Working as Indigenous Archaeologists explores the often-contentious relationship between Indigenous and other formerly colonized peoples and Archaeology through their own voices.
Over the past 30-plus years, the once-novel field of Indigenous Archaeology has become a relatively familiar part of the archaeological landscape. It has been celebrated, criticized, and analyzed as to its practical and theoretical applications, and its political nature. No less important are the life stories of its Indigenous practitioners. What has brought some of them to become practicing archaeologists or heritage managers? What challenges have they faced from both inside and outside their communities? And why haven’t more pursued archaeology as a vocation or avocation? This volume is a collection of 58 autobiographical chapters by Indigenous archaeologists and heritage specialists from around the world—some community based, some academic, some in other realms—who are working to connect past and present in meaningful, and especially personal ways. As Archaeology continues to evolve, there remain strong tensions between an objective, science-oriented, evidentiary reasoning approach to knowing the past, and a more subjective, relational approach informed by local values, traditional knowledge, and holistic perspective. While there are no maps for these new territories, hearing directly from those Indigenous individuals who have pursued archaeology reveals the pathways taken. Those stories will provide inspiration and confidence for those curious about what lies ahead.
This is an important volume for anyone interested in the present state and future of the archaeological discipline.
Part 1. Framing the Conversation
Introduction Reckoning New Paths
George Nicholas and Joe Watkins
Part 2. Listening and Learning
1 Feminist Archaeologies from the Borders
Daniela Balanzátegui (Ecuadorian and Mestiza)
2 Seeking My Center Place: Migrations through Science and Tradition
Lyle Balenquah (Hopi)
3 Starting Archaeological Studies as a Mature Student in My 40s
Robyne Bancroft (Bundjalung/Gumbaingerr)
4 Indigenous Archaeology and My Responsibility to Archaeological Legacies
Kristen Barnett (Aleut/Unangax)
5 Decolonizing Maya Discourse of Identity as an Archaeologist
Adolfo Ivan Alpuche Batun (Yucatec Maya)
6 Archaeological Double Agency
Beau Carroll (Kituwah/Eastern Cherokee, Wild Potato Clan)
7 Mayaland Deciphered: Archaeologies of the Self
Juan A. Cocom Castillo (Yucatec Maya, Xocenpich)
8 Where We Ultimately Belong
M. Hinanui Cauchois (Polynesian)
9 Fresh Ideas from a Murdi Geoarchaeologist
Malcolm Connolly (Muruwari)
10 From My Tradition to My Profession: Moving between the “Gentiles,” Archaeologies, and the Hills of Colors
Jimena Cruz Mamani (Atacameño-Lickanantay)
11 All Roads Lead Home: Thinking about Archaeology Through Emotions and Affectivitions
Marcela Diaz (Mestiza and Afro-desendant)
12 Working as a Proud Archaeologist Where I Originate
Kodzo Gavua (Ghanaian)
13 Country, Language, Culture and Ancestors: The Cultural and Archaeological Journey of a Wiradjuri-Wangaaypuwan winarr
Sharon Hodgetts (Wiradjuri- Wangaaypuwan)
14 Earth Mother, Sky Father, and Everything Inbetween
Tracey Howie (Garigal and Walkaloa Clans, Wannangine Nation)
15 Recalling Indigenous Knowledge in Cape Town
Robyn Humphreys (San and Khoisan South African) and June Bam-Hutchison (Khoisan)
16 From a Barman to a Scholar: Sharing the Experience of Being an Archaeologist and a Heritage Scholar in Tanzania
Elgidius E. B. Ichumbaki (Haya)
17 Being and Becoming One of the Voices of Haitian Archaeology
Joseph Sony Jean (Haitian)
18 Coming Home with a Vengeance: Indigenous Activism on the Margins of Archaeology
Ivana Carina Jofre (Warpe)
19 What Makes Me Different
Des Tatana Kahotea (Ngāti Pukenga, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngaiterangi, Māori )
20 Making Inuit Archaeology Matter in Kalaallit Nunaat
Mari Kleist (Nuummioq)
21 Finding Strength in Culture and History
Jacinta Koolmatrie (Adnyamathanha and Ngarrindjeri)
22 Raiders of a Lost Identity: Indigeneity and Archaeology in the Dominican Republic
Pauline Kulstad-Gonzalez (Salta Atrás)
