Archaeology and the Post-Modern Jan Hodder Anthropology Today, Vol. 6, No. 5 (Oct., 1990), 13-15. Stable URL hitp:/flinks.jstor-org/sicisici 168-540X%281990 10%296%3 AS%3CI3%3AAATP%3E2.0.CO%3B2-C Anthropology Today is currently published by Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Your use of the ISTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at hup:/www,jstororglabout/terms.hml. ISTOR’s Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at hupulwww.jstor.org/journals/rai. html ch copy of any part of'a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the sereen or printed page of such transmission, ISTOR is an independent not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and preserving a digital archive of scholarly journals. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support @ jstor.org. hupulwww jstor.org/ Thu Feb 23 19:51:52 2006femal pl Dialectical “Anthropology 1 (65.79, which xtcally cits my atic on Kalasa ‘pastoral ideology’ een. 4 above from this perspective. See the amusing characterization of those conastive roles in Bar, F 1968, Models of social ‘organization. RAL ‘Occasional Papers 23, ps ‘Acknowledging the final authority of the film's director - with whom strained reciprocities in the field {ake on the situational logic of “skipper” and ‘netboss’ in Barth's famous fishing boat"! — the anthropologist does have commanding influence over the shooting of such films, panicularly in the conduct of interviews. This influence may be tactfully used to steer a film’s potential messages in the desired direction ~ despite subsequent distortions in editing, where a consultant's role is necessarily minimal As interpreter-ranslator, one also has candid powers ‘of censorship, and serious obligations. Loose translation of dialogue, further reduced by subtiles, easily degenerates into a travesty of natural conversation. 1 therefore insisted on recording all dialogue and inter- Views in Kalasha phonetic transcription, writing English translations opposite. This is more arduous than frely translating into a tape-recorder. But it does give a more reasonable chance af properly representing Kalasha dis- course, where the director has potential access 10 the syntax of speech, which I feel is well reflected in the subsitled polemic of our focal personalities Inthe end, The Kalasha: rites of spring makes most of the points that [had set out 10 convey on behalf of Kalas friends, and with greater antistry than Thad im agined. This was, admittedly a felicitous outcome that I hhad not always envisaged during shooting inthe field. The film's success in Kalasha terms may be judged ‘when I bring it back to Rumbur in September Archaeology and the post-modern IAN HODDER A mumberof prominent archacoogists are Being Invited to respond to this article ogther with the turer one by Nik Tan Hodder is Reader In Prehistory at he University of Cambridge and a leading innosetor in archaeological theo. ‘Among his publications 1s Reding the past ‘ument approaches 0 Smterpretation in anchacology (Cambridge UP. 1986) [Nick Merriman showed in AT., April 1989, the exis- fence and social context of a “heritage boom in Britain ‘ver recent years (see also Hewison 1987). There has been a doubling of the number of museums in Britain since 1971 and they are curently opening atthe rate of fone every ten days. There has also been a sharp rise since the 1970s in the number of historic buildings ‘open to the public. The four most visited tourist attrac- tions in Britain are all museums. The Yorvik Centre receives about I milion visitors a year. | want 1 try and explain why this boom has occurred and discuss the roles archaeologists should play in rela tion to post-modemn society. One immediate explanation forthe heritage boom might be that it s linked t0 the rise in importance of green issues. After all, in the 1970s and 1980s the past was renamed a “resource” (as in Cultural Resource Management) which needed pro- tection. Perhaps also the increased awareness of the slobal scale of environmental issues and climatic ‘change has produced a millennial perspective to which the long time-spans covered by archaeology seem rele- vant, But these answers do not explain the way in ‘which people seem fascinated by the past in the current heritage boom. Why is it particularly centres such as YYorvik, with its time ear visit to a moment frozen in Viking York, which do so well? Rather, I want to relate the attraction of such ex- periences to post-modem society. The latter is not easy to define (Eagleton 1985; Harvey 1989; Jameson 1984) but I would emphasise pastiche, facade, commodities tion and depthlessness, This is a culture of “sound bites’, a °Sony walkman’ society in which the in- dividual subject is cut off, floating free, just another signifier itself fragmented into multiple levels of con- Sciousness and into a conflicting assortment of "beings" In this decontextualized, ironie world the language of ‘commerce and the commodity are embraced and played with, Everything isa “wivial pursuit Initially it seems odd that @ post-modernism so de- fined should be linked to a heritage boom. Post-mad- emis i all about the present. Lyotard (1984) argues for the collapse of "metanarratives', overarching metaphysical