Archaeology, Heritage, and Reactionary Populism - (Cultural Heritage Studies) by Randall H McGuire & Alfredo González-Ruibal (Hardcover)

About the Book

This volume explores how populist movements and politics present new challenges to public archaeologists, using global examples to propose practical forms of community engagement amid increasing polarization and extremism.

Book Synopsis

A timely collection on the role of public archaeology in
an era of reactionary populism

Reactionary populism, seen in
radical anti-intellectual movements around the globe, is changing how politics
are practiced and how people view themselves and others. Amid increasing
polarization and extremism, the social role of archaeology is more relevant but
also more difficult. This volume explores how populist politics present new
challenges to public archaeologists in North America, South America, and
Europe.

Archaeology,
Heritage, and Reactionary Populism shows that the field of community
archaeology must do more to address how these movements can distort history.
Contributors demonstrate why researchers and heritage managers should be aware
of the interests their work advances, discuss the ethics of working with
communities that promote extreme populist values, and examine the ways
governments affect heritage regulations. Acknowledging that community
archaeology is often very localized, they argue that it can and should connect
with and inform broader historical narratives.

Written by
practitioners from different subfields of public archaeology, this collection problematizes
commonly held assumptions about community, the public, and political action. At
the same time, it moves beyond critique to propose practical forms of
engagement. This reflective and critical approach will help archaeologists
mobilize their work to engage with the growing influence of reactionary
populism.

A volume in the
series Cultural Heritage Studies, edited by Katherine Hayes

About the Author

Randall H. McGuire, SUNY Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Anthropology at Binghamton University, is the author of Archaeology as Political Action. Alfredo González-Ruibal, senior researcher with the Institute of Heritage Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council, is the author of An Archaeology of the Contemporary Era.