23 NDEE Archaeologist???
Nicholas Laluk (Ndee/White Mountain Apache)
24 Learning and Teaching with Love: An Indigenous Auntie’s Journey in Archaeology
Ora V. Marek-Martinez (Díne, Nimiipuu, Hopi)
25 Becoming an African Archaeologist
Asmeret Mehari (Tigrinya)
26 Being an Indigenous Archaeologist is a Calling: Finding Purpose in Archaeology
Nthabiseng Mokoena-Mokhali (Mosotho)
27 My Story as an Indigenous Archaeologist and the Story of the Sámi Prehistory in Archaeology
Inga-Maria Mulk (Sámi)
28 The Past is Exactly How it Should Be: Lessons in Indigenous Archaeology from a Birch Bark Biter
Bonnie D. Newsom (Penobscot)
29 Being More Than an Indigenous Archaeologist
John William Norder (Mni Wakan Oyate (Spirit Lake Tribe))±
30 From Dictionary to Archaeology: My Intellectual Journey
Akinwumi Ogundiran (Yoruba)
31 Being “Indigenous’’ is Weird
Rita Ujunwa Onah (Igbo)
32 Aboriginal Cultural Heritage
Lyndon Ormond-Parker (Alyawara)
33 The Path to Recognizing One’s Own Indigenous Identity: Implications and Challenges for an Archaeologist from the Peruvian Andes
Manuel F. Perales Munguia (Shawsha-Wanka)
34 Growing up within the Territory of Great Zimbabwe
Innocent Pikirayi (Karanga)
35 Being a Nyikina Archaeologist
Emily Poelina-Hunter (Nyikina)
36 Being Indigenous Archaeologists
Kellie Pollard (Wiradjuri)
37 Laklãnõ, the Daughter of the Sun and Her Journey
Walderes Coctá Priprá de Almeida (Laklãnõ/Xokleng)
38 Rima O Te Rapa Nui -- The Hand of Rapa Nui
Rafael Rapu Rapu (Rapa Nui Indigenous Group)
39 Reflections of a Oaxacan on Community Archaeological Work in Changing Times
Jorge Luis Rios Allier (Mestizo-Zapoteco)
40 When Science Becomes Personal: Practicing Scientific Research as a Borikua Archaeologist
Isabel C. Rivera-Callazo (Borikua)
41 A Journey to and from Archaeology
Zac Roberts (Walbunja Yuin)
42 Finding a Sense of Belonging in a Discipline that Thinks You’re Extinct
Tsim D. Schneider (Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria)
43 Becoming a Čâhiksičâhiks Archaeologist
Carlton Shield Chief Gover (Pumpkin Vine Clan, Wolf Band, Pawnee Nation)
44 Being an Indigenous Archaeologist in Sudan
Intisar Elzein Soghayroun (Sudanese
45 My Indian Name is a Pyroepistemology (“Fire is a Cleansing Path”)
Paulette Steeves (Cree-Métis, Native American, and European)
46 Reweaving Relations: An Indigenous Archaeologist’s Journey
Kisha Supernant (Métis)
47 My Difficult Journey through the Ethiopian Historical Layers
Habtamu Mekonnen Taddesse (Ethiopian)
48 Walking the Walk: The Adventures of an Indigenous Decolonialist in the Land of Archaeology
Diane L. Teeman (Burns Paiute)
49 Being a Female Papua New Guinea Archaeologist: Finding My Feet Through Understanding the Past
Roxanne Tsang (Lamaklik Clan, Kabil/Lagadon Villages)
50 I Ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope: Using Our Past to Inform Our Future: Cultural Heritage Stewardship By and For Our People
Kelley Lehuakeaopuna Uyeoka (Kanaka ʻŌiwi, Hawaiʻi)
51 Reclaiming Our Voices: An Indigenous Archaeologist’s Feminist Approach to Rock art and Heritage
Emily C. Van ast (Lakota and Anishinaabe)
52 Being a iTaukei Archaeologist
Tarisi Vunidilo (Fijian)
53 Developing a Wai Wai Archaeology to Strengthen Ancestral Knowledge
Jaimie Xamen Wai Wai (Wai Wai)
54 Knowledge as Wisdom to and from Archaeology
Camina Weasel Moccasin (Akainaakii (Kainai Nation), Akaipookaiksi (Many Children Clan))
55 From the Town Camps of Alice Springs to the Halls of Academia
Sam Juparulla Wickman (Arrente)
56 The Land is Our Mother
Annette Xiberras (Wurundjeri)
57 Dè Goı̨zıí (“Place Names”)
John B. Zoe (Tłı̨chǫ)
Part 3. Reflective Essays
58 Miguel Aguilar Diaz (Pallca Andean Community)
59 Margaret Bruchac (Abenaki)
60 Antonio Cuxil (Kaqchikel Maya)
61 Dorothy Lippert (Choctaw)
62 Nduyakhe Ndlovu (Zulu)
63 He maha ngā whaiwhakāro: Reflections of a Wahine Māori Archaeologist
Makere (Margaret) Rika-Heke (Maori)
64 Chris Wilson (Ngarrindjeri)
65 Afterword
Joe Watkins and George Nicholas
About the Contributors
Index
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