Legarra Herrero, Borja; (2025) Postcolonialism and Elite-Centric Ways of Explaining the Past. In: Blunt, Peter and Escobar, Cecilia and Missos, Vlassis, (eds.) The Political Economy of Dissent A Research Companion. Routledge: London, UK.

Text Legarra Herrero_in press Postcolonialism and Elite-Centric ways.pdf Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 23 April 2027. Download (339kB)

Abstract

Archaeologists have used postcolonial theory to improve our understanding of cultural contact in the past, including in the Mediterranean – the alleged cradle of Western Civilisation. However, such approaches have typically explained cultural contact in terms of top-down dynamics led by elites. This bias has resulted in a tendency to neglect the agency of commoners and non-elites and to relegate cultural interaction to a secondary position. Invariably, narratives glorify elites, thereby reinforcing today’s dominant capitalist and neocolonial ideology. Accordingly, this chapter argues that archaeology’s reliance on elite agency simply parrots and perpetuates modern capitalist ideas that do not do justice to the social richness of cultural exchanges in the past; and suggests how the study of hitherto neglected segments of society would enrich and make more valid our understanding of ancient societies, while provoking critical discussion of similar issues in the present.

Download activity - last month

Export as CSVJSONXML

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as CSVJSONXML

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as CSVJSONXML

Archive Staff Only

View Item