Postmodernity: Archaeology in Late Capitalist Times

Abstract

The term ‘postmodernism’ was evoked in the past to describe certain changes in archaeological practice and theory, in particular, certain ideas circulating in the postprocessual archaeology of the 1980s and 1990s. However, most of the ideas concerning postmodernism during this period focused primarily on knowledge claims and relied mainly on ideas from poststructuralism. These ideas discussed the validity of metanarratives, the past as a text to be read, and the inherent subjectivity of knowledge claims. Of course, postmodernism is much more than this; postmodernism is also postmodernity, a historical period marked by a logic inherent to late capitalism. According to this logic, postmodernity is a more recent phase of modernity, one where the economy has become decentralized, leading to changes in labour, society, and culture. Some archaeologists have referred to this expanded notion of postmodernity, but few have remarked on its effects on archaeological practice. When viewed at this larger scale, it quickly becomes apparent that archaeology has not moved beyond postmodernity, much on the contrary, it demonstrates that archaeology is more postmodern today than it has ever been.