Toward a politicised interpretation ethic in African archaeology

Abstract

Following the Foucauldian, post-colonial and archaeological post-processual critiques of knowledge construction and more recent calls for a political ethic in archaeology, this paper furthers this discussion by advocating the introduction of a ‘politicised interpretation publication ethic’ in African archaeology. This is a response to a survey of recent African archaeology publications that suggests that ethics and politics continue to be removed from archaeological interpretation. The archaeology-as-science ethic is subsequently critiqued through a brief review of two famous African archaeology examples: the controversy over Great Zimbabwe and the practice of archaeology in apartheid period South Africa. Finally, the problematic archaeology-as-science ethic in pre-genocide Rwanda is outlined and the ethical creation of archaeology today in a post-genocide situation considered as the paper moves toward a discussion of what a ‘politicised interpretation publication ethic’ might look like in contemporary African archaeology.