In B. Olsen, M. Burström, C. DeSilvey, & Þ. Péturdóttir (eds) After Discourse: Things, Affects, Ethics. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. , 2021
Note to reader Moving in the company of Curtis L. Francisco, this chapter documents the partially... more Note to reader Moving in the company of Curtis L. Francisco, this chapter documents the partially remediated Jackpile-Paguate Uranium Mine, registering how radioactive reservoirs, eroding slopes, or radon-emitting walls both weigh upon pueblo communities, plants, and animal others, and shape engagement, mood, conversation. To encompass an erstwhile uranium mine from a comfortable distance with maps or satellite photography (as if that were even possible) seems to me to ignore or dismiss the debt that all who live in zones of nuclear-energized comfort owe to those humans and nonhumans who struggle with the radioactive consequences of our lifestyles. Therefore, the mode of writing embraced here is chosen for how it confronts this dark object, opening an intimate path through that which dwarves us, allowing it to suggest something of itself over the course of the encounter, while witnessing how others live with it. What is here presented as a single journey was recorded and compiled over three separate outings at the invitation of Francisco, an indigenous geologist and resident of the Laguna Pueblo, for the purpose of bringing this story to people's attention.
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Old Lands will be of interest to historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and scholars of the Eastern Peloponnese. Those interested in the long-term changes in society, technology, and culture in this region will find this book captivating.
Archaeology in the Making is a unique document detailing the history of archaeology in second half of the 20th century to the present day through the words of some of its key proponents. It will be invaluable for anybody who wants to understand the theory and practice of this ever developing discipline.
Literally the “science of old things,” archaeology does not discover the past as it was but works with what remains. Such work involves the mediation of past and present, of people and their cultural fabric, for things cannot be separated from society. Things are us, just as we are part of the world of things that we may seek to understand.
This book ranges through debates in science studies, including actor network theory and object oriented ontology, process-relational philosophy, material culture and design studies, and offers case studies from prehistoric, classical and historical archaeology.
Chapters:
Introduction: Caring about Things
2. The Ambiguity of Things: Contempt and Desire
3. Engagements with Things: The Making of Archaeology
4. Digging Deep: Archaeology and Fieldwork
5. Things in Translation: Documents and Imagery
6. Futures for Things: Memory Practices and
Digital Translation
7. Timely Things: From Argos to Mycenae and Beyond
8. Making and the Design of Things: Human Being
and the Shape of History
9. Getting on with Things: A Material Metaphysics of Care
Literally the “science of old things,” archaeology does not discover the past as it was but must work with what remains. Such work involves the tangible mediation of past and present, of people and their cultural fabric, for things cannot be separated from society. Things are us. This book does not set forth a sweeping new theory. It does not seek to transform the discipline of archaeology. Rather, it aims to understand precisely what archaeologists do and to urge practitioners toward a renewed focus on and care for things."
Literally the “science of old things,” archaeology does not discover the past as it was but must work with what remains. Such work involves the tangible mediation of past and present, of people and their cultural fabric, for things cannot be separated from society. Things are us. This book does not set forth a sweeping new theory. It does not seek to transform the discipline of archaeology. Rather, it aims to understand precisely what archaeologists do and to urge practitioners toward a renewed focus on and care for things."
REVIEWS:
"It is engagingly concerned with the archaeology of the present. It has a rich and up-to-date bibliography, well versed in archaeological theory. It invites us, in an informed way, to reexamine the nature and substance of archaeology. So, despite its lapses, it stands on the side of angels."
- Colin Renfrew, University of Cambridge
"A broad, illuminating, and well-researched overview of theoretical problems pertaining to archaeology. The authors make a calm defense of the role of objects against tedious claims of 'fetishism.'"
-Graham Harman, author of The Quadruple Object
"This book exhorts the reader to embrace the materiality of archaeology by recognizing how every step in the discipline's scientific processes involves interaction with myriad physical artifacts, ranging from the camel-hair brush to profile drawings to virtual reality imaging. At the same time, the reader is taken on a phenomenological journey into various pasts, immersed in the lives of peoples from other times, compelled to engage their senses with the sights, smells, and noises of the publics and places whose remains they study. This is a refreshingly original and provocative look at the meaning of the material culture that lies at the foundation of the archaeological discipline."
