Global Social Archaeologies ─ An Introduction

Contemporary social archaeology focuses on how diverse past human experiences were mediated by material culture and how contemporary practices and communications shape material culture. It actively engages with issues of postcolonialism, community heritage, and indigenous rights. This authoritative volume, authored by the current and past presidents of the World Archaeological Congress, introduces the readers to the various theoretical and methodological frameworks available for the investigation of the past with their implications for contemporary societies. The authors
-provide a comprehensive description of theories about the past and how they are entangled in present practices;
-highlight the voices and concerns of Indigenous people;
-project alternative futures for the archaeological discipline as a global enterprise.

Koji Mizoguchi is currently President of the World Archaeological Congress (WAC). After being awarded his Ph.D. in archaeology from the University of Cambridge in 1995, Mizoguchi joined the faculty at the Graduate School of Social and Cultural Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, where he is now Professor. He has also taught at University College London. Koji has published extensively on Japanese and European archaeology and on archaeological theory. His books include An Archaeological History of Japan: 30.000 BC to AD 700 and Archaeology, Society and Identity in Modern Japan . Mizoguchi and Smith launched a successful MOOC (massive open online course) on global social archaeology in 2014. Claire Smith is Head of the Department of Archaeology at Flinders University in Australia. She has produced nine books including the benchmark Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology and more than 100 other archaeological publications in eight languages. She is a University Medalist and former Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellow with the American University and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. Her high-level national appointments include a three-year appointment to the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts. Claire served as President of the World Archaeological Congress (WAC) for over a decade and was instrumental in establishing their Archaeologists without Borders and Global Libraries Programs, supporting the establishment of a refereed journal, Archaeologies, and by initiating five new international book series. She currently edits the Archaeology and Indigenous Peoples Series for WAC, published by Left Coast Press, Inc. Her areas of specialist expertise include Indigenous archaeology, rock art, gender, archaeological ethics, anthropological archaeology, world archaeology.