SEMINAR: Archaeology Seminar Series

The CBAP (Collective History of Archaeology in the Pacific) project is a 5 years research program led by Matthew Spriggs that aims to develop a systematic historiography of archaeology in the Pacific. In this seminar I will present a general overview of the project, before detailing my particular research, which focuses on the development of Francophone academic research traditions concerning the past of Pacific islanders. Just fresh from 3 months of ‘fieldwork’ in the libraries, museum collections and archives of France, preceded by similar work in New Caledonia and Vanuatu last year, I will summarize the first results of the research and present some case studies that exemplify how the foundations of our discipline were laid in the region (clearly echoing the Australian case) and why it is important for us, as archaeologists of today, to know about our disciplinary past.