Creative engagements with archaeology: Children's perspectives of the past
Thomas Kador (University College Dublin), Jane Ruffino (University College Dublin)
Abstract
Archaeology is often perceived as involving expert researchers utilising sophisticated methods to establish ‘facts’ about the past. This perception makes it difficult to find a role for wider community participation. However, the fact that ownership and control of knowledge about the past bestows strong political and social power has been well documented (e.g Gathercole & Lowenthal 1994). Consequently, the opportunity to create their own understandings of the past can be extremely empowering for individuals and communities outside the academic field. Moreover, engaging positively with communities in facilitating their own production of narratives of the past may not only restore a sense of ownership but also help address other important issues such as social exclusion, educational disadvantage and diversity. The traditional approach to public engagement in archaeology comprises briefing the public about discoveries made by specialist archaeologists. In contrast to this, empowering members of the community to create their own understandings of the past necessitates that our position as professional archaeologists shifts from that of the expert, supposed to provide all the answers, to facilitator, aiding others in phrasing their own questions and thus empowering them to more fully explore the past.
This contribution draws on several years’ experience of facilitating archaeological workshops for primary school students in the greater Dublin area. Initial contacts with the schools were established by the University College Dublin (UCD) New Era Programme which ‘aims to encourage and facilitate increased participation in higher education’. While working in partnership with the formal (primary) education sector could be criticised as not constituting ‘genuine’ community engagement we felt that working with schools enabled us to reach out to sections of Irish society that would not normally engage with community based activities. This is especially the case in socially disadvantaged areas where uptake of community activities tends to be low.
A simple three stage process – based on making the familiar strange and then the strange familiar – allowed the students to acquaint themselves with the key techniques of archaeological investigation. As part of this process they would be able to discover interesting details about their local community but also challenge common stereotypes by embracing diversity in the past and present. Moreover, through documenting their discoveries the students would also acquire several more general ‘transferable’ skills such as literature review, note taking and report writing. Throughout the workshops we placed strong emphasis on involving the students’ parents and families. This deepened the possibility of engaging with the wider community and works as additional motivating factor for positive student participation. As a final step the students had the opportunity to present their discoveries to the school and the wider community.
In this presentation we will share our insights from these programmes and highlight some of the problems we encountered but we will also raise some wider questions about the possibilities for engagement programmes in partnership with primary and secondary schools and look for ideas on how such programmes could be taken forward within a service learning framework.
Reference:
Gathercole, P. & Lowenthal, D. 1994. The Politics of the Past, London, Routledge.
