teaching “indigenous archaeology” to indigenous non-archaeologists, non-indigenous...

8/2/2019 Teaching Indigenous Archaeology to Indigenous non-Archaeologists, non-Indigenous Archaeologists, and non-Indig

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Society for American Archaeology 2012 77th

Annual Meeting, Memphis, TN

Session: Lessons from the Trenches: The Pedagogy of Archaeology and Heritage

Teaching Indigenous Archaeology to Indigenous non-Archaeologists, non-Indigenous

Archaeologists, and non-Indigenous non-Archaeologists: Hitting the Important Points

Joe Watkins, University of OklahomaEmail:[email protected]

Keywords: Indigenous archaeology, pedagogy, Native American; Geographic focus: NorthAmerican General

Teaching archaeology in a Native American Studies program carries with it challenges beyond

those faced by archaeologists who teach in an archaeology program. Questions of pedagogy in

an archaeology classroom are compounded in situations where there are people who believe that

archaeology is the handmaiden of colonialism; that archaeologists are at worst grave -robbers

and treasure hunters; or that ALL histories (real or imagined) are equivalent. The challenge in

working in a Native American Studies environment is to accurately present the methods and

theories within which archaeology operates while giving value to non-archaeological approaches

to the past.

Pedagogy is a foreign word to many college instructors, unless the instructor has at least a

passing background in education theory. I admit I dont have one, except what Ive picked upfrom my wife or from others along the way as Ive taught college and graduate classes.

A quick check on the Internet (where else?) gives some good sources, but I chose to focus on the

information athttp://pedagogy.merlot.org/. The website lists five areas (Learners and Learning;

Course Instructional Design; Teaching Strategies; Teaching Challenges; and Assessment), and

each of those sections offers suggestions and readings to help improve an instructors

understanding of the ways that teaching and learning are inter-related. I urge everyone who has

not looked at these sections to do so and to book mark the page for future reference.

But rather than proceed further with the information available on the website, I want instead to

focus on some of the techniques I use in the classroom to serve four purposes: first, to teach

Indigenous archaeology; second, to teach the subject to non-archaeologists; third, to teach the

subject in such a way that even those who have an original aversion to the topic understand it;
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://pedagogy.merlot.org/http://pedagogy.merlot.org/http://pedagogy.merlot.org/http://pedagogy.merlot.org/mailto:[email protected]


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and fourth, but most importantly, to teach the over-arching concept that archaeology has utility in

contemporary society.

Teaching Indigenous archaeology

Indigenous archaeology, as defined by Nicholas and Andrews (1997:3, note 5) is archaeology

with, for, and by Indigenous peoples. It was subsequently popularized by the publication of Joe

Watkins volume,Indigenous Archaeology: American Indian Values and Scientific Practice

(2000), which critically explored late 20th

-century relations between archaeologists and Native

Americans, particularly in the context of reburial, repatriation, and cultural resource

management. More recently, Nicholas (2008) offered the definition, in part, of Indigenous

archaeology as an expression of archaeological theory and practice in which the discipline

intersects with Indigenous values, knowledge, practices, ethics, and sensibilities, and through

collaborative and community-originated or -directed projects, and related critical perspectives

(1660).

Teaching Indigenous archaeology is more than teaching about archaeology by, with, and for

Indigenous peoples: it is about teaching alternative perspectives on the archaeological enterprise

so that everyone in the classroom understands that alternative perspectives have value. In this

regard, it is as much about tolerance for alternative perspectives as it is about the scientific

methods. Indigenous students, especially in classes where they are the minority, need to have

their varied perspectives validated by the instructor in such a way that they are not afraid to make

comments that might be misinterpreted as subjective and value-laden rather than the more

normal objective and value-free opinions usually expected in an academic setting.

I usually begin discussions of Indigenous archaeology by examining the concepts inherent in

origin stories of North American Indigenous populations. I have written about this previously

(Watkins 2006: 106-107) but it is important that everyone understand that by contextualizing

foundational topics within alternative cultural methods of understanding, students feel less

threatened by institutionalized truth and more aware of alternative means of examining the

same data. This allows critical evaluation of the class materials without providing a model of rote

acceptance of the instructors views. Occasionally I have to cope with the perspectives


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archaeology students have that archaeology somehow offers the truth about the past and that

alternative perspectives are somehow flawed if they do not follow scientific protocol.

