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3 - Contexts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2024

Peter Mitchell
Affiliation:
St. Hugh's College, Oxford University
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Summary

Understanding the past requires understanding how it has been created. This is not simply about improving methodologies, but also the theoretical approaches employed and the broader socio-political framework within which they are applied. This chapter therefore delineates major developments in southern African archaeology from its nineteenth-century origins to the present, situating them with respect to the region’s wider history and the broader social and political context in which they emerged. It also considers how archaeological research was constrained by, but simultaneously challenged, structures of racial oppression during the twentieth century, differences in the experience of southern Africa’s states (including research disparities within and between them), some of the key paradigms within which archaeological research is currently conducted, and the problems encountered in making archaeology accessible to all sections of society. Another theme concerns the theoretical and methodological challenges that archaeologists face when invoking the ethnographies of southern Africa’s recent or contemporary inhabitants to help understand the past revealed by their research.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Contexts
  • Peter Mitchell, St. Hugh's College, Oxford University
  • Book: The Archaeology of Southern Africa
  • Online publication: 15 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009324724.003
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  • Contexts
  • Peter Mitchell, St. Hugh's College, Oxford University
  • Book: The Archaeology of Southern Africa
  • Online publication: 15 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009324724.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Contexts
  • Peter Mitchell, St. Hugh's College, Oxford University
  • Book: The Archaeology of Southern Africa
  • Online publication: 15 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009324724.003
Available formats
×