Connecting archaeology, indigeneity, and community in the Caribbean

今天，加勒比地区有多个土著社区，岛屿和散居地的土著复兴运动，以及生活各个方面长期公认的土著遗产。尽管如此，土著灭绝的想法仍然存在。考古学和考古学家被牵连在这个叙述，由于坚持前哥伦布时代的过去是死的，并保存在考古博物馆收藏。我们承认这一批评，并需要采取积极的行动来回应：1）吸引学科之外的人，2）回答21世纪考古学家的关键问题：“考古学为谁服务？（Atalay等人，2014年，引用Nalda 1978年）。因此，拟议活动的中心目标是解决加勒比学术界和社区在考古学和土著特性及代表性专题上的分歧。拟议的网络将多米尼加共和国和波多黎各这两个有着共同的前殖民和殖民历史但具有独特现代轨迹的相邻岛屿的机构和非机构伙伴聚集在一起。我们将通过一系列涉及学术合作伙伴和非学术利益相关者的重点会议开辟一个探索问题的空间。我们将解决目前与土著考古学和印第安人接触（和不接触）的不同背景。为此，我们将在场地和共同感兴趣的对象面前举行会议，例如在岩石艺术场所和博物馆储藏室，就遗产和代表性的当地具体问题进行非等级对话。这需要从最初的研究设计，提出的问题，参与者和方法中了解考古学本身的实践。

There are multiple Indigenous communities in the Caribbean today, Indigenous revitalization movements in the islands and diaspora, and long-recognised Indigenous legacies in all aspects of life. Despite this, the idea of indigenous extinction is persistent. Archaeology and archaeologists are implicated in this narrative due to an insistence on the pre-Columbian past as dead and preserved in archaeological museum collections. We acknowledge this critique and the need to respond with positive action to 1) engage those outside the discipline, and 2) answer to the critical question for archaeologists in the 21st century: "Archaeology for whom?" (Atalay et al. 2014 citing Nalda 1978). Therefore, the central aim of the proposed activities is to address the separation between the academy and communities in the Caribbean on the themes of archaeology and indigenous identity and representation. The proposed network draws together institutional and non-institutional partners from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, neighbouring islands which share precolonial and colonial histories but with distinctive modern trajectories. We will open up a space to explore issues through a series of focused meetings involving academic partners and non-academic stakeholders. We will address the different contexts of engagement (and non-engagement) with Indigenous archaeology and indigeneity in the present. We will do this by holding meetings in sites and in the presence of objects of mutual interest such as at rockart locations and in museum storerooms to generate non-hierarchical dialogue on locally-specific issues around heritage and representation. This is needed to inform the practise of archaeology itself from the initial research design, questions asked, participants, and methods.