What's my prize?
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Alasdair Brooks <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Tuesday, February 23, 1999 10:56 AM
Subject: My last (phew!), and much less polemic word on
internationalism(looooong)
 
 
>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
>