A duty of care? Archaeologists, wicked problems, and the future
A duty of care? Archaeologists, wicked problems, and the future
Archaeology needs to stay relevant. To do so, it will need to change, but that won’t be simple given how much needs to change, and how many of the things that need changing are systemic, firmly embedded both within disciplinary traditions and practice and within society. In many parts of the world, archaeology remains deeply colonial for example. Many consider it to be exclusive and privileged, while others find it meaningless.
Let me focus on the last of these statements: that it is ‘meaningless’. My work confronts this opinion head on, aligning the study of archaeology with contemporary global challenges to not only demonstrate the subject’s relevance, but to proclaim its central position in discussions of planetary health and global security. Archaeologists have a long tradition of collaborating across disciplinary boundaries. However, to take that central position successfully and with credibility, we need to be even more concerted as well as creative in the professional relationships we form, and in the types of work that we do.
Many people still associate archaeology with the study of ancient human societies, investigated usually through excavation. This work remains vital in promoting new knowledge and insight, while giving time-depth to those contemporary debates around, for example, human adaptation to a changing climate. However, archaeology has outgrown this traditional definition. Archaeology also views the world as it exists now and as it will exist in the future, making it a contemporary and future-oriented discipline that is both vibrant, relevant, and necessary.
Archaeologists now view the contemporary world through those same lenses that archaeologists used to study the ancient past, providing both perspective and focus. In terms of perspective, these lenses allow archaeologists to look critically at the evidence they uncover and create interpretations of human behaviours through the traces people have left behind. For the contemporary world, archaeology has the ability to use this evidence to render the supposedly familiar unfamiliar, or to call into question those things that we take for granted. These lenses also allow us to focus on specific topics, themes or places, with the agility to close in on detail at a micro-scale, or to pan out to encompass the bigger picture. Archaeologists (ideally working with scholars from other disciplines) can then relate these different scales of investigation to one another in ways that improve our understanding of global challenges such as climate change.
In my research I refer to ‘wicked problems’, a term created in the 1960s to describe those tough (and possibly, ultimately irresolvable) global challenges that threaten planetary health, human health, and security. CAs well as climate change, environmental pollution, health and wellbeing, social injustice and conflict are examples of such problems which are generally ill-formulated, where the information is confusing, involving decision makers with conflicting values, and where the ramifications in the whole system are incredibly complex. The adjective ‘wicked’ describes the evil quality of these problems, where proposed solutions often turn out to be worse than the symptoms.
Yet, I am optimistic due to the novel ways that archaeology can contribute to tackling some of these world’s most wicked problems through adopting what psychologists have referred to as a small-wins framework. Studying the past in ways that are creative, bold, and interdisciplinary, can create significant ‘small wins’.
As teachers, archaeologists can ensure that students are prepared for a career in which duty of care is both encouraged and embraced.
I referred earlier to the need for archaeology to change. While there are many examples of successful small wins that address wicked problems, such as York Archaeology’s current Archaeology on Prescription project or Rachael Kiddey’s Heritage and Homelessness work, many archaeologists do not see how their work aligns with wicked problems. Some may even question whether it should. I believe that all archaeological work has the potential to align with wicked problems through this small wins framework and, furthermore, that archaeologists have an obligation, a duty of care, to create opportunities for small wins. This isn’t necessarily the same as demonstrating ‘impact’, a term all archaeologists who apply for research funding will be familiar with. Duty of care is a responsibility, and arguably one that all citizens should take, acknowledging that small wins matter while being realistic about what they can achieve.
As teachers, archaeologists can ensure that students are prepared for a career in which duty of care is both encouraged and embraced. One example of this might be a familiarity amongst archaeologists with the language of policymakers, an understanding of how practice informs policy, and where and how archaeology can contribute to policy-making. As archaeologists we can also learn to work more effectively with communities to co-produce projects and facilitate community-led programmes, while finding new ways to promote the valuable collaborative work that we do, and its social relevance, to new audiences.
Of course, archaeologists cannot change the world on their own. But with this unique set of lenses at our disposal, and using the small wins framework, we can make a difference.
Featured image by Fateme Alaie via Unsplash.