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Excavating the “Who” and “Why” of Participation in a Public Archaeology Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 January 2017

Stefanie Kowalczyk
Stefanie Kowalczyk*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, 395 Humphrey Center 301, 19th Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55455, (kowal169@umn.edu)
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Abstract

Swede Hollow Park, in St. Paul, Minnesota, was originally inhabited by immigrants to St. Paul. Despite an engaged surrounding neighborhood, the park and its history are not widely known. The park was recently the site of a public archaeology project, providing an opportunity to explicitly examine who participated and why, as a means of assessing the success of public education. The project team used surveys and informal interviews as assessment tools for analyzing the demographics and motivations of the participating public. Understanding demographics and motivations is an understudied aspect of public archaeology and yet is crucially important in influencing how archaeologists interact with the public, frame their research questions, and create learning objectives. This information has the potential to help create more inclusive public archaeology projects (for example, drawing in more recent immigrant communities as well as descendants) and to indicate where more work needs to be done to accommodate diversity (in our case, understanding the homeless as stakeholders). It also can help clarify whether archaeologists can, or should, prioritize site, method, or narrative when engaging with the public, or whether the public should choose.

Resumen

Resumen

Originalmente Swede Hollow Park fue habitado por los inmigrantes del área de St. Paul, Minnesota. A pesar que la comunidad tiene conocimiento del parque, su historia no es suficientemente conocida en la ciudad. Recientemente, el parque fue el sitio de un proyecto de arqueología pública para investigar temas relacionados con la inmigración y la pobreza. Se dio la oportunidad para explorar explícitamente quienes participaron y por qué, en vez de solamente incluir el objetivo de entregar con éxito la información. Se invitó a los participantes a contribuir en las excavaciones y se les pidió llenar una encuesta y/o participar en una entrevista informal. Se utilizaron encuestas de opción múltiple para evaluar lo que los participantes habían aprendido acerca de la arqueología y/o la historia del parque y por qué ellos habían participado. Se utilizaron las entrevistas para comprender más profundamente por qué la gente había elegido participar. Los resultados indican que la mayoría de las personas participaron por las mismas razones: muchos sintieron que era importante aprender sobre la historia de la inmigración, mientras que otros buscaron aprender más acerca de la arqueología o la historia del barrio. Aplicar esta información para otros proyectos de arqueología pública puede ayudar a aclarar si los arqueólogos pueden, o deben, dar prioridad al sitio, al método o a la narrativa al hacer participar al público, o si el público debe elegir.

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in Archaeological Practice , Volume 4 , Issue 4: Special Issue: Designing and Assessing Public Education Programs in Archaeology , November 2016 , pp. 454 - 464
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 2016

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