Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T21:12:17.824Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Degrowth and a sustainable future for archaeology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 November 2020

James L. Flexner
James L. Flexner*
Affiliation:
School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
*
Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

It is increasingly acknowledged that 21st-century archaeology faces serious challenges from a variety of directions, ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Above all, the discipline’s entanglement with capitalism, capitalist ideologies and capitalist institutions is simply unsustainable. The concept of degrowth involves a reconceptualization of archaeology’s possible future(s) in terms of a withdrawal from capitalism and an emphasis on collective and caring praxis looking towards both a sustainable future and the possibilities of the immediate present. A degrowth approach to archaeology can provide a useful supplement to existing critiques and proposed alternatives to current practices. Degrowth proposals such as reorienting economic behaviours towards cooperative, convivial and dépense (communal use of surplus) activities while freeing people to pursue work they find meaningful have potential applications in archaeological practice that address some of the problems currently facing the discipline.

Keywords

Degrowthcultural resource managementheritagecapitalismsustainability
Type
Articles
Information
Archaeological Dialogues , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , December 2020 , pp. 159 - 171
Check for updates
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press.

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acuto, F.A., and Corimayo, H., 2018: Understanding the past through indigenous knowledge and archaeological research, Arch 14, 30–61.Google Scholar
Alcott, B., 2013: Should degrowth embrace the job guarantee?, Journal of cleaner production 38, 56–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexander, S., 2015: Basic and maximum income, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 146–148.Google Scholar
Atalay, S., 2006: Indigenous archaeology as decolonizing practice, American Indian quarterly 30 (3–4), 280–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atalay, S., Clauss, L.R., McGuire, R.H. and Welch, J.R. (eds), 2014: Transforming archaeology. Activist practices and prospects, New York.Google Scholar
Barnosky, A.D., Hadly, E.A., Bascompte, J., Berlow, E.L., Brown, J.H., Fortelius, M., Getz, W.M., Harte, J., Hastings, A., Marquet, P.A., Martinez, N.D., Mooers, A., Roopnarine, P., Vermeij, G., Williams, J.W., Gillespie, R., Kitzes, J., Marshall, C., Matzke, N., Mindell, D.P., Revilla, E. and Smith, A.B., 2012: Approaching a state shift in Earth’s biosphere, Nature 486, 52–58.Google ScholarPubMed
Bataille, G., 1976: La part maudite. Oeuvres complètes, Vol. 7, Paris.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bataille, G., 1998: Georges Bataille . Essential writings (ed. Richardson, M.), London.Google Scholar
Bedford, S., Spriggs, M., Regenvanu, R. and Yona, S., 2011: Olfala histri we i stap andanit long graon. Archaeological training workshops in Vanuatu. A profile, the benefits, spin-offs, and extraordinary discoveries, in Taylor, J. and Thieberger, N. (eds), Working together in Vanuatu. Research histories, collaborations, projects and reflections, Canberra, 191–213.Google Scholar
Bezerra, M., 2015: At that edge. Archaeology, heritage education, and human rights in the Brazilian Amazon, International journal of historical archaeology 19 (4), 822–831.Google Scholar
Black Trowel Collective, 2016: Foundations of an anarchist archaeology. A community manifesto, Savage Minds (now Anthrodendum) Decolonizing Anthropology series, https://savageminds.org/2016/10/31/foundations-of-an-anarchist-archaeology-a-community-manifesto (accessed 15 March 2017).Google Scholar
Borck, L., 2018: Constructing the future history. Prefiguration as historical epistemology and the chronopolitics of archaeology, Journal of contemporary archaeology 5 (2), 229–238.Google Scholar
Borck, L., and Sanger, M.C., 2017: An introduction to anarchism in archaeology, SAA archaeological record 17 (1), 9–16.Google Scholar
Brück, J., and Stutz, L.N., 2016: Is archaeology still the project of nation states? An editorial comment, Archaeological dialogues 23 (1), 1–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caraher, W., 2019: Slow archaeology, punk archaeology, and the ‘archaeology of care’, European journal of archaeology 22 (3), 372–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caraher, W., Kourelis, K. and Reinhard, A. (eds.), 2014: Punk archaeology, Grand Forks.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carman, J., 2011: Stories we tell. Myths at the heart of ‘community archaeology’, Archaeologies 7 (3), 490–501.Google Scholar
