Motive Matters: Intentionality, Embodiment, and the Individual in Archaeology

Abstract

Within archaeology there is an increasing drive to incorporate the concepts of “'the individual,” “agency,” and “subjective experience” into our interpretations of the past. At the same time, there is a growing backlash against this increasing reliance on individualistic interpretive frameworks questioning the theoretical, methodological, practical, and political values of a focus on the individual. Through the concepts of embodiment and intentionality, this article will suggest that we may begin to resolve some of the tension between entirely individualistic or collectivistic approaches by turning to social models that incorporate a more sophisticated understanding of a phenomenologically embodied, culturally embedded subject of the past through the central notion of intentionality. In turning to intentionality as an interpretive framework, this article will examine a brief historical example in order to critically evaluate the currently popular approach to indigenous intentionality through the concept of “resistance.” This discussion of the historical Maya village of San Pedro will then assess the possibilitiesof a more complex look at historically and culturally contextualized intentionality.