May meme - Archaeology
May. 2nd, 2014 02:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
brigdhI'm doing that old talking meme, but for May! Feel free to ask me something here.
May 1st - what led you to choose archaeology as a career? for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
just_ann_now (I am already a day behind on this meme, go me!)
Ha, well, I didn't really choose archaeology so much as I fell into it. When I was applying to colleges, I– like most people, probably– had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I chose archaeology as a major because history had always been my favorite subject in school, and archaeology just seemed like a more hands-on version of it. It has really worked out for me, though.
In the US (and maybe Canada also?), archaeology is generally studied as a branch of anthropology instead of as a branch of history, as it is in most other countries. Whether or not this actually means anything for archaeology itself is up for debate (a lot of people will argue there are fundamental differences in the approach of American archaeology and, say, European archaeology, but in my opinion this is one of those cases where there are more exceptions to the rule than adherents), but as a student, it means you end up taking a lot of anthropology classes. Which was awesome for me, as I turned out to really like them! Anthropology in the US is called "four field"; that refers to archaeology (obvs), cultural anthropology (what most people think of when you say "anthropology": the study of cultures and people), biological anthropology (the study of the human body and genetic diversity, human evolution, and primates), and linguistics. I love all of these topics, but archaeology appeals the most to me, as it combines the study of people (who are endlessly fascinating) with those people being dead and gone, so it's not as simple as just asking someone "what are you doing?" (which cultural anthropology occasionally gives me the sense of, unfortunately).
Archaeology also has allowed me to do a lot of traveling, which I love. It's a different sort of traveling than being a tourist; the shortest time I've spent anywhere for an excavation is six weeks, and it's often been much longer than that. (This isn't true of all sorts of archaeology, but it is of the academic sort I've done.) Spending six weeks somewhere gives you time to settle into a routine, to shop for groceries and deal with annoying wifi or phone access, to make friends, to be bored, to write and receive letters, to be recognized. It's a much different experience than being somewhere for only a few days or a week, and I've been very lucky to be able to do it in many different places.
Once I started grad school, I also started to teach and, luckily, it also turned out I really love to do that. I think archaeology is a great subject to teach; it interests a wide variety of people (Indiana Jones! Pyramids and UFOs! Mummies!) but also is really relevant to modern life, and addresses some of the big questions that are fun to speculate on, even if you're not a first-year philosophy student: where does our food come from? How do cities work? Does technology influence society, or does society influence technology? Where did status- gender, race, class, etc- come from and how is it enforced? Where do you draw the line between human and prehuman, and what is the most important difference? Granted, I've always taught Introduction to Archaeology, where you get to touch on lots of time periods and areas; if I was teaching something more specific I'd have to cover less.
But it's all been a lot of luck! When I was 17 I would have said I didn't want to be a teacher, for instance, and didn't have any particular interest in spending time in India. I'm glad I have, though.
May 1st - what led you to choose archaeology as a career? for
just_ann_now (I am already a day behind on this meme, go me!) Ha, well, I didn't really choose archaeology so much as I fell into it. When I was applying to colleges, I– like most people, probably– had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I chose archaeology as a major because history had always been my favorite subject in school, and archaeology just seemed like a more hands-on version of it. It has really worked out for me, though.
In the US (and maybe Canada also?), archaeology is generally studied as a branch of anthropology instead of as a branch of history, as it is in most other countries. Whether or not this actually means anything for archaeology itself is up for debate (a lot of people will argue there are fundamental differences in the approach of American archaeology and, say, European archaeology, but in my opinion this is one of those cases where there are more exceptions to the rule than adherents), but as a student, it means you end up taking a lot of anthropology classes. Which was awesome for me, as I turned out to really like them! Anthropology in the US is called "four field"; that refers to archaeology (obvs), cultural anthropology (what most people think of when you say "anthropology": the study of cultures and people), biological anthropology (the study of the human body and genetic diversity, human evolution, and primates), and linguistics. I love all of these topics, but archaeology appeals the most to me, as it combines the study of people (who are endlessly fascinating) with those people being dead and gone, so it's not as simple as just asking someone "what are you doing?" (which cultural anthropology occasionally gives me the sense of, unfortunately).
Archaeology also has allowed me to do a lot of traveling, which I love. It's a different sort of traveling than being a tourist; the shortest time I've spent anywhere for an excavation is six weeks, and it's often been much longer than that. (This isn't true of all sorts of archaeology, but it is of the academic sort I've done.) Spending six weeks somewhere gives you time to settle into a routine, to shop for groceries and deal with annoying wifi or phone access, to make friends, to be bored, to write and receive letters, to be recognized. It's a much different experience than being somewhere for only a few days or a week, and I've been very lucky to be able to do it in many different places.
Once I started grad school, I also started to teach and, luckily, it also turned out I really love to do that. I think archaeology is a great subject to teach; it interests a wide variety of people (Indiana Jones! Pyramids and UFOs! Mummies!) but also is really relevant to modern life, and addresses some of the big questions that are fun to speculate on, even if you're not a first-year philosophy student: where does our food come from? How do cities work? Does technology influence society, or does society influence technology? Where did status- gender, race, class, etc- come from and how is it enforced? Where do you draw the line between human and prehuman, and what is the most important difference? Granted, I've always taught Introduction to Archaeology, where you get to touch on lots of time periods and areas; if I was teaching something more specific I'd have to cover less.
But it's all been a lot of luck! When I was 17 I would have said I didn't want to be a teacher, for instance, and didn't have any particular interest in spending time in India. I'm glad I have, though.
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no subject
Date: 2014-05-02 07:54 pm (UTC)The "four field" concept sounds fascinating. I never took anthropology, but I minored in Geography and liked it a lot. Your comments about the benefits of longer stays are spot on. Spending six weeks somewhere gives you time to settle into a routine, to shop for groceries and deal with annoying wifi or phone access, to make friends, to be bored, to write and receive letters, to be recognized.
India! It's always fascinated me, and I'm really fortunate to have both friends who live there, and friends who've traveled there extensively (
Thanks for such a thoughtful reply!
no subject
Date: 2014-05-02 09:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-02 09:48 pm (UTC)You're welcome! :)
no subject
Date: 2014-05-03 12:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-03 08:04 pm (UTC)My preference (and how I did it when I got a turn to write the syllabus) is to do a bit of everything- that is, do human evolution, the spread of humans around the globe, beginnings of farmings around the globe, and then skip around to cover a few complex civilizations (I did Mayans and Harappans, because I know them the best, and then had the students each chose another and do a presentation of it).
no subject
Date: 2014-05-03 08:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-03 10:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-05-05 12:46 am (UTC)