Carman, J., 2018: ‘Herding cats’. Building archaeological communities, Journal of community archaeology and heritage 5 (1), 45–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clancy, K.B.H., Nelson, R.G., Rutherford, J.N. and Hinde, K., 2014: Survey of academic field experiences (SAFE). Trainees report harassment and assault, PLoS One 9 (7), doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0102172.Google ScholarPubMed
Colwell, C., 2016: How the archaeological review behind the Dakota Access Pipeline went wrong, The Conversation, https://theconversation.com/how-the-archaeological-review-behind-the-dakota-access-pipeline-went-wrong-67815 (accessed 22 August 2018).Google Scholar
Criado-Boado, F., 2016: Tangled between paradigms in the neo-baroque era, Archaeological dialogues 23 (2), 152–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cunningham, J.J., and MacEachern, S., 2016: Ethnoarchaeology as slow science, World archaeology 48 (5), 628–641.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), 2015: Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York.Google Scholar
D’Alisa, G., Deriu, M. and Demaria, F., 2015: Care, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 63–66.Google Scholar
D’Alisa, G., and Kallis, G., 2015: Post-normal science, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 185–188.Google Scholar
De Marrais, E., 2016: Making pacts and cooperative acts. The archaeology of coalition and consensus, World archaeology 48 (1), 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deriu, M., 2015a: Autonomy, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 55–58.Google Scholar
Deriu, M., 2015b: Conviviality, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 79–82.Google Scholar
Eddisford, D., and Morgan, C.L., 2018: Single context archaeology as anarchist praxis, Journal of contemporary archaeology 5 (2), 245–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, M., 2009. Capitalist realism. Is there no alternative?, Ropley.Google Scholar
Flexner, J.L., 2019: ‘With the consent of the tribe’. Marking lands on Tanna and Erromango, New Hebrides, History and anthropology, doi: 10.1080/02757206.2019.1607732 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flexner, J.L., and Gonzalez-Tennant, E., 2018: Anarchisms in contemporary archaeology, Journal of contemporary archaeology 5 (2), 213–219.Google Scholar
Flexner, J.L., and Spriggs, M., 2015: Mission sites as indigenous heritage in Vanuatu. Journal of social archaeology 15 (2), 184–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flexner, J.L., Willie, E., Lorey, A.Z., Alderson, H., Williams, R. and Ieru, S., 2016: Iarisi’s domain. Historical archaeology of a Melanesian village, Tanna Island, Vanuatu, Journal of island and coastal archaeology 11 (1), 26–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foster, K., 2017: Work ethic and degrowth in a changing Atlantic Canada, Journal of political ecology 24, 633–643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, P., 2019: The ecological limits of work. On carbon emissions, carbon budgets, and working time, Crookham.Google Scholar
Funtowicz, S.O., and Ravetz, J.R., 1994: Uncertainty, complexity, and post-normal science, Environmental toxicology and chemistry 13 (12), 1881–1885.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Given, M., 2018: The precarious conviviality of watermills, Archaeological dialogues 25 (1), 71–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gnecco, C., and Dias, A.S., 2015: On contract archaeology, International journal of historical archaeology 19 (4), 687–698.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonzalez, S.L., Kretzler, I. and Edwards, B., 2018: Imagining indigenous and archaeological futures. Building capacity with the Federated Tribes of Grande Ronde, Archaeologies 14 (1), 85–114.Google Scholar
Gould, S.J., 1989: Wonderful life. The Burgess Shale and the nature of history, New York.Google Scholar
Graeber, D., 2011: Debt. The first 5000 years, Brooklyn.Google Scholar
Graeber, D., 2018: Bullshit jobs. A theory, New York.Google Scholar
Greer, S., 2010: Heritage and empowerment. Community-based Indigenous cultural heritage in northern Australia, International journal of heritage studies 16 (1–2), 45–58.Google Scholar
Gudynas, E., 2015: Buen vivir, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 201–204.Google Scholar
Guiomar, O., 2016: Tanna hosts Vanuatu’s first ‘slow food’ festival. Big success, Asia Pacific report, at http://asiapacificreport.nz/2016/08/31/tanna-hosts-vanuatus-first-slow-foods-festival-big-success (accessed 5 June 2017).Google Scholar
Hamilakis, Y., 2015: Archaeology and the logic of capital. Pulling the emergency brake, International journal of historical archaeology 19, 721–735.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Helfrich, S., and Bollier, D., 2015: Commons, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 75–78.Google Scholar