Teaching the subject to non-archaeologists

It is often difficult to teach archaeology to non-majors because of many of the misunderstandings

and misconceptions people have. We all know we dont do dinosaurs, but we now also have to

compete with misconceptions generated by Spike TVs American Digger and the National

Geographics Digger about why we excavate and about the real value of artifacts we find. We

must enforce the idea that artifacts without context have no scientific valuesomething we must

also try to teach our Art History colleagues. I find it easier to teach concepts with different

methods, especially when it comes to methods archaeologists use to discuss the past, particularly

such things as observation and inference.

In one class, in order to teach about observation and inference, I asked students to collect data

about particular car owners based on observation of the automobiles. I asked them to note

particular features of the exterior of the car as well as things they could see within the car, and to

then offer some interpretations of the cars primary user. From the material they observed, they

were surprised about the amount of information they could gather. I then moved from this

example to talk about how archaeologists use similar sorts of observation to provide

reconstructions of past societies. By making the process fun and removing some of the magic,

students realize more of how we do what we do.

Teaching archaeology to those who might be averse to it

This perhaps is the most difficult of alltrying to teach archaeology to those who are somehow

averse to accepting it as having any beneficial aspects. This group of students usually comes in

with a preconceived notion of either what archaeology is (its relationship to Indigenous groups)

or what archaeology purports to provide. Indigenous students usually are predisposed to believe

that archaeologists are grave robbers whose only meaning in life is to plunder graves in search of

goodies to fill museum displays or to fulfill tenure (or other occupational) requirements. As

such, it is often more difficult to address this aspect of the class without seeming to be overtly

self-serving. While there is nothing wrong with being self-serving in the sense that we should be


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supportive of our discipline, it is important that we not be overly antagonistic about our

disciplines history. There have been times in the past where notable (notorious?) members have

plundered and pillaged in the name of science, but we must make it known that such instances

now are the extreme minority rather than the norm. Discussions of ethics, especially the SAAs

Principle # 2 (Accountability), helps situate the discipline within contemporary populations. This

discussion of ethics serves multiple purposes in that it helps all students understand that ethics

are as essential to the practice of archaeology as is careful measurements and observations.

In this regard, I usually tell the story of my involvement in archaeologyabout how I felt it was

at my grandmothers urging to not let the unwritten history of those who lived in the area of our

homestead before we didas a means of letting the students know that we each come to the field

in different ways. I also try to let them feel comfortable NOT wishing to come to the field. By

leaving the decision totally up to them, it alleviates stress or implied pressure to become one of

us.

Teaching the contemporary relevance of archaeology

Perhaps most difficult of all of the above aspects is to teach the contemporary relevance of

archaeology to anyone. As archaeologists we can discuss the bigger picture and time depth we

can offer; we can talk about how he who ignores the past is destined to repeat it; about how we

have to know where weve been in order to know where were going. Still, at the end of the day,

all we can do is offer our interpretations of how archaeology can help inform contemporary

populations about how cultures of the past dealt with issues similar to those we face today.

Does this work? Occasionally. I find that some groups of students are more open to the

discussion than others. I also find that some students are more disposed to being uncomfortable

with discussions revolving around the past and someones alternative interpretations of that past.

I also encounter aspects of the discussion that revolve around questions of authenticity related

to culturally determined issues such as status, gender, age, and shared cultural contextthings

most instructors do not think about. In those instances, I try to find ways of alternatively

communicating the information I want them to leave with, and then go on. There are certainly


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some things I cannot teach themperhaps as many they cannot learn from mebut I keep

trying to find ways of reach them.

I do believe an awareness of the different ways that our own culture influences not only our

communications but also the ways that our communications are accepted and interpreted is

extremely important when we are involved in trying to teach (and reach) students who are not

members of the dominant Euro-American cultures. If we become more aware of the

underlying contexts that influence the ways our teaching is interpreted as well as the way our

students from non-dominant cultures learn, we will be better able to meet their needs as well as

to be able to communicate that which we feel those students need to gain from our classes.

References cited:

Nicholas, George

2008 Native Peoples and Archaeology. In: Encyclopedia of Archaeology, Deborah M. Pearsall(ed), pp 1660-1669. New York: Academic Press.

Nicholas, George P., and Thomas D. Andrews

1997 Indigenous archaeology in the postmodern world. InAt a crossroads: Archaeologists and

First Peoples in Canada. Nicholas and Andrews (eds.), pp. 118. Burnaby, BC:

Archaeology Press, Simon Fraser University.

Watkins, Joe

2006 Communicating Archaeology: Words to the Wise.Journal of Social Archaeology 6(1):

100-118.

2000 Indigenous Archaeology: American Indian Values and Scientific Practice. Walnut Creek,

CA: Altamira Press.

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