Despite the growth and success of feminist archaeology, women in archaeology still face issues not necessarily encountered by their male counterparts in the 21st Century. Legacies of past discrimination, particularly the perceived and/or actual demands of family life, have resulted in disproportionate fewer women working at research institutions in many disciplines, including archaeology. This disturbing trend has profound implications for not only the direction of current archaeological research, but also the training of future scholars.

This blog is a forum for advocating for women archaeologists so that we can move beyond legacies of inequity to a future that strengthens a feminine voice in archaeology and a feminist perspective. We contend that the very practice of archaeology is skewed towards a masculine and hierarchical perspective that excludes consensus building and “minority opinions” when interpreting the past. We argue that the feminine voice brings unique and necessary elements to the discipline of archaeology, through values such as mentoring and collaboration. We also clarify that a feminist perspective is not limited to any one gender, class, race, ethnicity or sexuality. Rather a feminist perspective is a radical point of view; one that recognizes that women’s success professionally and personally is integrally tied to larger socio-political movements dedicated to the eradication of homophobia, racism, and androcentrism.

Our hope is to solicit advice, perspectives, and experiences from all realms of the archaeological profession- including tenure-track and adjunct faculty, CRM professionals, and those not currently employed or underemployed. The ultimate goal of the blog is to shift the realities of power experienced in the daily lives of women archaeologists by discussing, inventing and offering solutions to the challenges of professional life.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

What would a feminine archaeology look like?

As a new female archaeologist working within the academy, I am concerned with the possible barriers I may face in my career or the roles I might be placed in because of my gender (in my current department, much of the administrative burden falls on my female colleagues). For many years, it never occurred to me that I might face discrimination, often invisibly embedded in structures of policy and power, that would influence my ability to be a successful, productive researcher and teacher. However, as I have moved through my career, I have recognized, with increasing concern, the elements of myself I am forced to mute or transform in order to 'fit in' to expected roles as an archaeologist and academic (an identity still all too often associated with men). I admit to being concerned about when I decide to start a family, which will add an inevitable layer to the various ways the academy and other institutions fail to support women's choices.

At the same time, I acknowledge that the challenges faced by women academic archaeologists have, in many ways, transformed archaeology over the past 20 years. The doors are more open than they have ever been, thanks to the pioneering work of so many. Many of the fundamental issues that face women in archaeology and in the academy, however, remain the same but are more insidious, cloaked in a veneer of political correctness or the "just joking" mentality.

One of the areas of greatest concern for me is governance and how the institutional structures enforce masculine values at the expense of alternate voices, whether feminine, queer, or indigenous, to name a few. Whether we are academics working within university structures, consulting archaeologists working within state and federal structures, or somewhere in between, many of the hierarchical structures of government are firmly embedded in patriarchal values and modes of decision making. Issues around governmental structure in the US around women has recently been brought to the fore with ongoing debates about the rights of women to their own bodies and health care. There has been discussion in recent forums about the need for women to be in leadership roles in archaeology, but if those leadership roles remain in a masculine frame of reference, the issues of governance will change much more slowly than if we can define and implement a feminine model of archaeology to work alongside and transform structures already in place

With this in mind, I ask the question: what would a feminine archaeology look like? How would it be different from the practice of archaeology today in the classroom? In the field? In publications? In CRM? I invite you to engage in this conversation in the comments and at the upcoming SAA meetings.
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5 comments:

  1. Charles MenziesApril 12, 2012 at 8:31 AM

    In terms of indigenous perspective, there are gendered Indigenous perspectives and masculinity does not stand necessarily opposed with Indigenity. Nor, does femininity stand necessarily in alliance with indigineity.

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    1. Kisha SupernantApril 12, 2012 at 4:09 PM

      I completely agree, and did not mean to set these alternate voices necessarily in opposition to or alliance with one another. There are multiple perspectives that can inform archaeological practice, but the discipline is only now becoming more responsive to the diversity of perspectives. I believe the more multivocal archaeology becomes, the better these alternate perspectives can inform one another.

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  2. EAWilkersonApril 12, 2012 at 3:24 PM

    As a consulting archaeologist, I feel the pressures of "machismo" every day. What is it we are trying to prove by pressuring each other to be macho? I am a wife and a mother, I grew up in outdoors settings, often camping as a child, worked as a field tech arch for the USDA Forest Service for two years, went on a FOREST FIRE as an archaeologist-yes the fire was burning around me, but I still feel the constant pressure that I have to prove that I can handle the field every day. Ever since I received my MA, I am often in laboratory or office settings, and I often receive comments like, "whats the matter-don't you like the field?" Of course I do, but there is more to archaeology than the field. I write reports, present at professional conferences, conduct public talks, conduct research, run statistical analysis, manage projects, and volunteer for school science fairs as an archaeologist, but I am still continually challenged by my CRM colleagues about my "authenticity" as a professional archaeologist. Sorry guys, but there's more to it than the field! (But I still do love the field!)

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    1. Kisha SupernantApril 12, 2012 at 4:13 PM

      There is a pervasive sense that a "true" archaeologist is a "field" archaeologist. In my experience, many of the elements associated with being in the field are more aligned with masculine stereotypes. I have also felt pressure to "prove" myself as a capable field archaeologist, able to complete the same tasks as my male colleagues, and have taken great pains to demonstrate that I can set up camp, make fire, carry heavy loads, etc. I wonder how much of this is a legacy from a time where women's involvement in archaeology was more focused on the lab than on the field, which was not all that long ago.

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  3. Feminine Voices in ArchaeologyApril 14, 2012 at 6:12 PM

    Wonderful post Kisha! Thank you for raising this question. I think it is important for us to not only consider what a feminine archaeology should look like, but also attempt to crystallize it so that we can apply it in the classroom, lab, field (all the places that archaeology happens). We can't possibly change the patriarchy of institutions and government if we can't articulate fully what makes a feminine perspective unique.

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