The Approaching Storm: Book Banning, Curriculum Dilution, Whitewashing History, and Challenges to the Relevance of Archaeology.

Perhaps the storm is already here. It is not an exaggeration to suggest that the country is experiencing political and social divisiveness not experienced in generations. While many of the issues are being resurrected from the past, and driven by special interests, what is new is the impact these agendas will have on historical archaeology and how the rhetoric has infiltrated academia. Can historical archaeology make any relevant contribution to the counter narrative?

Whether it is the growing demand by a vocal minority that books addressing race, immigration, or gender are being challenged or banned as “harmful,” with librarians being criminalized, or historical facts of the past being rejected as offensive and rewritten in curriculum to satisfy political sensibilities, the potential damaging influence on archaeological research is far reaching.  The outcomes may not be limited to removal of books from the shelves, loss of funding opportunities, or ad hominin attacks on researchers engaged in important questions regarding our shared, sometimes uncomfortable history.  The relevance of archaeology as an avenue of critical inquiry is being called into question.

This Plenary examines some of the issues impacting historical archaeology and the effects on research that the current highly polarizing climate is having; where alt-facts and the obscuring of historical knowledge in favor of feel-good narratives are being promoted from positions of power benefiting the few.