Theme:
4. People of the Present – Peopling the Past
Session format:
Regular session
Title:
Positionality in the Archaeology of Mobility and Identity
Content:
Can archaeological research be ‘objective’? And how much does the background, formation and mentality of the researcher affect their observations? We would like to open a debate on reflexivity and positionality in archaeological practice. Both are well established in Cultural and Social Anthropology as necessary forms of self-reflection during participant observation and fieldwork. These terms indicate an awareness of our own personal backgrounds and their impact on the collection and analysis of data. Self-reflexivity can be a useful, if not essential, epistemological tool for interpreting archaeological data, making scholars aware of their biases, especially regarding topics with distinct political or ideological impacts. Examples include studies on ancient mobility and migrations, as well as on the concepts of ethnicity and identity, and on the definition of alterity. Some concrete references in the history of archaeological research are provided by the discussions on Romanisation, the origin of the Etruscan, prehistoric and late antique migrations, ancient ethnicities in the Balkans, racism in Classical antiquity, and on the use of palaeogenetics.
This session deals with the issue of bias in past and present research on ancient mobility and identities. It invites us to rethink the relationship between archaeologists and the archaeological record as an intersubjective and interpretative process. The session will raise, amongst others, questions such as: in which form can positionality be introduced into archaeological research? Are data collection and methodology subjective, and in what ways? What can archaeology learn from anthropological reflexivity? The session addresses anthropologists and archaeologists alike and welcomes contributions on any aspects, including the analysis of consciousness of unconscious (uses of) positionality in past (archaeological) research, discussions of possible future perspectives that will make research biases more explicit, and the integration of the researcher’s own background in publication processes.
Keywords:
Researcher background, Awareness, Reflexivity, Social Anthropology, Ethnoarchaeology, Migration
Session associated with MERC:
no
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:
Raffaella Da Vela (Germany) 1
Co-organisers:
Christian Heitz (Austria) 2
Sabine Klocke-Daffa (Germany) 1
Wulf Frauen (Germany) 1
Affiliations:
1. SFB 1070 RessourcenKulturen University of Tübingen
2. Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck
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