La trahison des archeologues? Archaeological Practice as Intellectual Activity in Postmodernity

Authors

  • Yannis Hamilakis University of Wales Lampeter

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v12i1.60

Keywords:

'record', interpretation, archaeologists, nationalism, Manolis Andronikos, Catalhoyuk

Abstract

This paper discusses the role of archaeologists within the field of cultural production and examines archaeological practice within its broader social and political setting. It advocates the need to view archaeologists as intellectuals who deal with representation, rather than as stewards of the archaeological 'record'. It concludes that since, as many archaeologists now realize, there is no archaeological record as such, only fragmented material traces of the past which are produced as archaeological 'record' or 'evidence' through disciplinary practices and discourses on identity, archaeologists should acknowledge and accept the responsibility that goes with that realization. That responsibility involves challenging regimes for the 'production of truths', exploring and interrogating the links of knowledges with power, and adopting a critical stance in the global battlefields of cultural production and consumption. These arguments are explored by discussing critically two case-studies from the Mediterranean: the legacy of Manolis Andronikos and his involvement in the discourse of Greek nationalism, and the recent, on-going excavation at Catalhoyuk and its implication in the local and global cultural economies and structures of power.

Author Biography

  • Yannis Hamilakis, University of Wales Lampeter
    Yannis Hamilakis has been a Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology, University of Wales, Lampeter, since 1996. He recived his BA from the University of Crete (1988) and his MSc (1990) and PhD (1995) from the University of Sheffield. He was Research Fellow at the American School of Classical Studies, Athens, and at the Program in Hellenic Studies, Princeton University. He was recently involved in the foundation of the University of Wales Centre for the Study of South Eastern Europe. His main research interests are the archaeology of embodiment, the anthropology and archaeology of food, zooarchaeology, Bronze Age Greece, and the politics of archaeology and the past. He is currently involved in fieldwork projects in Greece and Britain, in the writing of a book on the politics of archaeology in modern Greece, and in a number of editing projects.

Published

1999-10-01

Issue

Section

Special Section

How to Cite

Hamilakis, Y. (1999). La trahison des archeologues? Archaeological Practice as Intellectual Activity in Postmodernity. Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology, 12(1), 60-79. https://doi.org/10.1558/jmea.v12i1.60