I believe that it is the responsibility of all archaeologists to confront and counteract pseudoarchaeology and pseudoarchaeologists.
We should combat pseudoarchaeology because it is incredibly harmful to people all over the world and archaeology. It can be very problematic in that it promotes falsities. It tells people that this culture or that culture is too different from mine, is inferior to mine, or is straight up wrong. It leads to conflict and problems. The worst form of pseudoarchaeology is when it leads to terrible actions. Actions like the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide, or any other atrocity that has been committed against a group of people solely because of their culture or who they are. The cultures falls to archaeologists as we are the people that see others with compassion in the scientific world. Instead of always focusing on facts, we focus on people and their lives. Archaeology can be as big as the entire world or as small as one person’s experience. We look to understand people that are different from us so it is our responsibility to thwart those that want to destroy those that are different from us.
To confront and counteract pseudoarchaeologist and their narratives, there are a lot of things we could do. While the idea to meet them where they stand is an amazing idea, too many things could go wrong. For example, going onto a show like Ancient Aliens and trying to tell the truth is fantastic, but after pointed questions, editing, and many other things, pseudoarchaeologist can still get what they want. No archaeologist should be black-listed from academia just for trying to stop pseudoarchaeological ideas, which is what might happen in situations like these. Something that works is talking to people one on one, answering emails from people that hold pseudoarchaeological ideas or beliefs and try to get them to understand why their idea is wrong. It is important to always do this respect, though, or else disdain might build up in the person and they might still hold onto their beliefs. Something else that would work to keep pseudoarchaeology at bay would be organized out reach and education. Things like museums or other open collections help people understand archaeology and culture as their own entities. Explanation without being condescending is the way to get to people and pseudoarchaeologists and to change their minds.
Preventing things like the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, the Rwandan Genocide and many others like it is very important. Every life is worth something, and culture does not determine whose story is worth hearing and whose is disposable. Everyone should do everything in their power to protect people from such terrible things, and for archaeologists, it is to combat the pseudoarchaeological claims made about the world and about the human past. Everybody deserves to have a voice, and nobody is allowed to choose who lives to tell their and who won’t have that opportunity.
I definitely agree with your claim that it is the responsibility of archaeologists to confront pseudo archaeological claims. I also explained in my blog post that pseudoarchaeology is problematic in that it is racist, ethnocentric, and overall just incorrect. The ways in which you explained how we can combat psuedoarchaeology were also really great. I agree that archaeologsits should even reply to pseudo archaeological emails that they receive, as Professor Watrall always does. It is important that they are respectful and simply give the facts to educate the pseudoarchaeologists. The idea that reputable archaeologists could be “black-listed,” as you said, from academia is ridiculous, and just shows how harsh of a grasp pseudoarchaeologist claims can have on our society. I liked how you references actual genocides that were involved with pseudoarchaeology and nationalism, it definitely puts into perspective just how harmful these ideas really can be. It is pretty common for Americans to view white nationalism as the new growing Nazi movement, and by combating pseudo archaeological and nationalist claims, we can directly combat neo-Nazism. It is important for everyone, not just archaeologists, to go against pseudoarchaeology and educate those who believe these claims. By doing this, we can make a huge impact from our little feats. We have seen a growth in white nationalism in these recent years because of our current country’s leadership. Our president has even posted pseudoarchaeology ideas, which is why it is so important for archaeologists as well as the general public who understands the absurdity of pseudoarchaeology to combat these ideas.
Mia, I agree with your stance that archaeologists should make a point to counteract/combat the claims of the pseudo-archaeological community. Your first point about how most of these stances from most pseudo-archaeologists are direct branches of ethnocentrism and the belief that one’s culture is inferior to their own. Such a regressive path of thinking is not only damaging to our steps forward as humans, but to the truth that valid archaeology holds. The further people are entertained by the works and claims of the pseudo-archaeological community, the more detrimental it is to the truth of real archaeology. Unfortunately, roots of racism manifest themselves in most communities of science all around the globe, and your post was a well thought-out discussion on how to combat these branches of ethnocentrism/racism. I was glad to hear your thoughts!
I agree with what you said and brought up many of the same points in my post. I definitely think that the most important way to combat pseudoarchaeology is education and outreach. I think this should be a natural extension of public archaeology as a major ethical obligation of archaeologists. I like how you proposed museums as an appropriate venue to do this in. Museums are already spaces people come to in order to learn about the truth and fiction about the past, so using them as a venue to educate people about pseudoarchaeological ideas. I think that a further good place to educate people on pseudoarchaeology is in schools and education facilities, particularly when it comes to the rhetoric people use to deceive and fool the public and manufacture credibility. I really like how you brought home the real-world implications of pseudoarchaeology, the “why” of why it’s important to oppose it, especially by discussing genocide and nationalism. It’s really not the idiots, the conspiracy theorists like Daniken we’re truly fighting with. It’s their violent followers. And you’re absolutely right that every life is worth protecting, and pseudoarchaeology has a death toll. I think another important point to bring back is the overall attitudes pseudoarchaeology subliminally introduces – such as anti-science and anti-archaeological sentiment. That stuff has a real-world impact for the people who believe it, as often times it translates to them not receiving vaccinations, seeking ineffective alternative medicines over real treatment and generally putting their own lives in danger, as well as the lives of their children and those around them. Thus, by fighting pseudoarchaeology, we not only protect vulnerable groups that could be targetted or hurt by racist, ahistorical ideas, but we protect the people who are at risk of buying these ideas and working against their own best interests.