TAG-43

Women and Power? From Conversation to Action | Tue Dec 17 14:00:00 | Room 802/4

2017 saw the publication of Mary Beard’s bestseller Women and Power, and the explosion of the #MeToo movement across social media. Billed as a manifesto, Beard’s book takes a historical approach rather than explicitly outlining inclusive and intersectional practical steps for supporting women’s power in modern, multi-vocal archaeology. There is clearly a pressing need now to move beyond conversations about women*’s experiences of archaeology both in and outside of the academy and look for concrete action. This is most keenly needed at intersections of class, race, sexuality, dis/ability, and in the experience of people identifying as non-binary or trans.

There has now been more than a decade of studies including gender feminist theorisations of the past as well as surveys of the profession providing the data that show change is urgently required. This was pioneered by the British Women Archaeologists group, but today numerous other organisations are working toward positive change in the discipline. This includes CIfA’s Equality and Diversity Group, Enabled Archaeology, BAJR RESPECT campaign, and Women’s Classical Committee while TrowelBlazers have raised the profile of women in archaeology more widely. Some informal actions have taken place including the establishment of a Mentoring group on Facebook, but now is the time for institutions and employers to step up and effect real change.
This session is aimed at bringing together many voices to speak, and to listen. The panel will include representatives from a number of groups for an open discussion chaired by Trowelblazers examining the following questions:

What is the historical context of women’s success in archaeology?
What are remaining barriers to inclusion?
What current practices are working and can be built on, particularly those that ensure work to promote women is itself inclusive?

Following this we will outline a draft best practice document containing actionable steps which organisations can use to make more radical and meaningful changes to attract, support and retain women in archaeological careers.
As an inspiring case study we will open the session by screening a short documentary on the role of women within a conflict archaeology research collective.
We look forward to a challenging, open and productive session.

Session timetable
14:00 \| Session organisers Introduction
14:10 \| Rebeca Blanco-Rotea, G.I. Síncrisis, University of Santiago de Compostela; Sara Traba, Independent Researcher Conflict Archaeology: an audiovisual project on the invisibility of women in certain archaeologies Our proposal presents the documentary “(Conflict) Archaeology”, made by Sara Traba, film director, and Rebeca Blanco-Rotea, archaeologist, from a somewhat “intimate” perspective that connects with the approach we take in the research collective, RomanArmy.eu, but also from the postdoctoral project “Frontier landscapes in Early Modern Age: from Archaeology to Society (FLandS)”. In them we attach great importance to the relationship of archaeology with communities in the processes of knowledge production, especially female collectives, and to the search for formulas for the use of fortified landscapes as a sustainable cultural and socioeconomic resource. The work is based on the idea that there is a significant absence of women in the processes of knowledge production, in the construction of stories, and in the conversion of this type of heritage into a cultural and socio-economic resource. This is an issue that concerns us and something we are interested in rethinking from a multiple perspective. Based on this idea, within the framework of preparing a project in two sites located on the northern border between Spain and Portugal, one of which is possibly a Roman castellum (Outeiro de Arnás) and the other an early medieval enclosure (Alto do Circo), we decided to develop an audiovisual project that would influence this debate. The documentary is not intended to be a product that seeks to answer the questions we ask ourselves, but rather to dialogue, precisely, with these collectives, with local communities, with women and with other professional colleagues. Like many of the activities that we propose from RomanArmy.eu, we are interested in investigating how to investigate, face up to new challenges, question our own profession, and attempt to resolve other conflicts, from the scientific perspective shared by the collective: one that is democratic, dynamic, open, feminist and social.
14:40 \| Becky Wragg Sykes, Independent scholar / Trowelblazers; Brenna Hassett, UCL; Suzanne Pilaar Birch, Trowelblazers; Victoria Herridge, Trowelblazers; Anne Teather, British Women Archaeologists (BWA); Rachel Pope, British Women Archaeologists (BWA) and University of Liverpool; Laura Hampden, Museum Detox; Laura Hampden, Historic England, Museum Detox, CIfA Equality and Diversity Group; Hannah Cobb, University of Manchester; Penelope Foreman, Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust; Penelope Foreman, Enabled Archaeology Open Workshop participant Open workshop with representatives from British Women Archaeologists, Museum Detox, CIfa, and Enabled Archaeology led by Trowelblazers. The workshop will producea draft best practice document containing actionable steps which organisations can use to make more radical and meaningful changes to attract, support and retain women in archaeological careers.
15:20 \| BREAK
15:50 \| Becky Wragg Sykes, Independent scholar / Trowelblazers; Brenna Hassett, UCL; Suzanne Pilaar Birch, Trowelblazers; Victoria Herridge, Trowelblazers; Anne Teather, British Women Archaeologists (BWA); Rachel Pope, British Women Archaeologists (BWA) and University of Liverpool; Laura Hampden, Museum Detox; Laura Hampden, Historic England, Museum Detox, CIfA Equality and Diversity Group; Hannah Cobb, University of Manchester; Penelope Foreman, Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust; Penelope Foreman, Enabled Archaeology Open Workshop participant Open workshop with representatives from British Women Archaeologists, Museum Detox, CIfa, and Enabled Archaeology led by Trowelblazers. The workshop will producea draft best practice document containing actionable steps which organisations can use to make more radical and meaningful changes to attract, support and retain women in archaeological careers.
17:30 \| END

