Black flags and black trowels: embracing anarchy in interpretation and practice

Abstract

The concept of an "anarchist archaeological framework" is not new; anarchy and archaeology have been explored in many forms together, including conference sessions (see SAA 2015 conference), special journal issues (Borck and Sanger 2017) and, more recently, as the focus of a manifesto written by a group known as the Black Trowel Collective (2016). This coincides with a broader movement across academia (and in general politics) calling for self-reflection and critical engagement with the problematic foundations that many of our disciplines have been based on, specifically with regards to sexism, racism, and colonisation. This paper continues this discussion by critically engaging with past attempts to utilise anarchist theory in archaeological interpretation, as well as expanding these arguments further by applying them to archaeological practice as well. I argue that engaging with anarchist theory in both interpretation and practice is a form of further detaching ourselves from the problematic foundations of our discipline and moving forward towards a more equitable archaeology that can imagine both a different past and future.