APOLOGIES FOR CROSS POSTING!

CALL FOR PAPERS FOR SAA 2000
Annual Meetings of the Society for American Archaeology
April 5-9, 2000
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

PUBLIC ARCHAEOLOGY: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES, DEBATE, AND CRITIQUE
Organized by:
Carol McDavid: University of Cambridge (and) Levi Jordan Plantation
Historical Society
John Carman: University of Cambridge
Linda Derry: Alabama Historical Commission (and) Old Cahawba Archaeological
Park
Patrice L. Jeppson: Center For Archaeology/Baltimore County Public Schools
(and) University of Pennsylvania

Much recent conversation about 'public archaeology', 'heritage',
'archaeological heritage management', 'cultural resource management', and
other terms referring to 'public' archaeological practice has revealed a
certain ambiguity about what the term 'public archaeology' means. Is all
archaeology inevitably 'public'? Or, are there individual areas of expertise
(education, legislative, technological, political, journalistic,
performance, museums, tourism, etc.) that are beginning to form a legitimate
area of specialized archaeological practice, analogous to geographic,
technical, temporal, and other specializations?

If this is so, what are the implications of this growing 'specialization',
both within archaeology and in terms of public awareness? The purpose of
this session will be to provide space for an active scholarly debate about
the different goals pursued under the rubric 'Public Archaeology'. While
there will be an introduction to provide an organizational framework for the
session, the session organizers will not set out an a priori definition of
what 'Public Archaeology' is - or isn't. Rather, the session will be aimed
at providing CRITICAL AND SELF-REFLEXIVE assessments of what we actually DO
with our 'publics', and, perhaps more importantly, critical examinations of
what this work with our publics DOES, in terms of archaeology as a
discipline and in social life more generally.

While it is true that archaeology characterized as 'public' is often limited
to narrow descriptions of how-tos of engaging the public, the reality is
that, worldwide, practitioners of 'public archaeology' (however they define
themselves) are increasingly conducting and writing theoretically informed
scholarship that goes far beyond the ''practical''. Our hope is that we will
receive abstracts which highlight the nature of this recent work in public
archaeology, and that different national and regional styles of doing
'public archaeology' (or Heritage, CRM, etc.)will be represented. There will
be no 'discussants', but, rather, a designated period of moderated
discussion, which the organizers regard as important as the papers
themselves.

Please send requests for information, and/or abstracts to:

Carol McDavid
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or
Patti Jeppson
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The deadline for delivering the session packet to SAA is September 2;
therefore, if you are interested in participating in this session please let
us know as soon as possible. For further information about fees, etc.,
please see the SAA web site at http://www.saa.org