Working Together : Native Americans and Archaeologists

Working Together focuses on one of the most important topics in archaeology today: the cooperative initiatives and issues involving Native Americans and archaeologists. This volume is an invaluable resource for readers and scholars who want to gain insight into the complex relationship between archaeologists and Native Americans. Working Together originated as an innovative and popular column in the Society for American Archaeology's SAA Bulletin in 1993. This column became a dynamic forum in which both archaeologists and Native Americans could voice their concerns and thoughts on a very sensitive topic. With many of these articles reproduced in this volume, readers will have access to a diverse selection of case studies from several North American regions. Although the authors express diverse and sometimes contradictory viewpoints, three consistent themes emerge: first, archaeologists must be willing to break with established archaeological practice and to approach the discipline with an open mind; second, archaeologists and Native Americans must cultivate a reciprocity of exchange, in both an intellectual and political sense; and finally, Native Americans and archaeologists must work together to build project-specific coalitions.