Archaeologies of Violence and Privilege
Archaeologies of Violence and Privilege
Violence is rampant in today’s society. From state-sanctioned violence and the brutality of war and genocide to interpersonal fighting and the ways in which social lives are structured and symbolized by and through violence, people enact terrible things on other human beings almost every day. In Archaeologies of Violence and Privilege, archaeologists Christopher N. Matthews and Bradley D. Phillippi bring together a collection of authors who document the ways in which past social formations rested on violent acts and reproduced violent social and cultural structures. The contributors present a series of archaeological case studies that range from the mercury mines of colonial Huancavelica (AD 1564-1824) to the polluted waterways of Indianapolis, Indiana, at the turn of the twentieth century—a problem that disproportionally impacted African American neighborhoods. The individual chapters in this volume collectively argue that positions of power and privilege are fully dependent on forms of violence for their existence and sustenance.
Stellar contributions.…Highly recommended.
A volume that pushes the boundaries of former violence studies in archaeology by insisting on the co-construction of expressive violence and structural violence—or what we might consider the routine violences of daily life.
A compelling contribution from historical archaeologists, this collection provides a vast array of entry points into larger societal discussions centered on the intersectionality of violence and privilege.
As archaeologists move toward more explicit engagement with today’s issues, Archaeologies of Violence and Privilege provides us a sturdy foundation for self-critique and communal discourse.
Christopher N. Matthews is a professor of anthropology at Montclair State University and the author of The Archaeology of American Capitalism. Bradley D. Phillippi is an assistant professor of anthropology and the director of the Center for Public Archaeology at Hofstra University.
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Chapter One. An Introduction to Archaeologies of Violence and Privilege
Christopher N. Matthews
Chapter Two. Violence in Archaeology and the Violence of Archaeology
Reinhard Bernbeck
Chapter Three. Discursive Violence and Archaeological Ruptures: Archaeologies of Colonialism and Narrative Privilege in Highland Guatemala
Guido Pezzarossi
Chapter Four. Spanish Colonialism and Spatial Violence
Kathryn E. Sampeck
Chapter Five. "An Incurable Evil": Direct and Structural Violence in the Mercury Mines of Colonial Huancavelica (AD 1564-1824)
Douglas K. Smit and Terren K. Proctor
Chapter Six. The Violence of "A More Sensitive Class of Persons": Privilege, Landscape, and Class Struggle in Northeast Pennsylvania
Michael P. Roller
Chapter Seven. Sifting through Multiple Layers of Violence: The Archaeology of Gardens at a WWII Japanese American Incarceration Camp
Koji Lau-Ozawa
Chapter Eight. Race and the Water: Swimming, Sewers, and Structural Violence in African America
Paul R. Mullins, Kyle Huskins, and Susan B. Hyatt
Chapter Nine. Binocular Vision: Making the Carceral Metropolis in Northern New Jersey
Christopher N. Matthews
Chapter Ten. Commentary: The Violence of Violence?
LouAnn Wurst
Chapter Eleven. Forum: Purpose and Direction
References Cited
List of Contributors
Index
