Alasdair,
I generally agree with your observation that few archaeologists take a "global"
view, which is fine with me. The fact that some archaeologists have been thinkin
g
and working in that direction is good news, as far as I can see. So what's the
problem? And why are you derinding Caribbean programs like mine...they do in fac
t
take rather sheltered urban American young folks and expose them to global,
international, cross-cultural experiences and insights? Are you turning into a
serious curmudgeon here? And damned if I would permit MY students to drink Red
Stripe, when there's perfectly good Banks to be had for less! Lighten up, friend
.
Dan
Alasdair Brooks wrote:
> Dan Mouer wrote:
>
> > While I (like many
> > archaeologists) personally prefer to wallow in the human details of particul
ar
> > sites and communities while working on them, what makes it all continually
> > interesting (and relevant, I dare say) is the fact that we are poking at par
ts
> > of that very large, very dynamic world-system. All this new-fangled
> > "globalization," about which the media and business interests speak so
> > incessantly, is at least 500 years old (and probably more like 5,000), and
> > historical archaeology has taken it on as a subject.
>
> But I don't think historical archaeology _has_ necessarily taken it on
> as a subject,
> or at least not with any real conviction. It's not just _many_
> archaeologists who
> "prefer to wallow in the human details of particular sites", it's the
> vast majority.
> While many pracitioners are perfectly happy to acknowledge that they're
> "poking
> at parts of that very large ... world system", only a tiny minority are
> realistically
> engaging with it (leaving aside for the moment any arguments over the
> validity
> of the phrase "world system"). After all, whatever their professors may
> have done
> in the past, I would hazard a guess that the vast majority of VCU (or
> university
> students in Virginia in general) anthro students don't visit Maharajah's
> palaces
> before becoming professional archaeologists, and that their
> international work
> experience, if any, involves a summer improving their tan and drinking
> Red Stripe
> in the Caribbean.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> 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
--
Dan Mouer
Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology
Virginia Commonwealth University
http://saturn.vcu.edu/~dmouer/homepage.htm
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