Returning to the Source: Social Archaeology as Latin American Philosophy

Abstract

The following article proposes reconsidering the social archaeology paradigm as a worthwhile school of thought within Latin American philosophy. Rather than critiquing social archaeology for its supposed methodological limitations, I argue that this Latin American approach has already had an enormous contribution to the anthropological and political thought of the region. Instead of assuming that archaeology is a neutral enterprise, social archaeologists and others influenced by their ideas have already carried out important interdisciplinary and socially relevant research in the historical understanding of the past. Archaeological sites such as those of Cochasquí and Agua Blanca (among others) in Ecuador have benefitted significantly from a more refined political analysis of their histories than those routinely carried out in the positivistic paradigm of the United States. Finally, social archaeology also points to a much needed and useful link between the committed assessment of the continent"s past with the varied and important political transformation essential for the future well being of Latin America’s people.