Indigenous Archaeologies: A Reader on Decolonization, and: Bridging the Divide: Indigenous Communities and Archaeology into the 21st Century (review)

Few would disagree that the contemporary inequality and disadvantage experienced by many Indigenous peoples globally has a firm basis in European colonialism. As most authors note in Indigenous Archaeologies: A Reader on Decolonization (Bruchac, Hart, and Wobst 2010) and Bridging the Divide: Indigenous Communities and Archaeology into the 21st Century (Phillips and Allen 2010), the discipline of archaeology has been slow to redress colonial practices in and attitudes about how we engage with Indigenous peoples. However, since the mid-1980s a robust critique has emerged under the banner of decolonized or Indigenous archaeologies. These two volumes provide valuable accounts of the development of this critique, outlining its present form via a diverse range of case studies while also considering new directions for its future. A strong theme that runs through both volumes is that not only is the notion of a decolonized or Indigenous archaeological practice important for ethical reasons as a counter to traditional archaeological approaches, but making substantive changes in the way archaeologists work with Indigenous communities is an eminently achievable goal that has tangible benefits for Indigenous communities and can lead to the development of more inclusive accounts of the past.

Bridging the Divide is a collection of papers emerging from the World Archaeology Congress, Second Indigenous Inter-Congress, held in 2005 at the University of Auckland in Aotearoa, New Zealand. The papers in this volume cover a range of issues and case studies, the majority of which are from the southwest Pacific. There being no single unified thrust defining the structure of volume, the introduction by Allen and Phillips offers an important and helpful synopsis of the broader themes represented in it. They provide a synopsis of the emergence of the Indigenous critique of archaeology and its more recent consolidation as a distinct field of practice, suggesting that it is now necessary for archaeologists to move toward "a more mature, middle phase of learning how to work with Indigenous communities" by embracing approaches that go beyond "blanket criticisms and collapsed categories to a closer definition of what exactly decolonized methodologies might represent" (Allen and Phillips 2010: 41).

The first several papers build up the idea that an Indigenous archaeological approach is an archaeological practice that accommodates and respects Indigenous epistemologies and perspectives. In a challenging and personal account, Watkins develops the argument that Indigenous peoples' concerns about archaeology are not exclusively associated with issues relating to repatriation of human remains. Pointing out the range of issues that Indigenous peoples routinely raise concern about in archaeology, Watkins argues that these problems are neither static nor generic and that solutions are likely to differ depending on context. Mosley's paper is an honest and reflexive account of how some Indigenous peoples consider material culture and particular places to possess agency; that is, "the ability to actively affect people and their behaviour" (Mosley 2010: 61), potentially in harmful ways. Her paper is an important contribution because she reflects upon the way in which she—as an archaeologist—has come to be aware of Indigenous peoples' own views about the potential harm that may come to her through her research activities in western New South Wales, Australia. She asks whether it is now time for archaeologists to reflect genuinely and more on these perspectives about material culture, rather than simply acknowledging them in order to facilitate research work.

Two papers explore Indigenous archaeology in Central and South America. Haber and colleagues examine conversations between local people and archaeologists in the Puno de Atacama region of the province of Catamarca in Argentina. They take up previous research exploring how archaeological versions of the past contrast with local people's "memories and ideas concerning local history and...