Traces of Past Subjects: Experiencing Indigenous Thought as an Archaeological Mode of Knowledge

doi:10.1558/jca.v2i2.28447

Journal of Contemporary Archaeology, Vol 2, No 2 (2015)

Traces of Past Subjects: Experiencing Indigenous Thought as an Archaeological Mode of Knowledge

Mariana Petry Cabral

Issued Date: 12 Jan 2016

Abstract

For the last six years I engaged in a series of activities with the Wajãpi, a Tupian people living in the extreme North of Brazil, in the Amazon forest. As soon as we started field work, many archaeological sites were registered. It didn´t take me long, though, to realize that there was much more to know about material remains of the past, as seen from a Wajãpi point of view. Following the Wajãpi mode of knowledge regarding the past and its traces, I aimed to unveil processes of engagement and meaning with material past, which are analogous to archaeology. I argue that we should experiment more with the idea that “we are all archaeologist”, both as means of critique towards disciplinary knowledge production, and as means to perceive other modes of knowledge.

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DOI: 10.1558/jca.v2i2.28447

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