Doing Mediterranean and West Asian Archaeology on Indigenous Land

As part of the exchange programme with the University of Toronto/Mediterranean Studies, the UCL Institute of Archaeology is delighted to host a talk by Dr Katherine Blouin, Associate Professor in History, Classics, and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto, on a topic that cuts across many current areas of interest at UCL/IoA including Cultural Heritage, Indigenous studies, Classics, Egyptology, Near Eastern Studies, and Archaeology. 

The talk will be hosted by Alice Stevenson and David Wengrow, and there will be an opportunity for Q&A afterwards with Dr Blouin. All are welcome!

Abstract

What does it mean to to teach, learn and research ancient Mediterranean and West Asian Archaeology on Indigenous Land? What does it mean to do so in a settler colony located on what many Peoples call Turtle Island? How are we (not) accountable for the role played by Archaeology, Classics, Biblical Studies, Egyptology, and Near Eastern Studies in (settler) colonial contexts? How does modern settler colonialism inform our reconstruction of ancient Indigeneities? How does our relationship to the Land we come from and the Land we are currently working on play a role in the way we think about ancient Mediterranean and West Asian worlds? Why is that so? What can Antiquity scholars learn from ancient and modern Indigenous ways of being, knowing and learning? And what catharses are triggered in the process? Drawing from my own (un)learning work in and outside the classroom, this paper will propose avenues for answers and ways forward.