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Archaeology as Disaster Capitalism
By Rich Hutchings and Marina La Salle - Department of Anthropology, Vancouver Island University, and Institute for Critical Heritage and Tourism, British Columbia, Canada, September 3, 2015
Archaeology is a form of disaster capitalism, characterized by specialist managers whose function is the clearance of Indigenous heritage from the landscape,making way for economic development. When presented with this critique, archaeologists respond strongly and emotionally, defending archaeology. Anger emanates from and revolves around the assertion that archaeologists are not just complicit in bu tintegral to the destruction of the very heritage they claim to protect. In what we believe is an act of philosophical and economic self-preservation, mainstream archaeologists actively forget the relationship between archaeology, violence, and the global heritage crisis. Securely defended by its practitioners, archaeology therefore re-mains an imperial force grounded in the ideology of growth, development, and progress.
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