Assembling Archaeology: Teaching, practice and research

Abstract

Assembling Archaeology provides a radical rethinking of the relationships between teaching, researching, and practicing as an archaeologist in the twenty-first century. At its heart, this book addresses the marketization of higher education, demonstrating how this fundamentally impacts contemporary archaeological practice. The book proposes a solution which is grounded in a theoretical rethinking of archaeological teaching, training, and practice. Archaeology is currently undergoing a material turn which sees the revaluing of artefacts, objects, and the non-human in understanding the world. Drawing upon this, Cobb and Croucher approach the discipline as a subject of investigation and offer a new perspective founded upon the notion of learning assemblages. The holistic approach they propose challenges traditional power structures and the global marketization of the higher education system. The issues addressed here are global and applicable wherever archaeology is taught, practiced, and researched. This book is therefore valuable to all archaeologists, from academics to those in Cultural Resource Management, from heritage professionals to undergraduate students, and provides significant insights for educators throughout higher education.