SPRING 2008
Paul Mullins

Every student will present one reading to the class (i.e., not the whole week's readings, just one selection).  Presenters should summarize the reading's main points, assess its strengths and weaknesses, and provide some initial ideas to guide the discussion.  All students will be prepared to participate in class discussions of the readings, so the presenter's duty is to begin that discussion.  Every presenter must provide me a thorough outline of their presentation on the day of the presentation or lose half of their reading presentation credit.

Readings are assigned on a voluntary basis:  if you do not volunteer to present one of the readings by January 22, I will assign you to one at random that evening.  The line ABOVE the reading indicates the person who is presenting that reading:  please do not get confused and prepare the wrong reading for class.

Readings in the Contemporary Archaeology in Theory volume appear in the syllabus as CAT.  Readings in Reconstructing Archaeology appear as RA.  Remaining readings are available electronically through either a direct link from this page or on Oncourse under the resources tab for the class.

Jan. 23

What is Archaeology? 

     Courtney Singleton                                                                                                 

• Chapter 1 "The Present Past", RA

       Breana Sowers                                                                                               

• "Public Presentations and Private Concerns: Archaeology in the Pages of the National Geographic," Joan Gero and Dolores Root, pp.531-548, CAT.

Jan. 30

"Politics" and Archaeological Research

• "Alternative Archaeologies: Nationalist, Colonialist, Imperialist," Bruce G. Trigger, pp.615-631, CAT

      Dar Devore                                                                                                

• Mark P. Leone, Parker B. Potter, Jr., and Paul A. Shackel, "Towards a Critical Archaeology," American Anthropologist 28(3) [1987]:283-302

Feb. 6

It's All on Ebay:  Archaeology and Ethics

      Karen Dolley                                                                                                

• Chapter 4, Presenting the Past, RA

     Elizabeth Hoadley                                                                                                 

• Christopher Chippindale and David W.J. Gill, "On-line Auctions: A New Venue for the Antiquities Market," in Culture Without Context: The Newsletter of the Illicit Antiquities Research Center 9(Autumn 2001)

Feb. 13

The Dilemmas of Objectivity and Hyper-Relativism

     Bonnie Andrews                                                                                                 

• Lewis Binford, "Willow Smoke and Dogs' Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site Formation," pp.39-60, CAT

• Chapter 2, Positivism and the "New Archaeology," RA

Feb. 20

Political Economy

    Andrew Baker                                                                                                  

• Charles E. Orser, Jr., "Beneath the Material Surface of Things: Commodities, Artifacts, and Slave Plantations," pp. 189-202, in CAT

• Mark P. Leone, "A Historical Archaeology of Capitalism," American Anthropologist, 97(2) [1995]:251-268.

Feb. 27

Bridging Between Identity and Things

• Chapter 3, Facts and Values in Archaeology, RA

March 5

Radical Deconstructions

     Nathan Barnes                                                                                                 

• Michael Shanks, "Style and the Design of a Perfume Jar from an Archaic Greek City State," pp.364-393, in CAT

March 19

Domination and Archaeologies of Resistance

      Stefani Warner                                                                                                

• Bettina Arnold, "The Past as Propaganda: Totalitarian Archaeology in Nazi Germany," pp.459-569, CAT

       Celina Wallisa                                                                                               

• Gerald Vizenor, "Bone Courts: the Rights and Narrative Representation of Tribal Bones," pp.652-663, in CAT.

March 26

Marginalized Voices

• Alison Wylie, "The Interplay of Evidential Constraint and Political Interests: Recent Archaeological Research on Gender," pp.431-459, in CAT

     Richie Cheek                                                                                                 

• Barbara L. Voss, "Feminisms, Queer Theories, and the Archaeological Study of Past Sexualities" World Archaeology 32(2):180-192, on Oncourse.

April 2

Public Interpretation: Archaeological Audiences and Constituencies

     Jason Byers                                                                                                 

• Janet Spector, "What this Awl Means: Toward a Feminist Archaeology," pp.485-500, in CAT

• Mark P. Leone and Parker B. Potter, Jr., "Archaeological Annapolis: A Guide to Seeing and Understanding Three centuries of Change," pp.570-598, in CAT

Page last updated January 23, 2008