Event Details

Barbara Little has been a practicing archaeologist for over 30 years and has adopted an explicit focus on the public relevance of archaeology for nearly 20. Recently, she has focused on archaeologists’ civic engagement. She is the co-author of Archaeology, Heritage, and Civic Engagement: Working Toward the Public Good (2014) and co-editor of Archaeology as a Tool of Civic Engagement (2007). Her latest book, The Archaeology of Social Justice, is forthcoming from the University Press of Florida.

Civically-engaged archaeologists seek to serve the public interest—however difficult that interest is to define—and increasingly understand their work as contributing to struggles for social justice. Various archaeologies seek to change mainstream practice. Feminist, Indigenous, anti-racist, vindicationist, and Marxist archaeologists offer powerful models that share some goals and methods towards rehabilitating archaeology from its colonial and androcentric roots. This seminar will take stock of the relationship between archaeology and these struggles and explore how archaeology can further social justice.