Archaeology has been an important source of metaphors for some
of the key intellectuals of the 20th century: Sigmund Freud, Walter
Benjamin, Alois Riegl and Michel Foucault, amongst many others.
However, this power has also turned against archaeology, because
the discipline has been dealt with perfunctorily as a mere provider
of metaphors that other intellectuals have exploited. Scholars from
different fields continue to explore areas in which archaeologists
have been working for over two centuries, with little or no
reference to the discipline. It seems that excavation, stratigraphy
or ruins only become important at a trans-disciplinary level when
people from outside archaeology pay attention to them and somehow
dematerialize them. Meanwhile, archaeologists have been usually
more interested in borrowing theories from other fields, rather
than in developing the theoretical potential of the same concepts
that other thinkers find so useful.
The time is ripe for archaeologists to address a wider audience
and engage in theoretical debates from a position of equality, not
of subalternity. "Reclaiming Archaeology" explores how archaeology
can be useful to rethink modernity s big issues, and more
specifically late modernity (broadly understood as the 20th and
21st centuries). The book contains a series of original essays, not
necessarily following the conventional academic rules of
archaeological writing or thinking, allowing rhetoric to have its
place in disclosing the archaeological. In each of the four
sections that constitute this book (method, time, heritage and
materiality), the contributors deal with different archaeological
tropes, such as excavation, surface/depth, genealogy, ruins,
fragments, repressed memories and traces. They criticize their
modernist implications and rework them in creative ways, in order
to show the power of archaeology not just to understand the past,
but also the present. "
Reclaiming Archaeology" includes essays from a diverse array of
archaeologists who have dealt in one way or another with modernity,
including scholars from non-Anglophone countries who have
approached the issue in original ways during recent years, as well
as contributors from other fields who engage in a creative dialogue
with archaeology and the work of archaeologists.
General
Imprint: |
Routledge
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Series: |
Archaeological Orientations |
Release date: |
May 2013 |
First published: |
2012 |
Editors: |
Alfredo Gonzalez-Ruibal
|
Dimensions: |
246 x 174 x 23mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
392 |
Edition: |
New |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-415-67392-1 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
Archaeology >
General
|
LSN: |
0-415-67392-5 |
Barcode: |
9780415673921 |
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!