philosophies or ultimate schemes. In this context Eagleton (1985) suggests that we ae persuaded ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 6 No 5 by post-modernism to recognize the ultimate ulopia ‘as nothing less than the present itself”. If meaning is al ‘ways elsewhere inthe chains of signification, and if so- ial reality is always already commodified, then there ‘can be no ultimate meaning. There is only the ‘doing’ in the present. Modernism believed in change, the pre- sent tobe replaced by a better future. But post-madern- ism accepts that this idea of change or rupture is just repression. In doing soit effaces both history and future and celebrates the instant, Lowenthal, in his 1985 book “The past isa foreign country’, argues that over the lat two centuries the past has increasingly been made scaningless. Our ties with the past have been severed. It is now a different place with litte relevance to the present So why in such a context should we be going through a heritage boom? In fact the past has found a new and central role in post-modernism. In this new relationship with the past we are not placed in history land we do not lear from it but we are absorbed with the very foreign-ness and disconnected nature of the past, With the collapse of ‘meaning’ and ‘cause’, the producers of culture have nowhere to tur but the past (Jameson 1984). The past can be plundered to construct ‘an incoherent present. The past can be “versioned off” 1 produce, as in architecture or music, a meaningless ‘mix’ of images. This is a world in which one goes to a Moroccan restaurant in Las Vegas where the sound sys tem plays Julio Eglesias and a man from Bombay does belly dance fo Greek musi: ‘We have become image-addicted and the past has be come our main source of relief. Post-modem architec ture continually makes references to classical, Egyptian, art deco or childhood images. A Chippendale motif is referred toon Philip Johnson's AT and T building. It is trendy 10 be ‘neo’. Nostalgia is used heavily in market ing everything from clothes to recipes, Films involving archaeology (such as Jndiana Jones) or time travel (as in Back ta the Future) abound, This post-modern past is ‘one of images and of the vicarious thrill of time travel imo other images. Re-enactment is thriving and in North America the Society for Creative Anachronism is ‘expanding. This is not a past involving sequence, his- tory or evolution, Traditional museums in which arte- Cctober 1990) Bfacts were arranged in long typological sequences covering centuries or millennia have been replaced by @ Visit to an instant frozen in time in Viking. York with all the sounds and smells lived ~ a commodified, con- trived depthlessness. ‘There are a number of characteristies of archaeology which make it suitable in the post-modern context of jgmented, decontextualized time. First, archaeologists dig up fragments, bits and pieces of pots and societies The prehistoric past in particular is distant and we know tle of the context in which prehistoric objects were produced. These material signals from the past are signitiers lating free from any signified: odd images without obvious meaning. And yet they require inter pretation. They attract explanation, Buc the distance be- tween past object and present interpretation creates an ‘obviously constructed image. A present is created whieh is @ word of transient images. Our image addic- ‘ion seeks just another ‘other, difference for its ow sake Second, the paradox of the archaeological object is that itis real and tactile so that when we hold it, it seems (0 bring the past close and to allow us 10 ex- Petience another realty. But at the same time, that ‘other reality is distant and unconnected to the present ‘To experience the past inthis way is 10 experience the thrill of time travel, an archaeological “tourism. The closeness of the object which has itself travelled through time leads us 10 believe we can do the same. This “I've seen Elvis' perspective is particularly evident in the process of excavation where archaeologists can physically dig through time and see what happened therefrom the physical remains ‘Third, the materiality ofthe past means that iti ripe for commerealization. People like collecting things and the archaeological pasts already a commodity. The ob- jects can be put on display, on mantelpieces of in ex: pensive glass cases with focused lighting, to give them the appearance of value. The past is packaged and sold’ as a commodity. both figuratively and literally. At least one can buy replicas, as when at Yorvik the Visit leads to a shop and to the minting and buying of ‘your own Viking coin. We no longer talk of the past or of history but of the heritage industry, Local councils and commercial businesses are interested in starting ‘museums because the past “sells well’. It brings in tour ists and creates wealth and jobs. The speed ofthe time cars at York is precisely eaiculated to maximize profit. In the Museum of the Iron Age at Andover the past is sensationalized by reference tothe barbaric, weird hab- its of the Celts, in order to attract vistors, Fourth, archaeologists often claim that in comparison with historical evidence their data allow access to popu lar, non-elite culture ~ to the everyday lives of past men and women. Certainly the materiality of archaeological data allows a popular, accessible approach to the past. Much post-modernism seems a synthesis of high and popular art and culture (as in the music of Philip 3s), oF a mixing of classical with kitsch or Readers’ Digest culture. Whereas history is abstract and often i. tellectual, archaeological objects are immediately acces sible and more open to commodification and consumer In these various ways archaeology is well suited to the commodified fragmentation characteristic of post modernism. Wha isthe social context ofthis situation? To some degree this new view ofthe past could play @ radical role in undermining claims about the past pre ferred by dominant groups. For example, the authoritar- jan view of an “English’ Heritage, increasingly prob- BEYOND THE SECOND SEX NEW DIRECTIONS IN THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF GENDER Edited by Peggy Reeves Sanday and Ruth Gallagher Goodenough Beyond the Second Sex challenges Simone de Beauvoir’s notion that women are "the second sex" in every society. Based on original field research, the essays pose ethnographic and analytical challenges to the assumptions and definitions that, in the past, have supported judgements about sexual equality and inequality. They move away ‘from broad labels and blanket judgements in favour of addressing the conflict, contradictions, and ambiguities that are so often encountered in field research. 320 pages £35.10 cloth £15.95 paper SOUND AND SENTIMENT BIRDS,WEEPING, POETICS, AND SONG IN KALULI EXPRESSION Second Edition Steven Feld .n unusually interesting book, one that advances the anthropology of music importantly in certain directions... a landmark in first presenting in detail the idea of an ethnography of sound” = American Ethnologist "An undisputable success and masterpiece... Fed's ‘ethnography of sound’ is a major contribution to our understanding of New Guinea and a giant step toward the realization of an anthropology of sound” - Language in Society 300 pages £17.05 paper For a complete catalogue of Anthropology titles contact UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS 1 Gower Street London WC1E 6HA Tel: 071 580 3994 Fax: 071 580 3995, ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 6 No 5, October 1990Eagleton, 1985. Capitals, modem and pstmodemism New Lft Review 152, 073 (Gero, J and Conkey,M 1990. Engenderng archaeology: women and prehistory Blackwell, Oxford, Harvey. D. 1989, The condition of post modernity. Blackwell Oxford, Hewson, R. 1987. The ertae nds. London. meson, F. 1984 Postmodernism, othe cura logic of ate capitalism. New Left Review 146, $392. Layton, R198. Confit inthe archaeology of ving ‘nadions. Unwin Hyman, London. Lowenthl,D. 1985. The past isa foreign ‘country, Cambridge U Lyd J-F. 1984. The postmedern condition Manchester University Press Merriman, N. 1989. Heritage fom the oer side ofthe glass ease Anthropoles Today 50), Hos. Jematic in a multi-cultural society, can be opened 10 ther voices in the market place. But on the whole, as ‘Merriman has shown, the past represented in museums and heritage industries largely serves the interests of the better-educated middle classes. On the whole frag: ‘mented past deconstruct historical connections and dis ‘empowers those groups who try t0 use the past to further their social strategies. It produces a universal culture in whieh our histories mean nothing, except as nostalgia which is usually conservative in helping. us to cept the present. More generally, although post-mod- emnism may at times derive from a critique of estab- lished authority, it quickly becomes politically compla- ‘cent and reinforces the consumer society of late capital- ism as Jameson, Eagleton and Harvey have argued, But the post-modem world is far from coherent, There are contradictory tendencies which involve con- Aieting uses of the past. The point is put well by Eagle. ton (1985), On the one hand, 1am a consumer (of ob: jects, taste, culture, style, heritage) who is supposed to be a decentred network of deste. I am supposed to close my eyes to the way in which my decentred con- ‘umerism affects the unemployed and the Third World. (On the other hand, Iam a father who faces problems of agency, duty, autonomy, authority and social responsi- bility. In this second, decidedly non post-modern world ‘we cling to truths and ideologies. So alongside the post- modem collapse of metanarrative there emerges a counteracting desire for story, for meaning. Its partic: ularly clear in archaeology and heritage that subordi nate groups ereate connections with the past and try to jute themselves in relation to their heritage in order {o form an altemative identity. They want the past 10 tell a story about themselves which confronts the domi- ‘nant post-modem ethic. There are various ways in which we can see this al- temative use of a connected past by subordinate groups. First, in Merriman’s survey it became clear that in- dividuals who did not feel able to participate in the ‘dominant post-modem heritage might be interested in Focal history or genealogy. In these ways personal or local tes with the past helped t0 situate people in the present and give them a