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Chapter 4 Good Medicine: Prescriptions for Indigenous Archaeological Practice

Chapter 4 Good Medicine: Prescriptions for Indigenous Archaeological Practice While the history of North American archaeology points to a long engagement with tribal elders and scholars, these encounters largely consist of unequal, extractive relationships wherein Indigenous collaborators and Indigenous archaeologists have been treated more as objects of study and pity—what Bea Medicine refers to as “creatures”—rather than as equal research partners. As an Indigenous woman and a settler Chicanx woman, we reflect on the life journey and scholarship of Bea Medicine, a Lakota scholar‐activist and mentor to Indigenous anthropologists. Dr. Medicine's work has provided generations of Indigenous anthropologists with the means to participate in the discipline with their whole selves and, importantly, on their own terms. We argue that Medicine's contributions provide good medicine for the field in the form of concrete strategies for continuing to decolonize the discipline and for doing work that centers the direct needs and perspectives of Indigenous peoples. When read alongside Indigenous archaeologies’ often overlooked grandmothers, mothers, and aunties, Medicine's work also highlights continuing disparities in archaeological practice, from our relationships with and to Indigenous nations to the relations we cultivate in the Academy as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association Wiley

Chapter 4 Good Medicine: Prescriptions for Indigenous Archaeological Practice

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References (30)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2023 American Anthropological Association.
ISSN
1551-823X
eISSN
1551-8248
DOI
10.1111/apaa.12171
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

While the history of North American archaeology points to a long engagement with tribal elders and scholars, these encounters largely consist of unequal, extractive relationships wherein Indigenous collaborators and Indigenous archaeologists have been treated more as objects of study and pity—what Bea Medicine refers to as “creatures”—rather than as equal research partners. As an Indigenous woman and a settler Chicanx woman, we reflect on the life journey and scholarship of Bea Medicine, a Lakota scholar‐activist and mentor to Indigenous anthropologists. Dr. Medicine's work has provided generations of Indigenous anthropologists with the means to participate in the discipline with their whole selves and, importantly, on their own terms. We argue that Medicine's contributions provide good medicine for the field in the form of concrete strategies for continuing to decolonize the discipline and for doing work that centers the direct needs and perspectives of Indigenous peoples. When read alongside Indigenous archaeologies’ often overlooked grandmothers, mothers, and aunties, Medicine's work also highlights continuing disparities in archaeological practice, from our relationships with and to Indigenous nations to the relations we cultivate in the Academy as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color.

Journal

Archeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association – Wiley

Published: Jul 1, 2023

Keywords: Indigenous archaeology; Bea Medicine; community‐based research; decolonizing methodologies; archaeological ethics

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