Archaeological practice is currently shifting in response to feminist, indigenous, activist, community-based, and anarchic critiques of how archaeology is practiced and how science is used to interpret the past lives of people. Inspired by the calls for a different way of doing archaeology, this volume presents a case here for a heart-centered archaeological practice.
Heart-centered practice emerged in care-based disciplines, such as nursing and various forms of therapy, as a way to recognize the importance of caring for those on whom we work, and as an avenue to explore how our interactions with others impacts our own emotions and heart. Archaeologists are disciplined to separate mind and heart, a division which harkens back to the origins of western thought. The dualism between the mental and the physical is fundamental to the concept that humans can objectively study the world without being immersed in it. Scientific approaches to understanding the world assume there is anobjective world to be studied and that humans must remove themselves from that world in order to find the truth. An archaeology of the heart rejects this dualism; rather, we see mind, body, heart, and spirit as inextricable.An archaeology of the heart provides a new space for thinking through an integrated, responsible, and grounded archaeology, where there is care for the living and the dead, acknowledges the need to build responsible relationships with communities, and with the archaeological record, and emphasize the role of rigor in how work and research is conducted.
The contributions bring together archaeological practitioners from across the globe in different contexts to explore how heart-centered practice can impact archaeological theory, methodology, and research throughout the discipline.Chapter 1. Introduction to An Archaeology of Heart.- Part 1. Heart-Centered Guidance for Practice and Engagement.- Chapter 2. I love Archaeology.- Chapter 3. Ecologies of the Heart.- Chapter 4. We ask only that you come to us with an open heart and an open mind.- Chapter 5. I Could Feel Your Heart.- Chapter 6. Community Based and Participatory Praxis as Decolonizing Archaeological Methods, and the Betrayal of New Research.- Chapter 7. At the Heart of the Ikaahuk Archaeology Project.- Chapter 8. Digging for Heart.- Part 2. Heart-Centered Encounters with the Archaeological Record.- Chapter 9. Emotional Practice and Emotional Archaeology.- Chapter 10. Discard, Emotions, and Empathy on the Margins of the Waste Stream.- Chapter 11. Lithics and Learning.- Chapter 12. Emotions in the Dionysiac Fresco in Villa of the Mysteries Outside Pompeii.- Chapter 13. Conceiving of “Them” When Before, There Was Only “Us”.- Chapter 14. Who Holds Your Light?.- Part 3. From Seeds to Blossoms: Reflection and Discussion.- Chapter 15. Closely Observed Layers: Storytelling and the Heart.- Chapter 16. An Archaeology Led by Strawberries.- Chapter 17. Epilogue When Does “Heart” Take Over? Some Reflections on Archaeologies of Heart.- Index.