These blog posts contain aspects of a paper I am developing as part of the 2022 Canadian Archaeological Association meetings.
‘There’s Nothing (of significance) Here: understanding data interpretation blind spots in archaeological-science.
Abstract: We all have blind spots. Harmless blind spots might be amusing. Blind spots cloaked in the mantle of authority, however, can have a rather pernicious life with manifold ill effects. This paper explores interpretive blind spots within the euro-centric science of archaeology. We begin by setting the stage for how the North American variant of this science had its roots in a white supremacist ethnic mobility and replacement ideology. While we acknowledge that a discipline can slip the shackles of its parents’ desires, that the practitioners of the discipline can act in ways contradictory to its initial conception, we find a blind spot persist in the disciple’s continued adherence to a euro-centric ideology of science. Next we draw upon our own experience appropriating archaeological-science for Indigenous led inquiry. Here we examine the intersection of euro-centric skepticism and pragmatic discovery focussed blindness. We explore this through two stories: “the archaeologist and the waakyil (currant) patch,” and; “there’s nothing of significance here (archaeologists and abalone). Finally we conclude by suggesting a way out of this legacy blind spot through upending the euro-centrism of archaeological science and adopting an Indigenous intellectual framework.
Blog posts
- The archaeologist and the waakyil patch.
- There’s Nothing of Significance here (archaeologists and abalone).