This offering adds to the reflexivity and NHPA amendment discussions that
have occurred on three lists (ACRA-L, HISTARCH, and ARCH-L).
About reflexivity:
Reflexivity is like salt. We need it in our lives and yet we can't have too
much because too much will destroy that which does it. There are many forms of
reflexivity. I have talked about two, social reflexivity and self-reflexivity.
Social reflexivity is all around you. It manifests in thousands of ways. It
is present whenever people acknowledge who they are and what they are doing.
These chat rooms, peer review, and simple moments of greetings and good byes are
all manifestations of social reflexive behavior.
Self reflexivity is the similar experience of acknowledging yourself in terms
of who you are and what are you doing. A little dose of it every day assists
in the maturity process as we all go through our life cycles. Too much of it
leads to the trap of narcissism. I also think that you should do it on your own
free time, not while at work.
Reflexivity in archaeology:
Some people will tell you that reflexivity has come to archaeology only in
the last thirty years or so. There was this “reflexive” turn, if you will. This
is nonsense. By definition, archaeology has always been reflexive because
it's humans studying remains of humans. As long as humans have studied themselves
they have been, by definition, human. You might as well define homo sapiens
as being creatures with reflexive ability—awareness of being self aware. All
social sciences, history, and fine arts are socially reflexive endeavors.
Historic preservation, like archaeology, is a profession devoted to the
social reflexive process. When the NHPA crisis popped up a few weeks ago and then
the reflexive topic came along on these websites I ventured off into a mental
journey of rediscovery. I ventured across places I hadn't been for many years.
I also found new stuff, like all of social science is now really into this
reflexive stuff. The R word is everywhere. What is this, a mid life crisis by
Baby Boomers?
Reflexivity in CRM:
The other thing I stumbled across is a paper by Michael Shanks, The Future of
the Past in Post-Industrial Society
(http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/%7emshanks/writing/Future_past.pdf). Irony of ironies, I find myself, after many years
of being dissatisfied by his work, actually promoting one of his papers. If you
get past a couple of his quirks (calling himself a culture critic and
archaeology as story telling) the paper is a road map to the future of CRM. I
especially like the discussions of democracy, industry, and identity. I tip my hat to
Dr. Shanks.
Cheers,
Larry Moore
Reflexive essays:
2001 The Misplaced Trowel. North American Archaeologist 22(4): 387-402.
1994 The Ironies of Self-Reflection in Archaeology. In Archaeological
Theory: Progress or Posture? Edited by Ian Mackenzie, pp. 43-56. Worldwide
Archaeology Series #11, Avebury/Ashgate Publishing Co., Brookfield, VT.
1994 Getting Back to Work: Reply to Mackenzie. In Archaeological Theory:
Progress or Posture? Edited by Ian Mackenzie, pp. 61-65. Worldwide Archaeology
Series #11, Avebury/Ashgate Publishing Co., Brookfield, VT.
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