*** CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS: Society for American Archaeology Conference  
2010 ***

How archaeology makes its subject(s): Groups, things and epistemic  
(in)justices

Organizers:

David R. Cohen
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley
email: [log in to unmask]

Chelsea Blackmore
UC Office of the President Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley
email: [log in to unmask]
Archaeologists have long used objects as defining characteristics of  
what they suppose to be more-or-less bounded social groups, people who  
are presumably connected through what we perceive to be a shared  
material culture. We have a long legacy of characterizing such groups  
as “cultures”, often labeling them as the people of a certain pottery  
type (e.g., Bell-Beaker Culture), architectural or other technological  
style. While this may appear to be a harmless sort of classificatory  
strategy, there are numerous, often deeply problematic issues that it  
can generate. Not only does such a characterization tend to reduce the  
inquiry into the dynamics of how social and cultural entities develop,  
form, and engage with their social worlds because an “identity” is  
already pre-determined, but, as we can see in numerous cases in the  
contemporary world, such labels of identity can often lead to  
troubling 'epistemic injustices' (term of Miranda Fricker) of static  
identities and hence a resulting discrimination, among many other  
possibilities.

Papers will address various aspects of this dilemma, ranging from  
examinations on the long standing ways in which archaeologists make  
their subject(s), to those that explore the epistemic practices that  
can lead to specific cases of (in)justice in the contemporary world or  
historical past. This session is a continuation of ideas generated at  
the TAG (Theoretical Archaeology Group, Stanford University) 2009  
conference in a session organized by Meg Conkey, David Cohen, Matt  
Sayre, Doris Maldonado, and John Chenoweth.

Possible questions to be addressed include: How does archaeological  
practice impact modern descendant communities in their control over  
the past and the construction of modern identities? In what ways do  
our epistemologies alter, reify, or even demonize these groups and how  
does this affect their political, social, and economic access? In  
acknowledging these problems, how can we establish a socially and  
politically conscious practice and move beyond the subjugation of the  
materials and peoples we study? Is collaboration enough? What should  
our role/voice be in foreign countries where we work toward building  
knowledge about the past that has impacts on people in the present?

If you are interested in participating, please contact David and  
Chelsea for further information about the deadline for abstracts.

References
Fricker, Miranda
          2006         Powerlessness and Social Interpretation.  
Episteme 3(1-2):96-108.
          2007         Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethnics of  
Knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
          2008         Scepticism and the Genealogy of Knowledge:  
Situating Epistemology in Time. Philosophical Papers 				  37(1):27-50.