-Michael Brian Schiffer, author of The Material Life of Human Beings
“This volume is a radical call to fundamentally rethink the ontology, profession, and practice of archaeology. The authors present a closely reasoned, epistemologically sound argument for why archaeology should be considered the discipline of things, rather than its more commonplace definition as the study of the human past through material traces. All scholars and students of archaeology will need to read and contemplate this thought-provoking book.”
-Wendy Ashmore, Professor of Anthropology, UC Riverside
b) Old Ways in Old Lands: William Caraher
c) Manifesting the Infraordinary: Alfredo González-Ruibal
d) This Old Land: Johanna Hanink
e) Re-Grounding Chorographically: Christopher Witmore
Old Lands will be of interest to historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, and scholars of the Eastern Peloponnese. Those interested in the long-term changes in society, technology, and culture in this region will find this book captivating.
Archaeology in the Making is a unique document detailing the history of archaeology in second half of the 20th century to the present day through the words of some of its key proponents. It will be invaluable for anybody who wants to understand the theory and practice of this ever developing discipline.
Literally the “science of old things,” archaeology does not discover the past as it was but works with what remains. Such work involves the mediation of past and present, of people and their cultural fabric, for things cannot be separated from society. Things are us, just as we are part of the world of things that we may seek to understand.
This book ranges through debates in science studies, including actor network theory and object oriented ontology, process-relational philosophy, material culture and design studies, and offers case studies from prehistoric, classical and historical archaeology.
Chapters:
Introduction: Caring about Things
2. The Ambiguity of Things: Contempt and Desire
3. Engagements with Things: The Making of Archaeology
4. Digging Deep: Archaeology and Fieldwork
5. Things in Translation: Documents and Imagery
6. Futures for Things: Memory Practices and
Digital Translation
7. Timely Things: From Argos to Mycenae and Beyond
8. Making and the Design of Things: Human Being
and the Shape of History
9. Getting on with Things: A Material Metaphysics of Care
Literally the “science of old things,” archaeology does not discover the past as it was but must work with what remains. Such work involves the tangible mediation of past and present, of people and their cultural fabric, for things cannot be separated from society. Things are us. This book does not set forth a sweeping new theory. It does not seek to transform the discipline of archaeology. Rather, it aims to understand precisely what archaeologists do and to urge practitioners toward a renewed focus on and care for things."
Literally the “science of old things,” archaeology does not discover the past as it was but must work with what remains. Such work involves the tangible mediation of past and present, of people and their cultural fabric, for things cannot be separated from society. Things are us. This book does not set forth a sweeping new theory. It does not seek to transform the discipline of archaeology. Rather, it aims to understand precisely what archaeologists do and to urge practitioners toward a renewed focus on and care for things."
REVIEWS:
"It is engagingly concerned with the archaeology of the present. It has a rich and up-to-date bibliography, well versed in archaeological theory. It invites us, in an informed way, to reexamine the nature and substance of archaeology. So, despite its lapses, it stands on the side of angels."
- Colin Renfrew, University of Cambridge
"A broad, illuminating, and well-researched overview of theoretical problems pertaining to archaeology. The authors make a calm defense of the role of objects against tedious claims of 'fetishism.'"
-Graham Harman, author of The Quadruple Object
"This book exhorts the reader to embrace the materiality of archaeology by recognizing how every step in the discipline's scientific processes involves interaction with myriad physical artifacts, ranging from the camel-hair brush to profile drawings to virtual reality imaging. At the same time, the reader is taken on a phenomenological journey into various pasts, immersed in the lives of peoples from other times, compelled to engage their senses with the sights, smells, and noises of the publics and places whose remains they study. This is a refreshingly original and provocative look at the meaning of the material culture that lies at the foundation of the archaeological discipline."
-Michael Brian Schiffer, author of The Material Life of Human Beings
“This volume is a radical call to fundamentally rethink the ontology, profession, and practice of archaeology. The authors present a closely reasoned, epistemologically sound argument for why archaeology should be considered the discipline of things, rather than its more commonplace definition as the study of the human past through material traces. All scholars and students of archaeology will need to read and contemplate this thought-provoking book.”
-Wendy Ashmore, Professor of Anthropology, UC Riverside
b) Old Ways in Old Lands: William Caraher
c) Manifesting the Infraordinary: Alfredo González-Ruibal
d) This Old Land: Johanna Hanink
e) Re-Grounding Chorographically: Christopher Witmore