This is my last word (promise) on this topic, and is written in a much
less
strident manner, you'll be relieved to read.
Actually, some of you may be amused by the reaction that a close friend
and
colleague who also subscribes to HISTARCH gave me this morning:
"Alasdair, I
think you're broadly right, but did you have to be so appallingly
_rude_?"
Well, HISTARCH needed a little livening up, and the odd bout of
angry-young
(ish)-manism never hurt a listserv as long as part of the tongue stays
in
cheek....
I freely accept that I was (intentionally) provocative, but the only bit
I
really regret typing was my unintentional, but equally unforgiveable,
slur
on American-based Caribbean fieldschools. Otherwise I hold that I was
broadly
accurate, though it's equally clear that opinion on that accuracy is
sharply
divided. The nature of that division is somewhat interesting...
Of the people who supported my perspective (publically or privately),
the
overwhelming majority were either based outside of North America, or had
spent a significant part of their career outside of the region and
made a point of telling me so. Equally, the overwhelming majority of
people who found my perspective gratuitously objectionable
were North Americans. There were also a few people (such as Robert
Schuyler and
Paul Courtney) who addressed the topic more obliquely, and added a
welcome
calm and academic respectability to events.
But the geographical division of responses fascinates me.... Although
we
have to assume that the people who answered were those who felt most
strongly
about the topic, the very nature of the division suggests that there is
a
considerable body of historical/post-medieval archaeologists practicing
outside
North America who feel a certain unease with North American historical
archaeology's current efforts and claims to address international
issues.
But to me, the fundamental two words in that last sentence are "current
efforts".
Believe it or not, I'm fundamentally an optimist, and while I may be
dissatisfied
with the current state of affairs, I do believe that things can and will
improve.
On this side of the Atlantic, the ever-increasing confidence of
post-medieval
archaeology to address theoretical issues means that we will
increasingly engage
with each other across the pond - although no doubt we will disagree
strongly
at times over interpretations. Personally, I could make more of an
effort to
engage with Australasian historical archaeology, my grasp of which is,
to me,
frequently embarrasingly tenuous.
I do think, however, that if we are ever to fully engage with each
other, if we
are ever to genuinely practice an "international" historical
archaeology, then
we need to think very carefully about the role of our various societies
and
journals. For example, as I've noted in the past, is the SHA a fully
international
society, or is it a North American society with international members?
If the
former, what potential role exists for non-North American conferences,
board members,
etc.? If the latter, what roles and interactions are planned for and
with
SPMA, SAHA, IJHA and the like? One of my main points is that we're only
just reaching
the stage where we need to think about these issues seriously and that
there are a lot
of unresolved issues that we need to start thinking about. It seems to
me that
there are some misgivings about potential developments in this
direction. After all,
the underlying professional structure of a discipline often strongly
effects the
direction of that discipline.
Perhaps at some point in the future, we might be looking at a single,
merged, genuinely
international society for historical and post-medieval archaeology -
which in an age of
digital communication is hardly as impractical as you might think. My
own opinion is
that this is still some way off, that certain changes in basic mindsets
are still
necessary, and getting people together for a bit of human interaction is
still a major
stumbling block. But one can but dream....
And if you read to the end of this, you win a special prize ;-)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alasdair Brooks
Department of Archaeology
University of York
King's Manor
York
YO1 2EP
England, UK
phone: 01904 433931
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The Buffalo tastes the same on both sides of the border"
Sitting Bull
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