Archaeology and Capitalism

This book re-examines the debates on archaeological ethics, questions the prevailing de-politicized and often managerial view on ethical problems, and argues that archaeologists need to come to terms with the political dynamics and the often asymmetrical structures of power in capitalist society. It is divided into five parts: a broad ranging introduction on the problem and its consequences, three main parts with fifteen papers in total, and a commentary section. The first part questions some basic assumptions on ethics by looking at issues such as reburial and repatriation, indigenous issues in archaeology, the presentation of the past to diverse publics, and ethics in postcolonial societies. The second part addresses head-on a number of situations where archaeology has colluded with capitalist economics and politics, in the classroom, in the field, in large 'development' projects, in the 'heritage industry' sector.
And the third part, attempts to chart a politically-aware, ethical future taking into account all the ambiguities and complexities of the situation, by looking at a number of case-studies: from the archaeology the working class, to doing archaeology in Palestine, and charting a new ethical and political archaeology in the cities.