Högberg, A., Holtorf, C., May, S. and Wollentz, G., 2017: No future in archaeological heritage management?, World archaeology 49 (5), 639–647.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hutchings, R., and La Salle, M., 2015: Archaeology as disaster capitalism. International journal of historical archaeology 19 (4), 699–720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Illich, I., 1975: Tools for conviviality, Glasgow.Google Scholar
Jofré, I.C., 2015: Mega-mining, contract archaeology, and local responses to the global order in Argentina, International journal of historical archaeology 19 (4), 764–774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johanisova, N., Crabtree, T. and Frankova, E., 2015: Co-operatives, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 152–155.Google Scholar
Kallis, G., 2013: Societal metabolism, working hours and degrowth. A comment on Sorman and Giampietro, Journal of cleaner production 38, 94–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kallis, G., 2018: Degrowth, Newcastle upon Tyne.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kallis, G., Demaria, F. and D’Alisa, G., 2015: Introduction. Degrowth, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 1–17.Google Scholar
Karskens, G., 1994: The Rocks. Life in early Sydney. Melbourne.Google Scholar
Kawelu, K.L., and Pakele, D., 2014: Community-based research. The next step in Hawaiian archaeology, Journal of Pacific archaeology 5 (2), 62–71.Google Scholar
Kirch, P.V., 1997: Microcosmic histories. Island perspectives on ‘global’ change, American anthropologist 99 (1), 30–42.Google Scholar
La Salle, M., and Hutchings, R., 2018: ‘What could be more reasonable?’ Collaboration in colonial contexts, in Labrador, A.M. and Silberman, N.A. (eds), The Oxford handbook of public heritage theory and practice, doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190676315.013.22.Google Scholar
Leone, M., 1995: A historical archaeology of capitalism, American anthropologist 97 (2), 251–268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lightfoot, K.G., and Gonzalez, S.L., 2018: The study of sustained colonialism. An example from the Kashaya Pomo homeland in northern California. American antiquity 83 (3), 427–443.Google Scholar
Lorek, S., and Fuchs, D., 2013: Strong sustainable consumption governance. A precondition for a degrowth path?, Journal of cleaner production 38, 36–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lydon, J., 1993: Archaeology in the Rocks, Sydney, 1979–1993. From Old Sydney Gaol to Mrs. Lewis’ boarding-house, Australasian historical archaeology 11, 33–42.Google Scholar
McAnany, P.A., and Yoffee, N. (eds), 2009: Questioning collapse. Human resilience, ecological vulnerability, and the aftermath of empire, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGuire, R.H., 1992: A Marxist archaeology, New York.Google Scholar
McGuire, R.H., 2008: Archaeology as political action, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Mannheim, K., 1936: Ideology and utopia, London.Google Scholar
Marshall, Y., 2002: What is community archaeology?, World archaeology 34 (2), 211–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, C.N., McDavid, C. and Jeppson, P., 2011: Dynamics of inclusion in public archaeology. An introduction, Archaeologies 7 (3), 482–489.Google Scholar
Meyers, M.S., Horton, E.T., Boudreaux, E.A., Carmody, S.B., Wright, A.P. and Dekle, V.G., 2018: The context and consequences of sexual harassment in southeastern archaeology, Advances in archaeological practice 6 (4), 275–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, C.L., 2015: Punk, DIY, and anarchy in archaeological thought and practice, AP. Online journal in public archaeology 5, 123–146.Google Scholar
Moshenska, G. (ed), 2017: Key concepts in public archaeology, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mrozowski, S.A., 2014: Imagining an archaeology of the future. Capitalism and colonialism past and present, International journal of historical archaeology 18 (2), 340–360.Google Scholar
Muckle, R.J., 2014: On sexual harassment and abuse in archaeology, SAA archaeological record 14 (5), 32–33.Google Scholar
Niklasson, E., and Hølleland, H., 2018: The Scandinavian far-right and the new politicisation of heritage, Journal of social archaeology 18 (2), 121–148.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nørgård, J.S., 2013: Happy degrowth through more amateur economy, Journal of cleaner production 38, 61–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Neill, D., 2015: Gross domestic product, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 103–108.Google Scholar
O’Neill, D.W., Fanning, A.L., Lamb, W.F. and Steinberger, J.K., 2018: A good life for all within planetary boundaries, Nature. Sustainability 1, 88–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orser, C.E., 1996: A historical archaeology of the modern world, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orser, C.E., 2010: Twenty-first-century historical archaeology, Journal of archaeological research 18 (2), 111–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen, T., 2015: Advocating Aboriginal heritage conservation and management through the land development process. An example from New South Wales, Australia, in C. Ode and W. Stokhof (eds), Proceedings of the 2015 International Austronesian Conference. Territorial governance and cultural heritage, Taipei, 186–204.Google Scholar
