Profane archaeology and the existential dialectics of the city

Abstract

What does it mean to view the landscape dialectically? I here experiment with an approach inspired by Benjamin, the intent of which is to expand our understanding of dialectics beyond the structural Marxism that dominates urban geography. I seek to temper macro-level analyses of political economies with a recognition of micro-level processes of both active matter and human consciousness that can shape, constrain, or undo. In fact, the evidence of urban archaeology demands such attention. Expanding dialectics requires a rapprochement among the followers of Marx, Sartre, and even Latour. I use archaeological evidence from New Orleans, and standard modes of organizing it (the property history, stratigraphy, taphonomy), to critique broader approaches to urbanism and materiality. Archaeology has much to contribute to understanding the city as an ongoing human-object formation full of contradictions, affect, and contingency. Following Sartre, I call this existential dialectics. Humans make cities, but not exactly as they please.