The introductory chapter argues that the archaeology of colonialism is hindered by scholars’ tendencies to avoid drawing on research that crosses two specific intra-disciplinary divides. The first is the frontier between historic and prehistoric archaeology. The second frontier is between cases of colonialism or political aggression initiated by European historical powers during the Age of Exploration and non-Western polities. Drawing also on relevant research from history and Classics, it offers a set of working definitions for key terms.
This theoretical introduction offers the volume’s readers a new, productive approach to colonialism and imperialism by highlighting recent research in four areas of scholarship: prehistoric Western, historic Western, prehistoric non-Western, and historic non-Western case studies. It argues that theoretical foci such as community-level reorganization, social adaptations to epidemic disease, or ideological creolization are far more fruitful than adhering to a historically arbitrary tendency to avoid crossing disciplnary frontiers.
Representing the majority and not the minority: the
importance of the individual in communicating climate change
