Towards a Public Archaeology of the Working Classes

Towards a Public Archaeology of the Working Classes V. Camille Westmont , Department of Anthropology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 402 10th Avenue South, UH3165, Birmingham, AL 35294-1241, USA E-mail: Accepted: 9 October 2024 / Published online: 4 November 2024 GUEST EDITORIAL Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress (Ó 2024) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-024-09518-4 ABSTRACT This introduction to the special issue on ‘The Public Archaeology of Working Class Communities’ situates the articles included in this issue within the broader context of identity-based public and community archaeology efforts. Despite being part of the gender-race-class classical triad of identity, class has been repeatedly overlooked as it’s own area of focus within community engagement and public archaeology. This introduction calls for public archaeologists to more thoroughly consider their engagement strategies with working class communities in order to ensure our projects capture the intersectionality of our stakeholder and descendant populations. Finally, the articles in this issue are examined as case studies that are already highlighting some thematic trends within working class public engagements. ________________________________________________________________ Résumé: Cette introduction au numéro spécial sur « L’archéologie publique des communautés de la classe ouvrière » place les articles figurant dans ce magazine dans le contexte plus large des initiatives archéologiques publiques et communautaires axées sur l’identité. Bien que faisant partie de la triade classique de l’identité, à savoir genre-race-classe, la classe a été continuellement négligée comme sujet d’intérêt propre au sein de l’archéologie publique et de l’engagement communautaire. Cette introduction appelle les archéologues publics à envisager de manière plus approfondie leurs stratégies d’engagement auprès des communautés de la classe ouvrière afin de veiller à ce que nos projets saisissent l’intersectionnalité de nos populations de descendants et de parties prenantes. Enfin, les articles de ce magazine sont analysées à titre d’études de cas mettant d’ores et déjà en exergue certaines tendances thématiques au sein des engagements publics de la classe ouvrière. ________________________________________________________________ Resumen: En esta introducción al número especial sobre ‘‘La arqueologı́a pública de las comunidades de las clases trabajadoras’’, se sitúan los Ó 2024 World Archaeological Congress ARCHAEOLOGIES Volume 20 Number 3 December 2024 ________________________________________________________________ 521 522 V. CAMILLE WESTMONT artı́culos incluidos en este número dentro del contexto más amplio de los esfuerzos de la arqueologı́a pública y comunitaria basada en la identidad. A pesar de ser parte de la trı́ada clásica de identidad género-raza-clase, la clase se ha pasado por alto repetidamente como su propia área de enfoque dentro del compromiso comunitario y la arqueologı́a pública. En esta introducción se hace un llamado a los arqueólogos públicos a considerar más a fondo sus estrategias de compromiso con las comunidades de las clases trabajadoras para asegurar que nuestros proyectos capturen la interseccionalidad de nuestras poblaciones de partes interesadas y descendientes. Finalmente, se examinan los artı́culos de este número como estudios de caso que ya están destacando algunas tendencias temáticas dentro de los compromisos públicos de las clases trabajadoras. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ KEY WORDS Working class, Public archaeology, Community archaeology _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Introduction The growth of public involvement in archaeological research has led to more explicit concerns around the instrumental roles archaeology can serve in society. This concern with the social usefulness of archaeology was captured in a series of publications in the early 2000s. Books, articles, and debate pieces posed pointed questions about the broader societal relevance of archaeology, and whether archaeologists should engage with current debates at all (see Tarlow and Stutz 2013; Dawdy 2009; Stottman 2010). These pointed questions have led to greater experimentation with problemoriented archaeology as well as greater reflexivity around the social intentions and societal outcomes of public archaeology projects. While this work has led to broader calls for ethical and/or social justice-oriented praxis, particularly when working on sites related to minority and marginalized populations (see Colwell and Ferguson 2008; Silliman 2020; Montgomery and Fryer 2023), gaps still exist. One such gap is a focus on the working classes. Much of the recent polarization in the Western world is rooted in growing class insecurity. Recent reviews have found that class status is correlated with individuals’ views on economic inequalities, participation in populist movements (driven by disaffection and resentment), and attitudes towards migration (Lindh and McCall 2020). Although sociologists have Towards a Public Archaeology of the Working Classes 523 long acknowledged that differences in priorities and objectives are driven by underlying economic interests and social inequalities (see Fraser 1995; Kymlicka and Banting 2006; Moran 2020), the acknowledgements of these differences as part of a broader holistic identity has had less penetration within archaeological discourse. Identifying ways that archaeology can intercede in these differences to begin bridging class divisions through lessons rooted in cross-cultural understanding must become the third pillar of identity-driven, social justice oriented public archaeology. This thematic issue enters this conversation by offering examples of the ways public archaeology can engage with working class communities as subjects of research, as stakeholders in the past, and as an identity group fighting for historical and modern-day representation. Unsurprisingly, many of the articles in this issue also intersect with those political issues mentioned above—with questions of migration, inequalities, and broader patterns of resentment—demonstrating the deep entanglements of class identity with many of the most pressing issues facing communities today. The goal of this issue, then, is to bring greater attention to working class communities as an identity group with challenges that can be addressed using archaeology and heritage studies methods, and to call for greater engagement with class-based marginalization within the discipline (see McGuire and Reckner 2003; Smith et al. 2011; Stottman 2022). Several papers in this thematic issue originated from a session titled ‘‘Communicating Worki (...truncated)