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Journal of Social Archaeology
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Trowels, trenches and transformation

A case study of archaeologists learning a more critical practice of archaeology

Jennifer A. Sandlin

College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University, USA, jsandlin{at}coe.tamu.edu

George J. Bey, III

Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Millsaps College, Jackson, MS, USA, beygj{at}millsaps.edu

The purpose of this research was to explore how archaeologists who are working at a new archaeological project in Yucatan, Mexico have arrived at new understandings and practices of archaeology that are more environmentally friendly and community inclusive. We position these archaeologists as adult learners, and, using the framework of critical transformational learning, we explore how the transformational journeys of these archaeologists are integrated with social and contextual factors. Findings show that these archaeologists are currently undergoing critical transformational learning but are struggling with how to transform their new critical visions into a more critical practice of archaeology. We conceptualize this struggle as a result of moving from enacting technical action towards enacting practical action and conclude that traditional archaeological training needs to be restructured to provide more guidance on how to enact practical action.

Key Words: critical archaeology • critical transformational learning • heritage management • Maya archaeology • reflexivity • social context of archaeological practice

Journal of Social Archaeology, Vol. 6, No. 2, 255-276 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1469605306064243
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