SEMINAR:
  Anarchaeology of Graffiti - Sven Ouzman, UWA
  - Archaeology Seminar Series 2014
		
Thu, 22 May 2014 16:00 - Social Sciences Lecture Room 1 (G28)
		
Sven Ouzman
Is Archaeology a tool – or even pathology – of European colonisation?
Does it have liberatory potential? Can there be an archaeology of today
and of tomorrow?

Increasingly, archaeologists are becoming aware of the discipline’s
history and the need to de-colonise much of its theory and praxis. One
strategy is to work with and even to incorporate Indigenous
understandings of the past. Another move is studying ‘contemporary
archaeology’ to reverse the gaze so that it is less ‘us’ studying ‘them’
than ‘us’ studying ‘us’. But such a move can be indulgent; so we need to
examine what is at stake in studying ‘contemporary pasts’.
Archaeological analysis of battlefields, prisons, homelessness, and
garbage disposal have proved insightful in bringing marginalised people
and pasts to the fore. In this spirit I use archaeological and rock art
techniques to examine graffiti. Superficially understood as a modern
language of the poor and peripheral; archaeological analysis shows
graffiti to continue an ancient tradition of politically-engaged place-
marking and making. I illustrate this point using case studies from
southern Africa and Western Australia. I conclude by considering the
definition and legal status of graffiti, heritage management
implications, and the ethics of contemporary archaeology studies.
		
For more information:
  Emily Buckland
  benjamin.smith@uwa.edu.au
  6488 7249

Starts       : Thu, 22 May 2014 16:00
Ends         : Thu, 22 May 2014 17:00
		
Last Updated : Wed, 21 May 2014 12:16