Kelly M. Britt
Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, CUNY

The Past, Present, and Future of Activist Archaeology:
A Conversation on the Intersection of Archaeology and Activism

Archaeologists have a history of being agents of change, particularly in advocating for the protection and preservation of historical resources. The passage of many historic preservation laws and the development of the field of Cultural Resources Management in the mid-20th century enabled archaeological groups, individual archaeologists, and those working with historic sites to be diligent advocates for heritage, particularly in urban centers as the fast-paced nature of urbanization threatened historical resources and a sense of place. Today, as more social issues, such as climate change, inequality, neoliberal development, and contestation of historical memory, intersect with archaeology and historical sites, we see archaeologists and others continuing to advocate not only for historic resources but also for the larger social justice challenges that threaten the communities in which these resources reside. But what does it mean to be an activist archaeologist or conduct activist archaeologies? As sites of protest continue in the present, we also see archaeologists researching these places of resistance. This talk will be a conversation between the intersection of archaeology and activism and what it means to conduct activist archaeology, be an activist archaeologist, and/or conduct archaeology on places of protest. The many challenges that this work may entail will be highlighted, including the physical and ethical lines between activist and archaeologist and where we, as a discipline, can collectively imagine what a future activist archaeology may look like.

Kelly M. Britt, PhD, RPA, is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology (Brooklyn College and The Graduate Center, CUNY) and coordinator of the Museum and Cultural Organizational Studies minor (Brooklyn College). Her collaborative projects are located in urban settings and focus on gentrification, climate change, and trauma. These include community-based work with the United Order of Tents Eastern District #3, the oldest Black women’s benevolent society in the United States, and the Flatbush African Burial Ground Coalition. She also works in a collective of anthropologists exploring COVID-19 materiality as a response to trauma, and with the Van Cortlandt Park archaeological legacy/orphaned collection from the NYC’s LPC’s Archaeological Repository: The Nan Rothschild Research Center. These research themes are highlighted in her writing. This includes the special volume of Historical Archaeology (volume 58) she co-edited with Sarah Platt on the theme of Urban Archaeology OF and AS Dissonance, and two co-edited volumes on Advocacy and Archaeology: Urban Intersections, co-edited with Diane George and published by Berghahn Books in 2023, as well as Archaeology and Advocacy: Urban Intersections, co-edited with Susan Shay, which was published in the spring of 2024.

38 West 86th Street, Lecture Hall

No registration required. Coffee and cookies will be served.