Archaeological Theory in Dialogue Situating Relationality, Ontology, Posthumanism, and Indigenous Paradigms

Archaeological Theory in Dialogue presents an innovative conversation between five scholars from different backgrounds on a range of central issues facing archaeology today. Interspersing detailed investigations of critical theoretical issues with dialogues between the authors, the book interrogates the importance of four themes at the heart of much contemporary theoretical debate: relations, ontology, posthumanism, and Indigenous paradigms. The authors, who work in Europe and North America, explore how these themes are shaping the ways that archaeologists conduct fieldwork, conceptualize the past, and engage with the political and ethical challenges that our discipline faces in the twenty-first century. The unique style of Archaeological Theory in Dialogue, switching between detailed arguments and dialogical exchange, makes it essential reading for both scholars and students of archaeological theory and those with an interest in the politics and ethics of the past.

Chapter 1 – Introduction: locating the book Chapter 2 – What do we mean by relational anyway? Chapter 3 – Discussing relations: typology, difference, and change Chapter 4 – Indigenous alterity as archaeological praxis Chapter 5 – Discussing Indigenous difference: translation, ontology, and the future of European prehistory Chapter 6 – A song of Byzantium Chapter 7 – Discussing phenomenology and posthumanism: experience, assemblages, and beliefs Chapter 8 – Posthumanist power Chapter 9 – Discussing posthumanist approaches to power: Marxism, politics, affect Chapter 10 – In search of different pasts Chapter 11 – Discussing different pasts: categories, interdisciplinarity, and metaontologies Chapter 12 – Conclusion: continuing dialogues

Rachel J. Crellin is Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Leicester. Her research interests center on archaeological theory, especially new materialist, feminist, and posthumanist approaches. She is also a specialist in the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Britain, Ireland, and the Isle of Man, and a metalwork wear-analyst. She is the author of Change and Archaeology (Routledge). Craig N. Cipolla is Curator of North American Archaeology at the Royal Ontario Museum and Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto. His research interests include archaeological theory, colonial North America, and collaborative Indigenous archaeologies. His publications include Becoming Brothertown and Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium (co-authored with Oliver J.T. Harris, Routledge). Lindsay M. Montgomery is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. Her research focuses on Indigenous history in the North American West, with particular interest in social justice, interethnic interaction, settler colonialism, and cultural resiliency among Native peoples. She is co-author of Objects of Survivance and is currently finishing a book entitled A History of Mobility (Routledge). Oliver J.T. Harris is Associate Professor of Archaeology at the University of Leicester. He is co-author of The Body in History and Archaeological Theory in the New Millennium (Routledge), the latter with Craig N. Cipolla. He researches new materialist, posthumanist, and Deleuzian approaches to the past. He is currently finishing a book entitled Assembling Past Worlds (Routledge). Sophie V. Moore is Lecturer in Medieval Archaeology at Newcastle University. Her research focuses on the experienced past, using phenomenological approaches to material culture to investigate lived moments in the Byzantine world. She is a member of the Sagalassos Fieldwork Project in Turkey, where she uses courseware ceramics to investigate the “dark age” transformation of urban space between the sixth and thirteenth centuries CE.