- Sierra McKinney, Université de Montréal
While central to the human experience, feelings and emotions have been historically overlooked in archaeology due to their ephemeral nature and a disciplinary emphasis on rationality. Nevertheless, the presence of emotion in the past is undeniable, as is the emotional impact of archaeology in the present. Archaeologies of the Heart (Supernant et al. 2020) and The Enchantment of the Archaeological Record (Perry 2019) embrace this emotion and, in doing so, conceptualize an archaeology that is grounded in care, wonder, and feeling. Inspired by this vision, this session seeks to discuss the role of emotions in archaeology and explore how an emotional archaeology can be fostered.
As the emotional resonance of archaeology can be felt at every level of engagement with the past, submissions regarding all aspects of affect and archaeology are welcome. This includes presentations discussing specific attempts to identify emotions in the past or efforts to address the emotions experienced by descendant communities, students, the wider public, and ourselves as practitioners in the present. Broader theoretical discussions, such as those regarding our duty of care, ethical implications or future work are also encouraged.
Citations: Perry, Sara. "The enchantment of the archaeological record." European Journal of Archaeology 22, no. 3. 2019: 354-371.
Supernant, Kisha, Jane Eva Baxter, Natasha Lyons, and Sonya Atalay, eds. Archaeologies of the Heart. New York: Springer International Publishing, 2020.