The Public Benefits of Historical Archaeology

How does the public benefit from historical archaeology? What are the consequences of not engaging the public or demonstrating a public benefit? How do we effectively engage the public? How can “public benefit” be one of the primary goals of our efforts in historical archaeology? The 2008 conference program will feature symposiums, sessions, panel discussions, workshops, and forums that will address these and related questions about the public benefit of historical archaeology.  Proposed sessions and forums include “Historical Archaeology and Civic Engagement,” “Heritage Matters in the 21st Century,” and “Academia, Cultural Resource Management, and the Public.” We are also looking for sessions and papers on such topics as “Diaspora Studies,” “Labor Studies in Historical Archaeology,” “Archaeology of the Working Class,” “Gender Studies in Historical Archaeology,” “Rewriting Documentary History,” “Modernization and Globalization,” “Colonialism,” and “Using Historical Archeology to Reveal Painful Pasts.”

As the 2008 conference will be in Albuquerque, there will also be several special sessions on the historical archaeology of New Mexico and the Southwest. Proposed sessions will examine the Spanish entrada, the impact of European contact on indigenous peoples, military sites in New Mexico, mining, and homesteading throughout the Southwest.

Conference participants will have opportunities to explore and enjoy New Mexico’s past through tours to Chaco Canyon; Acoma Pueblo; the state’s historic capital, Santa Fe; and other historical and archaeological sites in the region. Conference participants will get to sample the special cuisine of New Mexico, and will learn the answer to the official state question: “Red or green?”

Electronic Symposia