Abstract
Archaeology and ethnoarchaeology contribute to legitimate the current social drift of the western world because they take part in the truth regime (in Foucault’s terms) of capitalism. At first the ‘others’ of the past (and the present) were considered inferiors. Subsequently they were considered as equals. In neither case, however, was their right to be different recognized nor, consequently, the equality of their rights. This has occurred because our society, guided by the individualistic values of capitalism, does not recognize that belonging to a community and establishing human bonds –both of them essential factors of the identity of those ‘others’– constitute the basis for ontological security in our own society. Archaeologists must attend to the material evidence of communal dynamics in the past not only in order to understand their cultural processes, but also in order to stop legitimizing the dehumanized social order we are constructing in the present.
Highlights
Archaeology and ethnoarchaeology contribute to legitimate the current social drift of the western world because they take part in the truth regime of capitalism
Archaeologists must attend to the material evidence of communal dynamics in the past in order to understand their cultural processes, and in order to stop legitimizing the dehumanized social order we are constructing in the present
Al hacer este análisis, podamos convenir que el ‘sistema’ en que vivimos no se construye porque una mano negra nos oprime y nos dirige, sino porque todos y cada uno de nosotros colaboramos en la elaboración y reforzamiento de la lógica que lo rige, sin ser conscientes de ello la mayor parte de las veces (Hernando 2012a, 2012b)
Summary
La arqueología y la etnoarqueología están contribuyendo a legitimar la deriva social que está experimentando nuestra sociedad, pues hasta ahora han formado parte del ‘régimen de verdad’ (en términos de Foucault) del orden capitalista. Comenzaron considerando a los ‘otros’ del pasado (y del presente) como inferiores a los europeos, para valorarles después como supuestos iguales. Esto sucede porque nuestra sociedad no reconoce que la pertenencia a una comunidad y los vínculos humanos, ambos vectores claves de la identidad de esos ‘otros’, constituyen la base de la seguridad ontológica en nuestra propia sociedad. La Arqueología debe prestar atención a la evidencia de las dinámicas comunitarias procedentes del pasado no sólo con el fin de entender sus procesos culturales, sino también para dejar de legitimar el deshumanizado orden social que estamos construyendo en el presente
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