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Contribution to Book
Blurring for Clarity: Archaeology as Hybrid Practice
Postcolonial Perspectives in Archaeology: Proceedings of the 39th (2006) Annual Chacmool Archaeological Conference, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (2009)
  • Stephen W. Silliman, University of Massachusetts Boston
Abstract

In an effort to decolonize the field, archaeologists, particularly historical archaeologists, have used post-colonial notions of hybridity to interpret past (and present) colonialism and especially the experiences of indigenous people therein. Archaeologists also have countered the colonialist tendencies of the discipline through repatriation efforts and Indigenous participation. This paper blends these two trends as a way of exploring the possibilities of archaeology as a hybrid practice. I refer in particular to the collaborative and indigenous archaeologies of recent years and the complex ways that identities and practices interface therein. In this complex post-colonial (or neocolonial) world, it is worth considering how archaeological hybridity can serve as a social and political strategy to blur borders, to unsettle method and theory, to acknowledge colonial legacies but not be consumed by them, and to insure that histories created through archaeology remain grounded and relevant.

Keywords
  • historical archaeology,
  • colonialization,
  • Native Americans
Publication Date
2009
Editor
Peter Bikoulis, Dominic Lacroix, and Meaghan Peuramaki-Brown
Publisher
Chacmool Archaeological Association, University of Calgary
ISBN
9780889533370
Citation Information
Stephen W. Silliman. "Blurring for Clarity: Archaeology as Hybrid Practice" CalgaryPostcolonial Perspectives in Archaeology: Proceedings of the 39th (2006) Annual Chacmool Archaeological Conference, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada (2009)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/stephen_silliman/26/