Theme:
3. Sustainable archaeology and heritage in an unsustainable world
Session format:
Round table (only list of confirmed discussants(session co-organizers)
Title:
CANCELLED Misuse of the Medieval in the Early 21st century
Content:
The historical misuse of archaeology in order to defend and promote ideological standpoints is finding new expressions in the early 21st century, partly due to the development of communication technology and increasingly harsh debate rhetoric in politics and elsewhere. Social media and media in general are demonstrably aiding this development. This affects both the academic community as a whole and individual academics, whether these researchers are online and opposing the outputs or not. Perhaps more worryingly, various productions, commentaries, and debates based on false, skewed, and/or cherry-picked archaeological evidence influence public opinion concerning a series of central cultural-historical, social, and political issues today. This MERC roundtable session will focus on examples of misuse of the medieval in a variety of contexts and referring to a range of archaeological material and research. Furthermore, we wish to discuss the social responsibility and capability of academics to discuss and counter these tendencies in a fruitful way.
Keywords:
medieval, misuse of the past, heritage politics, media
Session associated with MERC:
yes
Session associated with CIfA:
no
Session associated with SAfA:
no
Session associated with CAA:
no
Session associated with DGUF:
no
Session associated with other:
Main organiser:
Marte Spangen (Norway) 1
Co-organisers:
Carlo Citter (Italy) 2
Robin Fleming (United States) 3
Affiliations:
1. UiT - Arctic University of Norway
2. Siena University
3. Boston College
THIS SESSION CAN NOT BE SELECTED AT THIS MOMENT