Wissenschaft soll unpolitisch sein. Geht das?

Auf der TAG Konferenz 2016  in Southampton (http://www.southampton.ac.uk/tag2016/index.page?) widmete sich am 21.12.2016 eine komplette Session dem Thema "Archaeology Is a Political Matter". Die Session wurde durch Rob Lennox (Council for British Archaeology, Chartered Institute of Archaeologists, University of York) und Lorna-Jane Richardson (Umeå University, Council for British Archaeology) organisiert. Sie zeigt die große Bandbreite des Themas, die die Haltung der britischen Kollegen gegenüber dem BREXIT ebenso umfasst, wie die Einordnung in das System der Commercial Archaeology, die den Ansprüchen der Wissenschaft und Denkmalpflege an vielen Punkten diametral entgegen steht. Dazu zählt aber auch die kritische Auseinandersetzung mit gesellschaftlichen Mythen.

Die Vorträge wurden im Livestream auf YouTube übertragen und sind dort abrufbar:

• https://youtu.be/qxikKh6FXbY? (langer Vorlauf!)

Abstract der Session

In the UK, the discipline and the contexts in which archaeology is practiced are vulnerable to public policy changes and the broader impacts of economic austerity, be these contract archaeology, community projects, or within museums and archives. The role of archaeology in politics, and politics in archaeology, in the UK has been under researched and under theorised in recent years.
Politics and archaeology goes beyond grand narratives of nationhood, and extends into everyday matters, such as relatively small but vital functions of local government. Archaeologists themselves act politically in various scales, from the narrow (e.g. lobbying for technical policy changes) to broad (e.g. influencing understandings of nation, culture, identity, and place). We are actors within in a complex system where our decisions as professional archaeologists are deeply intertwined with wider political policy, yet this is not explicitly obvious to many professionals employed in the sector, or indeed by interested citizens, or our political representatives.
This session remains open to traditional areas for debate on the role of politics in archaeology, but would also like to invite papers that explore the role of archaeologists as political actors and attempt to understand how our work affects political decisions, and vice versa. It will include discussion on policy and advocacy from the narrow (e.g. who are archaeological advocates?) to the broad (e.g. what part can archaeology play in current societal debates such as over climate change, migration, Brexit?) and will attempt to provoke debate about archaeology and heritage as a tool in various political agendas (e.g. nationalism, anti-austerity/neoliberal capitalism, cosmopolitanism).

mit abstracts der einzelnen Vorträge: http://www.southampton.ac.uk/tag2016/sessionsabstracts/session1.page

 Vorträge:

• Einführung durch Lorna Richardson (ab 22:19)
• Kevon Woodbridge: Brexit - The elephant in the room The politics of Brexit. Why archaeologists need to be concerned (ab 26:26)
• Marjolijn Kok: Quitting my archaeological job as a political deed (ab 50:35)
• Florence Smith Nicholls: Commercial archaeology and narratives of British exceptionalism (ab 1:10:51)
• Rob Lennox: Selling a political framework for the Public Value Era (ab 1:29:25)
• Matthew Seaver: Breaking ground, fighting back; Unite Digging for a Living Wage (ab 2:29:50)
• David Jennings: Time to bite the hand that feeds? Or, at the very least, give it a long, hard squeeze
• Penelope Foreman: "Another Brick in the Wall" - Archaeological Outreach in Schools as a Political Act
• Tom Booth: DNA and Soil: Archaeology, Palaeogenetics and Nationalism
• Susan Greaney: Where history meets legend… and produces political sparks; presenting Tintagel Castle, Cornwall
• Ben Gearey:Turf Wars: Politics and Peatland Archaeology in Ireland
• Andy Brockman: “News is what someone wants suppressed. Everything else is advertising." The need to develop Investigative Journalism in the Archaeological Media
• Mike Nevell: Creating a Political Base for Archaeology: The Greater Manchester Experience
• Lorna Richardson / Rob Lennox: Local archaeological activism: The trials of leading horses to water
• Aisling Nash: Local archaeology for local people?