tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1789384613048848261.post4018928310883373998..comments2017-09-26T12:58:40.603-04:00Comments on Diggin' It: Adventures in Life and Archaeology: 25 Grand Challenges for Archaeology - But for Which Archaeologists?Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417321889966328059noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1789384613048848261.post-60487971217861582002014-01-31T19:22:05.749-05:002014-01-31T19:22:05.749-05:00Thanks for your thoughtful post. If anyone is inte...Thanks for your thoughtful post. If anyone is interested in reading more blog posts about this topic we covered it as our inaugural post on our new blog. http://www.archaeologyconversations.com. We raised some of the same issues and discussed some of the questions Mary and Marchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14784569535951046135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1789384613048848261.post-64297798788026070812014-01-30T15:49:41.235-05:002014-01-30T15:49:41.235-05:00I'm in the same boat as you - I've searche...I'm in the same boat as you - I've searched back through things and haven't found the survey. I'm hopeful that we can get more information from the six authors that developed and disseminated the survey about the exact means that they used to do it. It seems, unfortunately, that a lot of people who have established membership in these organizations were left out of participating in the survey. Was only a small sample of members selected for participation? Did the list-serves experience technical problems? I think part of the frustration I feel is that this article is bound to shake things up in our discipline, but there is so little attention given to how it was created.Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14417321889966328059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1789384613048848261.post-58103421422444606352014-01-30T15:35:51.865-05:002014-01-30T15:35:51.865-05:00I just went through old emails (gmail never forget...I just went through old emails (gmail never forgets) and the HISTARCH archive for March - June 2012 https://lists.asu.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=HISTARCH I also search for NSF, Grand Challenges etc. and I'm not seeing any mention of the survey. I think we should pause before we blame ourselves for not seeing it or being too busy to respond. Unless, I'm missing something I never had the opportunity to participate.The Bourbon Archaeologisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05253110903373750094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1789384613048848261.post-9057847575670944782014-01-30T14:11:14.501-05:002014-01-30T14:11:14.501-05:00Lynne, thank you for your reply, and for highlight...Lynne, thank you for your reply, and for highlighting some of the broader implications and issues of this work. I think this further emphasizes why a response, a re-evaluation of the survey methods and the themes, is needed.Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14417321889966328059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1789384613048848261.post-11232132642595031702014-01-30T13:44:46.277-05:002014-01-30T13:44:46.277-05:00I think that both your post and Michael Smith'...I think that both your post and Michael Smith's post and comments here raise a number of important issues. In the paper abstract, the authors make clear that "An important goal in identifying these challenges is to inform decisions on infrastructure investments for archaeology. Our premise is that the highest priority investments should enable us to address the most important questions." This can directly and seriously impact a number of grant proposals in the future and be used to greatly limit kinds of funding available.<br /><br />Frankly, the composition of the group is VERY troubling because one cannot help but think that the range of Grand Challenges may have been a bit different with added diversity. Also, of the 3 women in the group, one is not an archaeologist, altho she has worked on collaborative projects with archaeologists. I find it very hard to believe that it was impossible to find a group of smart, experienced young women, archaeologists of color, and others. <br /><br />By the way, add me to the group that did not receive the survey. <br /><br />All of this will be especially troubling if it has direct impact on the nature of funding and publication. I currently co-chair a special Task Force for the SAA on the gender imbalance in grant proposal submissions, and I think this will not create an improvement in the current situation.Lynne Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00854368687062546376noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1789384613048848261.post-10556611833290231992014-01-25T15:43:12.717-05:002014-01-25T15:43:12.717-05:00Thanks for your reply.
Your point about "wri...Thanks for your reply.<br /><br />Your point about "written by a committee" is a good one, and also explains why I was flashing back to job posts while reading the article. I wonder how many deans will be given this article as departments advocate for hiring lines or justify selection decisions.<br /><br />They must have faced quite the challenge in developing this survey, and in compiling the results. I can appreciate that they set out to answer a certain set of questions with this study, but as you say, perhaps the next step is another survey addressing the "politics and context" issues. Though, the fact that 40% of the responses they received dealt with the explicitly excluded class of topics could point to the fact that we lose something valuable when we try to separate the con<i>tent</i> from the con<i>text</i> (assuming, of course, that it doesn't just mean people didn't read the instructions).Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14417321889966328059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1789384613048848261.post-50388403045042235352014-01-25T14:56:41.845-05:002014-01-25T14:56:41.845-05:00Nice comments. I agree with some, and disagree wit...Nice comments. I agree with some, and disagree with others. I never saw the original call for comments, either. I was on sabbatical at the time, but I was on email the whole time. And yes, the demography of the group of authors is not representative of the field today. My first reaction to the articles was "why didn't they invite me?" But then I thought, these are folks just like me - why didn't they invite a more diverse group of people.<br /><br />You seem to want the statement to include a bunch of professional issues, whereas it was conceived as a list of scientific issues. Yes, the "politics and context" of archaeology are important, but that is a separate topic that probably needs a separate discussion of a separate set of meta-issues.<br /><br />I sort of agree that the list of challenges comes off as boring and not very interesting to anyone outside of archaeology. Maybe. I'm of 2 minds about this. On the one hand, I see this as a list directed at the archaeological research community, and whether it is exciting or boring to others is not the point. But on the other hand, it should be possible to phrase things in ways that are both professionally rigorous and at the same time exciting and comprehensible by nonprofessionals. The trouble is that such writing is extremely difficult.<br /><br />The specific wording of the challenges is really quite convoluted and bad in most cases. The statements (in italics in the article) sound like they were written by a committee, and mostly likely they were! This compounds the problem I mentioned in my post about many items sounding naive from a social science viewpoint. Scholars in other disciplines interested in, say, inequality or demography, might find it hard to relate to they way the challenges were conceived and described.<br /><br />But, in the end, I think this was a great effort and it should get all of us thinking and talking about these things. Nice post.Michael E. Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03942595266312225661noreply@blogger.com