Editorial: Diversity is Our Heritage and Our Future

Editorial: Diversity is Our Heritage and Our Future Kathryn Weedman Arthur, University of South Florida, Saint Petersburg, USA E-mail: EDITORIAL Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress ( 2023) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-023-09483-4 John Carman, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK E-mail: Teaching is itself an ethnographic enterprise; if we fail to take an anthropological approach to our students, if we fail to accept that teaching is not just performance, but a scholarly activity based on research with an evolving methodology, then chances are our students are not learning what we think we are teaching (p. 3). … Intellectual freedom is not freedom from ethical responsibility, either to the people whose voices can only be heard through their surviving material culture, or to the people whose voices can only be heard if we listen carefully, and we must use our expertise to teach others to listen (Pyburn, Archaeologies 1 (3): 2005:4). The sentiments above were written in the first issues of Archaeologies by co-editors, Nick Shepard and K. Anne Pyburn, and strongly resonate with our continued commitment to be a journal dedicated to multivocality,  2023 World Archaeological Congress ARCHAEOLOGIES There are three aspects that make it [Archaeologies] a significant and new addition to the available journal literature, and that underline its mission and function in our own minds. The first is in providing a platform for the concerns and interests of Indigenous people and archaeologists, on a basis of mutual respect. The second is in acting as a forum for a set of discussions and dialogues linking up archaeologists identified with the North and South, East and West, West and non-West, First and Third Worlds, developed and underdeveloped contexts, and dominant and subaltern nations, groupings, and individuals. The third is in the explicit recognition that this multivocality is structured by relations of power and privilege, by different access to resources, and by different bodies of memory and historical experience. …it is the third aspect in particular that moves us beyond the politics of representation to something new and potentially more challenging. It involves acknowledging diversity, multiplicity, and difference, even as we recognise the ties that bind, the ways in which we remain enmeshed in ever more complex networks, relations, and reciprocities. It means recognising the full complexity of contemporary circumstances (Shepard, Archaeologies 1 (1): 2005:3). K. W. ARTHUR, J. CARMAN diversity, and inclusion as expressed in our current mission. We begin this issue with deep gratitude to previous editors—including the journal founders, authors, and reviewers who generously contributed to Archaeologies making it a quality peer-reviewed journal. Our new cover for Archaeologies was inspired by our mission to be the archaeology and heritage journal that includes scholarly research from every country in the world. In its first year, Archaeologies published 26 articles in two issues (August and December) written by authors from 9 countries. By 2007, the demand to publish in the journal had grown to an extent that a 3rd issue in April became the standard. In 2022, we published 25 articles from scholars in 13 countries, Australia, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Finland, India, Iran, Italy, South Africa, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, and United States. Since 2005, researchers from 62 countries have submitted articles to Archaeologies (Fig. 1). Not unexpectedly, the highest number of submissions derive from countries, where English is either the national language or widely spoken, such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, India, and South Africa. Authors from Iran, China, Japan, Jordan, Sweden, Brazil, and Argentina, constitute another 23 percent of submissions. Over the course of 19 years, editors of Archaeologies sent 1779 reviewer requests to 467 persons living in 56 countries. We would particularly like to extend our deep gratitude for the generous support of Hearther Burke, Claire Smith, Reinhard Bernbeck, Arek Marciniak, Jordan Ralph, Jamie Almansa Sánchez, and Marcia Bezerra for their dedication reviewing 10–17 articles each! Twenty-two reviewers were board members, who completed nearly 15% of requested reviews. We have most heavily depended on reviewers from the United States (36%), United Kingdom (11%), and Australia (10%), followed by reviewers in Canada, Spain, Iran, Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, and Mexico. Since 2005, Archaeologies has published articles with authors from 48 countries. Scholars from the United States, UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, and Brazil garnered the majority of publications in Archaeologies (Fig. 1). Publications from authors originating in Asia: China, India, Iran; Europe: Sweden and Spain; and South America: Brazil and Argentina also have been strong (Fig. 2). Archaeologies aims to continue growth in our submissions, reviewer base, board, and accepted articles with our mission statement in mind: Archaeologies aims to attract submissions that seek to recenter (or decenter) archaeology, and that challenge local and global power geometries. Areas of interest include ethics and archaeology; public archaeology; legacies of colonialism and nationalism within the discipline; the interplay of local and global archaeological traditions; theory and archaeology; the discipline’s Fig. 1. Comparison of articles submitted and accepted between 2005 and 2023 and the geographical origin of authors (Images created by Kathryn W. Arthur, data generated in Editorial Manager 2023) Editorial: Diversity is Our Heritage and Our Future K. W. ARTHUR, J. CARMAN Fig. 2. Graph illustrating the acceptance of articles between 2005 and 2023 according to continent of the authors. This graph does not include authors from the United States, UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Argentina, and Brazil involvement in projects of memory, identity, and restitution; and rights and ethics relating to cultural property, issues of acquisition, custodianship, conservation, and display. Recognizing the importance of non-Western epistemologies and intellectual traditions, the journal publishes some material in nonstandard format, including dialogues; annotated photographic essays; transcripts of public events; and statements from elders, custodians, descent groups and individual. Archaeologies historically has published research articles, debate forums, and special issues that strongly reflect our mission. A purview of published articles demonstrate emphasis on Education (Public, Teaching, and Student), Heritage Politics (Power, Engagement, Collaboration, Conflict), Subaltern Identities (Indigenous, descendant, race, ethnicity, gender and sexuality), and Theory (Feminist, Intersectionality, and Postcolonial). Recent articles also suggest a strong trend towards understanding the contributions and pitfalls for inclus (...truncated)