Anarchy and Archaeology
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.33439Keywords:
Anarchism, radical archaeologies, politics and archaeology, archaeological theoryAbstract
Anarchist theory is having a ‘moment’ in the social sciences. A growing number of scholars draw on anarchist thought to conceptualize human history and offer solutions grounded in direct democracy for a range of modern ills, including racism, sexism, and structural violence. As scholars wake to the realization that universities have become instruments for the advancement of capital, and as contemporary politics continues to embrace ethnonationalism, neoliberalism, and patriarchy, engagements with anarchist thought and practice have emerged in the academy and more broadly. What does this mean for contemporary archaeology? Here, we raise questions relating to three potential threads: the archaeology of anarchists; the use of anarchism to inform archaeological theory and practice; and the use of archaeological knowledge to inform contemporary anarchisms.
References
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____. and C. Grier. 2012. “Anarchism and the Archaeology of Anarchic Societies: Resistance to Centralization in the Coast Salish Region of the Pacific Northwest Coast.” Current Anthropology 53 (5): 547–587. https://doi.org/10.1086/667621
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De Marrais, E. 2016. “Making Pacts and Cooperative Acts: The Archaeology of Coalition and Consensus.” World Archaeology 48 (1) 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2016.1140591
Diamond, J. 1999. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Flexner, J. L. 2014. “The Historical Archaeology of States and Non-States: Anarchist Perspectives from Hawai‘i and Vanuatu.” Journal of Pacific Archaeology 5 (2): 81–97.
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Graeber, D. 2004. Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
Graham, R. 2015. We Do Not Fear Anarchy, We Invoke It: The First International and the Origins of the Anarchist Movement. Edinburgh: AK Press.
Hamilakis, Y. 2015. “Archaeology and the Logic of Capital: Pulling the Emergency Break.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 19 (4): 721–735. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-015-0307-4
Hutchings, R. and M. La Salle. 2015. “Archaeology as Disaster Capitalism.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 19 (4): 699–720. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-015-0308-3
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Morgan, C. L. 2015. “Punk, DIY, and Anarchy in Archaeological Thought and Practice.” AP: Online Journal in Public Archaeology 5: 123–146. https://doi.org/10.23914/ap.v5i0.67
Orser, C. E. 2011. “The Archaeology of Poverty and the Poverty of Archaeology.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 15 (4): 533–543. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-011-0153-y
Parkman, E. B. 2014. “A Hippie Discography: Vinyl Records from a Sixties Commune.” World Archaeology 46 (3) 431–447. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2014.909103
Proudhon, P.-J. 1994 [1840]. What is Property? Translated by D. R. Kelley and B. G. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813726
Rathbone, S. 2017. “Anarchist Literature and the Development of Anarchist Counter-Archaeologies.” World Archaeology 47 (3): 291–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2017.1333921
Ribeiro, L. 2015. “Development Projects, Violation of Human Rights, and the Silence of Archaeology in Brazil.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 19 (4): 810–821. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-015-0313-6
Richardson, L. J. 2017. “I’ll Give You ‘Punk Archaeology’, Sunshine.” World Archaeology 49 (3): 306–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2017.1333036
Sayers, D. O. 2014. “The Most Wretched of Beings in the Cage of Capitalism.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 18 (3): 529–554. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-014-0268-z
Scott, J. C. 1985. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
____. 1998. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
____. 2009. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Springer, S. 2016. The Anarchist Roots of Geography: Toward Spatial Emancipation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Taylor, A., K. Gessen and editors from n=1, Dissent, Triple Canopy and The New Inquiry. 2011. Occupy! Scenes from Occupied America. New York: Verso.
Vagnone, F. D. and D. E. Ryan. 2016. Anarchist’s Guide to Historic House Museums. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Welch, J. R. 2017. “Cycles of Resistance.” SAA Archaeological Record 17 (1):17–21.
Wengrow, D. and D. Graeber. 2015. “Farewell to the ‘Childhood of Man’: Ritual, Seasonality, and the Origins of Inequality.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 21 (3): 597–619. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12247
Werkheiser, M. 2016. “The Cultural Resource Management Industry in the Age of Trump.” American Cultural Resources Association Webinar, online: https://vimeo.com/193381138
____. and C. Grier. 2012. “Anarchism and the Archaeology of Anarchic Societies: Resistance to Centralization in the Coast Salish Region of the Pacific Northwest Coast.” Current Anthropology 53 (5): 547–587. https://doi.org/10.1086/667621
Amster, R., A. DeLeon, L. A. Fernandez, A. J. Nocella II and D. Shannon. 2009. Contemporary Anarchist Studies: An Introductory Anthology of Anarchy in the Academy. London and New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203891735
Bakunin, M. 1950 [1872]. Marxism, Freedom and the State. London: Freedom Press.
Bettinger, R. 2015. Orderly Anarchy: Sociopolitical Evolution in Aboriginal California. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Birmingham, J. 2013. “From Potsherds to Smartphones: Anarchism, Archaeology, and the Material World.” In Without Borders or Limits: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Anarchist Studies, edited by J. A. Meléndez Badillo and N. J. Jun, 165–176. London: Cambridge Scholars Press.
