Abstract
A major problem facing North American approaches to historical archaeology is the exclusionary manner in which the discipline is defined. By confining historical archaeology to the era of capitalism and colonialism, we declare that the indigenous histories of many areas of the globe are of no interest to such an intellectual agenda. If we practice an historical archaeology that only valorizes the colonial experience, then what happens to history making that engaged cultures in the pre-capitalist and pre-modern era? Such approaches separate the histories of people in Africa from those of the West, and, is in effect, academic apartheid. To remedy this disjuncture, we interrogate how historical archaeology may escape the bounds of implicit racism in its denial of historicity before literacy. We suggest that breaking the chains of exclusion is the only way to realize an inclusive archaeology sensitive to all history making projects.
Résumé
Les approches nord-américaines à l’archéologie historique font face à un problème majeur, soit la base d’exclusion sur laquelle la discipline est définie. En confinant l’archéologie historique aux ères du capitalisme et du colonialisme, nous déclarons que l’histoire autochtone de plusieurs régions du monde ne suscite aucunement l’intérêt d’un tel programme intellectuel. Si nous exerçons une archéologie historique qui ne valorise que l’expérience coloniale, qu’advient-il des événements historiques ayant mobilisé les cultures des ères précapitaliste et prémoderne? Lesdites approches excluent l’histoire des peuples d’Afrique de celle des peuples occidentaux, devenant pour cause un modèle d’apartheid académique. Pour colmater cette brèche, nous nous demandons comment l’archéologie historique peut se sortir du joug du racisme implicite et de son déni de l’historicité préalable à l’alphabétisation. Nous suggérons que le seul moyen de donner naissance à une archéologie sensible à tous les projets marquants de l’histoire est de briser les chaînes de l’exclusion.
Resumen
Un problema muy grave que enfrentan los enfoques norteamericanos a la arqueología histórica es la manera excluyente en que se define la disciplina. Al confinar a la arqueología histórica a la era del capitalismo y del colonialismo, declaramos que las historias indígenas de muchas áreas del mundo no le interesan a dicha agenda intelectual. Si practicamos una arqueología histórica que s lo valoriza la experiencia colonial, entonces, ¿qué ocurre con la historia hecha por las culturas que participaron en la era precapitalista y premoderna? Tales enfoques separan las historias de los pueblos de África de las del Occidente y, de hecho, es un apartheid académico. Para remediar esta coyuntura, interrogamos cómo la arqueología histórica puede escapar a los límites del racismo implícito en su negación de la autenticidad histórica antes de la alfabetización. Sugerimos que la única manera de realizar una arqueología inclusiva, sensible a todos los proyectos de hacer historia, es romper las cadenas de la exclusión.
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Notes
In the late 1950s, terms such as “academic apartheid” were used in connection with segregation and racialization of South African institutions of higher education (see e.g. Davis 1960). Such terms have been resisted by scholars based at these institutions because of the discomfort their use created in those contexts. The very indifference of South African academics to the first World Archaeological Congress (WAC1) underlines this. The same phrase is in use today in connection with adjunct faculty in the USA (see DeSantis 2011). In South Africa, academic apartheid evolved out of institutionalized racism, as university governance dealt with drafting policies to protect white students, who, until recently, were the majority at such institutions.
By colonialism or colonization, we are using the term in a restricted context, to refer to gradual, and then increased, and finally accelerated European interest, settlement and, very often, violent subjugation of the continent of Africa, from the late fifteenth to the end of the 19th centuries. The coastal regions and the interiors of Africa were colonised in very different ways, by fundamentally different European imperial ideologies (see e.g. Ekechi 2002; Lovejoy 2012). The existence of a vast African diaspora from the 16th century onwards is largely the legacy of the practice of transporting millions of Africans out of the continent by European and Arab colonisers, a practice which triggered much violence among the societies affected. Referred to as the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, it was an integral part of the colonization of Africa. It involved expansion into the African hinterland, bringing many African societies into contact with Europeans, or at least, their trading items, which were exchanged for human resources (see e.g. Silliman 2005).
Teaching of local history is optional. Because it is not included in national exams, very few teachers devote time to such a focus.
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Schmidt, P.R., Pikirayi, I. Will Historical Archaeology Escape Its Western Prejudices to Become Relevant to Africa?. Arch 14, 443–471 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-018-9342-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-018-9342-1