TY - JOUR
T1 - An engaged archaeology field school with a remote Aboriginal community
T2 - Successes, failures, and challenges
AU - Smith, Claire
AU - Jackson, Gary
AU - Ralph, Jordan
AU - Brown, Nell
AU - Rankin, Guy
PY - 2020/12/8
Y1 - 2020/12/8
N2 - This paper presents an analysis of the longest-running archaeological field school in Australia, the Barunga Community Archaeology Field School, which has been operating annually for over 20 years, since 1998. The overarching aim of this field school is for students to learn about Aboriginal culture from Aboriginal people and to experience the cultural protocols that apply when conducting archaeological research in a remote Aboriginal community. This article frankly identifies the long-term successes, failures, and challenges of this field school. The successes are less in the field of archaeology and more in the areas of growing cross-cultural understandings through the development of relationships between different peoples. The failures are largely to do with the physical challenges of the remote area location of the field school. The challenges are primarily due to understanding and reconciling the differences between Aboriginal and European epistemological and ontological ways of knowing and being.
AB - This paper presents an analysis of the longest-running archaeological field school in Australia, the Barunga Community Archaeology Field School, which has been operating annually for over 20 years, since 1998. The overarching aim of this field school is for students to learn about Aboriginal culture from Aboriginal people and to experience the cultural protocols that apply when conducting archaeological research in a remote Aboriginal community. This article frankly identifies the long-term successes, failures, and challenges of this field school. The successes are less in the field of archaeology and more in the areas of growing cross-cultural understandings through the development of relationships between different peoples. The failures are largely to do with the physical challenges of the remote area location of the field school. The challenges are primarily due to understanding and reconciling the differences between Aboriginal and European epistemological and ontological ways of knowing and being.
KW - community archaeology
KW - field school
KW - Indigenous archaeology
KW - social justice
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089970625&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/20518196.2020.1804112
DO - 10.1080/20518196.2020.1804112
M3 - Article
JO - Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage
JF - Journal of Community Archaeology and Heritage
SN - 2051-8196
ER -