sense of place. Second, around the world archaeology is inereasingly being used by emerging nations and ethnic minorities to legitimate their claims to land or to further their contemporary political existence. Clear examples include the use of the site of Zimbabwe, the use of archaeology by ‘Australian Aborigines or Canadian Inuit, andthe claims bby American Indians forthe reburial of their ancestral remains (for other examples see Layton 1989). While the European experience has shown that nationalist uses of the past can also be repressive, links fo the past can be liberating. Feminist e-readings ofthe past have also ‘drawn attention tothe importance of gender relations in long-term social change, challenging our assumptions about divisions of labour (Gero and Conkey 1990), ‘Third, the materiality of the archaeological past al- lows subordinate groups to ground thie claims in a cer- tain objectivity. Since archaeologists deal not only with imerpretations of interpretations but also with material data it is possible 10 claim “real” connections with the past, t0 show the ‘real’ complexity of Zimbabwe oF 10 demonstrate ‘real” Aborigine sites on the landscape. In this way it appears as if free-floating signifies and un- ‘coupled images can be countered with hard evidence by interested partes. Fourth, a past which is distant but Which is nevertheless connected and "real" has a great potential for the critique of established universals and taken-forgranteds, In an increasingly homogenized ‘Wester’ world thee is a danger that we eradicate all contemporary ‘others’ As cultura diversity threatens to ‘ne reduced the notion that there might be other ways of thinking is less easy to maintain and the post-modem dispersal of meaning certainly contributes to a lack of understanding of the ‘other’. It is especially the dis- covery of new pasts by archaeologists which will Ieave ‘open the possibility for recognizing difference and for situating the present as a particular product of history. ‘The material difference ofthe past, a5 long as itis con- textually bound and connected to us, helps with anthro- pology to ensure against the presumed universality of Western thought Fifth, in a very practical way archaeology gets in the ‘way of mass commercial development which severs people from their histories and their landscapes. Developers literally trip up over the past as they find that some archaeological site stands in the way oftheir building or quarrying programme, Partly because ofthe rise in awareness of green issues, local planning depart- ments in England increasingly withhold consent to developers until proper archaeological enquiry has been carried out. As a result most archaeology in the country is now carried out on a commercial basis rather than by public agencies. In many ways this change in the way archaeology is carried out in England has led to a post- ‘modem commercialization and trivialization of the past, as is seen also in the United States, But in England at Teast, popular interest in local pasts has often produced ‘8 counter-argument that development should cease or that it should fund heritage displays which in the midst fof moder shopping malls, owns and building estates maintain links between people, their landscape and theit heritage. Interpretive or heritage centres inereasingly appear which make up the statistics of new museums ‘but which are often not termed museums. They are ‘more concerned with telling a story which gives local people a sense of place, I certainly found working as an archacologist in the Fens in Cambridgeshire that in a Fragmented post-modem world small local communities ‘were willing © go 10 enormous lengths to retain access toa past which was materially connected to them. ‘The consumerized instant thrill of @ post-modern heritage draws people in and threatens to alienate them from a past fo which they might wish to be connected. Ie is certainly in the interests of developers and domi ‘nant groups in Wester societies 10 commercialize the ‘past and undermine the claims 10 legitimacy in the past ‘made by subordinate groups. But really the two sides feed off each other. For example, in the public con- troversy about the building of a new town, planning consent may be negotiated against the construction of heritage centre which forthe Tits time gives people local sense of place. And ater all, the visitor t0 the frozen moment in Viking York is first taken back in a time car through the intervening centuries, and the ‘entre claims a historical integrity. The main reason for the heritage boom is that a new past, especially the ‘material past, has become the site of struggle between ‘wo aspects of post-modemism. The material heritage is fn appropriate location for the conflict between con- tinvity and discontinuity, between the contextualized and the decontextualized. The pas, renamed heritage, is ‘an important arena for working aut the opposed claims ‘of our social responsibilities and our decentred con- sumer existence, Archaeology confronts « material re ity with disconnected meanings and withthe dominant View that ‘anything goes". Heritage is central to the issue of whether we are floating images or historical agents. ANTHROPOLOGY TODAY Vol 6 No 5, October 1990 Is