Session timetable

14:00 | Session organisers

Introduction

14:10 | Rebeca Blanco-Rotea, G.I. Síncrisis, University of Santiago de Compostela; Sara Traba, Independent Researcher

Conflict Archaeology: an audiovisual project on the invisibility of women in certain archaeologies

Our proposal presents the documentary “(Conflict) Archaeology”, made by Sara Traba, film director, and Rebeca Blanco-Rotea, archaeologist, from a somewhat “intimate” perspective that connects with the approach we take in the research collective, RomanArmy.eu, but also from the postdoctoral project “Frontier landscapes in Early Modern Age: from Archaeology to Society (FLandS)”. In them we attach great importance to the relationship of archaeology with communities in the processes of knowledge production, especially female collectives, and to the search for formulas for the use of fortified landscapes as a sustainable cultural and socioeconomic resource. The work is based on the idea that there is a significant absence of women in the processes of knowledge production, in the construction of stories, and in the conversion of this type of heritage into a cultural and socio-economic resource. This is an issue that concerns us and something we are interested in rethinking from a multiple perspective. Based on this idea, within the framework of preparing a project in two sites located on the northern border between Spain and Portugal, one of which is possibly a Roman castellum (Outeiro de Arnás) and the other an early medieval enclosure (Alto do Circo), we decided to develop an audiovisual project that would influence this debate. The documentary is not intended to be a product that seeks to answer the questions we ask ourselves, but rather to dialogue, precisely, with these collectives, with local communities, with women and with other professional colleagues. Like many of the activities that we propose from RomanArmy.eu, we are interested in investigating how to investigate, face up to new challenges, question our own profession, and attempt to resolve other conflicts, from the scientific perspective shared by the collective: one that is democratic, dynamic, open, feminist and social.

14:40 | Becky Wragg Sykes, Independent scholar / Trowelblazers; Brenna Hassett, UCL; Suzanne Pilaar Birch, Trowelblazers; Victoria Herridge, Trowelblazers; Anne Teather, British Women Archaeologists (BWA); Rachel Pope, British Women Archaeologists (BWA) and University of Liverpool; Laura Hampden, Museum Detox; Laura Hampden, Historic England, Museum Detox, CIfA Equality and Diversity Group; Hannah Cobb, University of Manchester; Penelope Foreman, Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust; Penelope Foreman, Enabled Archaeology

Open Workshop participant

Open workshop with representatives from British Women Archaeologists, Museum Detox, CIfa, and Enabled Archaeology led by Trowelblazers. The workshop will producea draft best practice document containing actionable steps which organisations can use to make more radical and meaningful changes to attract, support and retain women in archaeological careers.

15:20 | BREAK

15:50 | Becky Wragg Sykes, Independent scholar / Trowelblazers; Brenna Hassett, UCL; Suzanne Pilaar Birch, Trowelblazers; Victoria Herridge, Trowelblazers; Anne Teather, British Women Archaeologists (BWA); Rachel Pope, British Women Archaeologists (BWA) and University of Liverpool; Laura Hampden, Museum Detox; Laura Hampden, Historic England, Museum Detox, CIfA Equality and Diversity Group; Hannah Cobb, University of Manchester; Penelope Foreman, Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust; Penelope Foreman, Enabled Archaeology

Open Workshop participant

17:30 | END

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