AIA-4A: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) in Archaeology and the AIA (Workshop)

Sponsored by:

AIA Research and Academic Affairs Committee

Organizers

Kim Shelton, University of California, Berkeley; Elizabeth M. Greene, University of Western Ontario; and Dimitri Nakassis, University of Colorado

Discussants

Camille Acosta, University of California, Irvine; Nadhira Hill, Randolph-Macon College; Najee Olya, The College of William & Mary; Mason Shrader, Brown University; and Morag Kersel, DePaul University

Description

This workshop will examine the current issues facing archaeology with respect to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) and what the role of the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) is and should be with respect to advancing DEIB priorities in the discipline. It will bring together a wide variety of stakeholders, from graduate students and contingent faculty to tenured faculty, from academics to cultural heritage professionals. The forum and the discussion that follows will be facilitated by members of the DEIB subcommittee of the AIA’s Research and Academic Affairs committee.

Over the past three years, the AIA has clarified and enhanced its mission with respect to DEIB; examples include the statement on archaeology and social justice (3 June 2020) and the Anna Marguerite McCann diversity student travel grants (2021–). These actions are laudable but represent only the first steps in addressing a complex set of issues that currently face archaeology. Because the obstacles faced by academic disciplines are so difficult to address, entangled as they are in a variety of socioeconomic and academic systems, it seems appropriate that they be discussed by the full range of the AIA’s leadership and membership. Only through sustained and coordinated collective action can we fulfill our promises to make the discipline better for all. Indeed, the AIA’s statement on archaeology and social justice asked its readers to “join us, participate, and help our organization open a dialogue.” This workshop seeks to advance that ambition.

The workshop’s structure will be in the forum format. The first hour will consist of short statements (10 minutes or less) by the panel participants (six) concerning areas where additional DEIB work is needed and the actions that could be undertaken by the AIA to address these areas of need, followed by a combined discussion addressing these same issues. The panel will be made up of those stakeholders who are engaged in the discipline in a variety of roles and career stages. Their presentations will highlight DEIB issues from their unique perspectives, possible pathways forward, and what each of them might hope to find in the AIA. These presentations will open robust dialogues among participants and attendees that will guide the DEIB subcommittee to help promote the AIA’s aspiration “to achieve an archaeology that broadens our vision, deepens our understanding, and expands our humanity.