Black Trowel Collective. 2016. “Foundations of an Anarchist Archaeology: A Community Manifesto.” Savage Minds. Online: https://savageminds.org/2016/10/31/foundations-of-an-anarchist-archaeology-a-community-manifesto/
Borck, L. 2016. Lost Voices Found: An Archaeology of Contentious Politics in the Greater Southwest, A.D. 1100–1450. PhD Diss. University of Arizona, Tucson.
____. and M. C. Sanger. 2017. “An introduction to anarchism in archaeology.” SAA Archaeological Record 17 (1): 9–16.
Caraher, W., K. Kourelis and A. Reinhard. 2014. Punk Archaeology. Grand Forks: The Digital Press @ The University of North Dakota.
Cashdan, E. A. 1980. “Egalitarianism Among Hunters and Gatherers.” American Anthropologist 82 (1): 116–120. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1980.82.1.02a00100
Crumley, C. L. 1987. “A Dialectical Critique of Hierarchy.” In Power Relations and State Formation, edited by T. C. Patterson and C. W. Gailey, pp. 155–169. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association.
De Marrais, E. 2016. “Making Pacts and Cooperative Acts: The Archaeology of Coalition and Consensus.” World Archaeology 48 (1) 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2016.1140591
Diamond, J. 1999. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Flexner, J. L. 2014. “The Historical Archaeology of States and Non-States: Anarchist Perspectives from Hawai‘i and Vanuatu.” Journal of Pacific Archaeology 5 (2): 81–97.
Fowles, S. 2014. “On Torture in Societies Against the State.” In Violence and Civilization: Studies of Social Violence in History and Prehistory, edited by R. Campbell, 152–178. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Goldman, E. 1969 [1910]. Anarchism and Other Essays. New York: Mother Earth Publishing.
González-Ruibal, A. 2010. “Fascist Colonialism: The Archaeology of Italian Outposts in Western Ethiopia.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 14 (4): 547–574. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-010-0118-6
Graeber, D. 2004. Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm Press.
Graham, R. 2015. We Do Not Fear Anarchy, We Invoke It: The First International and the Origins of the Anarchist Movement. Edinburgh: AK Press.
Hamilakis, Y. 2015. “Archaeology and the Logic of Capital: Pulling the Emergency Break.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 19 (4): 721–735. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-015-0307-4
Hutchings, R. and M. La Salle. 2015. “Archaeology as Disaster Capitalism.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 19 (4): 699–720. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-015-0308-3
Kropotkin, P. A. 1902. Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution. New York: McClure Phillips.
Leone, M. 1995. “A Historical Archaeology of Capitalism.” American Anthropologist 97 (2) 251–268. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1995.97.2.02a00050
McAnany, P. A. and N. Yoffee, eds. 2009. Questioning Collapse: Human Resilience, Ecological Vulnerability, and the Aftermath of Empire. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511757815
McGuire, R. H. 1992. A Marxist Archaeology. New York: Academic Press.
Morgan, C. L. 2015. “Punk, DIY, and Anarchy in Archaeological Thought and Practice.” AP: Online Journal in Public Archaeology 5: 123–146. https://doi.org/10.23914/ap.v5i0.67
Orser, C. E. 2011. “The Archaeology of Poverty and the Poverty of Archaeology.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 15 (4): 533–543. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-011-0153-y
Parkman, E. B. 2014. “A Hippie Discography: Vinyl Records from a Sixties Commune.” World Archaeology 46 (3) 431–447. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2014.909103
Proudhon, P.-J. 1994 [1840]. What is Property? Translated by D. R. Kelley and B. G. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511813726
Rathbone, S. 2017. “Anarchist Literature and the Development of Anarchist Counter-Archaeologies.” World Archaeology 47 (3): 291–305. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2017.1333921
Ribeiro, L. 2015. “Development Projects, Violation of Human Rights, and the Silence of Archaeology in Brazil.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 19 (4): 810–821. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-015-0313-6
Richardson, L. J. 2017. “I’ll Give You ‘Punk Archaeology’, Sunshine.” World Archaeology 49 (3): 306–317. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2017.1333036
Sayers, D. O. 2014. “The Most Wretched of Beings in the Cage of Capitalism.” International Journal of Historical Archaeology 18 (3): 529–554. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-014-0268-z
Scott, J. C. 1985. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
____. 1998. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
____. 2009. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Springer, S. 2016. The Anarchist Roots of Geography: Toward Spatial Emancipation. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Taylor, A., K. Gessen and editors from n=1, Dissent, Triple Canopy and The New Inquiry. 2011. Occupy! Scenes from Occupied America. New York: Verso.
Vagnone, F. D. and D. E. Ryan. 2016. Anarchist’s Guide to Historic House Museums. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Welch, J. R. 2017. “Cycles of Resistance.” SAA Archaeological Record 17 (1):17–21.
Wengrow, D. and D. Graeber. 2015. “Farewell to the ‘Childhood of Man’: Ritual, Seasonality, and the Origins of Inequality.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 21 (3): 597–619. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12247
Werkheiser, M. 2016. “The Cultural Resource Management Industry in the Age of Trump.” American Cultural Resources Association Webinar, online: https://vimeo.com/193381138
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Published
2019-01-26
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Anarchy and Archaeology Forum - OPEN ACCESS
How to Cite
Flexner, J. L., & Gonzalez-Tennant, E. (2019). Anarchy and Archaeology. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, 5(2), 213-219. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.33439
