Landscapes of Inequality: The Southwestern United

Inequality is one of the major social issues of the current moment in the United States. Racial, economic, and gender inequality has been even more pronounced in the fall out of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world. These injustices are identifiable at the individual and institutional level, but they also are enmeshed in the physical landscapes in which we live. What can archaeology (conventionally defined as the study of the past through material traces) help us learn about present day inequalities and landscapes? This course explores novel approaches to archaeological research across time in the Southwestern United States. We begin with material investigations of the experience of crossing the US-Mexico border, which demonstrate how the landscape itself is weaponized. We then move backwards in time to explore the intimate landscape of incarcerated people of Japanese Ancestry during WWII, where gardens were an important practice of persistence and opportunity for survivors to re-engage the past. Finally, we will explore how ancient Chacoan landscapes index the consolidation of power and hierarchy in the past, and are the site of struggles for indigenous sovereignty and environmental justice in the present. This course will introduce you to major themes in landscape studies and archaeology including: place-making, agency, regional analysis and ethics.