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Change and Continuity, Practice and Memory: A Response to Stephen Silliman

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Giovanna Vitelli
Giovanna Vitelli*
Affiliation:
Université Laval, Celat, Pavilion Charles-De Koninck 1030, avenue des Sciences-Humaines, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6
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Abstract

Stephen Silliman's article in American Antiquity (74:211-230) addresses a key issue that has been in quiet circulation for some time, examining the connections between archaeological data, traditional persistence, and postcolonial ways of understanding diachronic variability. This is a fundamental problem not only for archaeology but for American social scientists researching colonialism and traditional cultures (Alfred 1995; Harrod 1995; Stover 2001). Silliman orients his understanding of historic Eastern Pequot settlement through the lens of a theoretical approach to memory and practice as has been taken up in archaeological circles by a number of practitioners (cf. Silliman 2009:213). He acknowledges the existence of other perspectives, not least that of past Native people themselves, but the article focuses primarily on the application of current thinking on these topics of identity.

Resumen

Resumen

El artículo de Stephen Silliman en American Antiquity (74:211-230) trata un tema clave que ha estado en circulación silenciosa por algún tiempo, el examen de las conexiones entre los datos arqueológicos, la persistencia de tradiciones, y las formas postcoloniales de comprender la variabilidad diacrónica. Este es un problema fundamental, no sólo para la arqueología sino también para los científicos sociales americanos investigando el colonialismo y las culturas tradicionales (Alfred de 1995; Harrod 1995; Stover 2001). Silliman orienta su comprensión del asentamiento histórico Pequot oriental a través de la perspectiva de una aproximación teórica a la memoria y la práctica, y que ha sido incorporada en los círculos arqueológicos por un número de profesionales (cf. Silliman 2009:213). Reconoce la existencia de otras perspectivas, como la no menos importante visión de los nativos de su propio pasado, pero el artículo se enfoca principalmente en la aplicación del pensamiento actual sobre estos temas de la identidad.

Type
Comments
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , January 2011 , pp. 177 - 189
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2011

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