Paulson, S., 2017: Degrowth. Culture, power, and change, Journal of political ecology 24, 425–448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plets, G., 2016: Heritage bureaucracies and the modern nation state. Towards an ethnography of archaeological systems of government, Archaeological dialogues 23 (2), 193–213.Google Scholar
Raab, L.M., and Goodyear, A.C., 1984: Middle-range theory. A critical review of origins and applications, American antiquity 49 (2), 255–268.Google Scholar
Ramose, M.B., 2015: Ubuntu, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 212–214.Google Scholar
Rathbone, S., 2017: Anarchist literature and the development of anarchist counter-archaeologies, World archaeology 49 (3), 291–305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Renou, X., 2015: Disobedience, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 162–164.Google Scholar
Ribeiro, A., 2016: Archaeology will be just fine, Archaeological dialogues 23 (2), 146–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ribeiro, L., 2015: Development projects, violation of human rights, and the silence of archaeology in Brazil, International journal of historical archaeology 19 (4), 810–821.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Romano, O., 2015: Dépense, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 86–89.Google Scholar
Schmidt, P.R., and Pikirayi, I., 2018: Will historical archaeology escape its Western prejudices to become relevant to Africa?, Archaeologies 14 (3), 443–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schor, J.B., 2015: Work sharing, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 195–197.Google Scholar
Scott, J.C., 2012: Two cheers for anarchism. Six easy pieces on autonomy, dignity, and meaningful work and play, Princeton, NJ.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sekulova, F., 2015: Happiness, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 113–116.Google Scholar
Sekulova, F., Kallis, G., Rodriguez-Labajos, B. and Schneider, F., 2013: Degrowth. From theory to practice, Journal of cleaner production 38, 1–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shepherd, N., 2015: Contract archaeology in South Africa. Traveling theory, local memory, and global designs, International journal of historical archaeology 19 (4), 748–763.Google Scholar
Smith, A., 2007. Building capacity in Pacific island heritage management. Lessons from those who know best. Archaeologies 3 (3), 335–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sorman, A.H., and Giampietro, M., 2013: The energetic metabolism of societies and the degrowth paradigm. Analyzing biophysical constraints and realities, Journal of cleaner production 38, 80–93.Google Scholar
Spriggs, M. (ed.), 1984: Marxist perspectives in archaeology, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Stottman, M.J. (ed.), 2011: Archaeologists as activists. Can archaeology save the world?, Tuscaloosa.Google Scholar
Swyngedouw, E., 2015: Depoliticization (‘the political’), in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 90–93.Google Scholar
Thompson, K.F., 2011: The Navajo Nation, Diné archaeologists, Diné archaeology, and Diné communities, Archaeologies 7 (3), 502–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trigger, B.G., 1989: A history of archaeological thought, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Trigger, B.G., 1996: Alternative archaeologies. Nationalist, colonialist, imperialist, in Hodder, I. and Preucel, R. (eds), Contemporary archaeology in theory, Oxford, 615–631.Google Scholar
Truscott, M.C., 2016: People and their past. Is ‘community archaeology’ the future?, PhD thesis, Canberra.Google Scholar
Unti, B.J., 2015: Job guarantee, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 172–174.Google Scholar
VanDerwarker, A.M., Brown, K.M., Gonzalez, T. and Radde, H., 2018: The UCSB Gender Equity Project. Taking stock of mentorship, equity, and harassment in California archaeology through qualitative survey data. California archaeology 10 (2), 131–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Victor, P.A., 2015: Growth, in D’Alisa, G., Demaria, F. and Kallis, G. (eds), Degrowth. A vocabulary for a new era, New York, 109–112.Google Scholar
Weiss, M., and Cattaneo, C., 2017: Degrowth. Taking stock and reviewing an emerging academic paradigm, Ecological economics 137, 220–230.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zorzin, N., 2015a: Archaeology and capitalism. Successful relationship or economic and ethical alienation?, in Gnecco, C. and Lippert, D. (eds), Ethics and archaeological praxis, New York, 115–139.Google Scholar
Zorzin, N., 2015b: Dystopian archaeologies. The implementation of the logic of capital in heritage management, International journal of historical archaeology 19 (4), 791–809.CrossRefGoogle Scholar