- Affiliations
- University of Michigan (US)
- Corresponding author
- Fryer, Tiffany C.
- ORCID
- Fryer, Tiffany C.
- Venue
- American Anthropologist
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2023-04-17
- Volume
- 125
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 420-434
- ISSN
- 0002-7294 (ISSN-L)
- 1548-1433
- OpenAlex
- W4366202640
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 75
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1
- FWCI
- 23.88
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- American Anthropologist (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Deep Blue (University of Michigan) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Cultural Identity and Heritage
- Social Sciences › Anthropology › Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Cultural Heritage Management and Preservation
- Keywords
- collective emancipation, Equal Justice Initiative, reckoning, redress, heritage work
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