Archaeological Theory

Catalog description

Focuses on theoretical issues, past and present, concerning the nature and explanation of culture, cultural reproduction and transformation through time, and the central role of materiality in those processes. As anthropological archaeology, the course is premised on the relationship of archaeology to anthropology and other socio-historical sciences. We will examine the development of archaeology as an academic discipline, the role of theory in interpretation of archaeological materials, and the key concepts of culture and time. The course will examine specific theoretical approaches including culture history, neo-evolutionary-functionalist-ecological approaches, neo-Marxist and materialist perspectives, processualism and postprocessualism, interaction theories (e.g., world systems theory), and contemporary approaches. These include practice/agency, contextual approaches, and other multivocal, feminist, and postcolonial theories of identity-formation in the past. The course will appeal to a wide range of social scientists, and particularly archaeologists, sociocultural anthropologists, and other disciplines working on issues of representation(e.g., museum professionals).