Theme Issues by Forum Kritische Archäologie
To begin, we would like to discuss the concept of decolonisation. It is largely characterised in ... more To begin, we would like to discuss the concept of decolonisation. It is largely characterised in Frantz Fanon's 1961 publication, Les damnés de la terre, which frames decolonisation not merely as political independence but as a fundamental restructuring of social, economic, and epistemic systems imposed by colonial rule. In the words of the Kenyan writer and cultural scientist Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, the publication gave the people of the African continent a language to deal with the monstrosities of colonialism, to resist the atrocities of past and present, and to struggle for a different future. We, the editors of this collection of essays, in turn, have taken up the title of one of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's central analytical texts, entitled Decolonising the Mind, in which he traces the role of the dominance of European language in the literature of the African continent. The term 'decolonisation' has been used in so many different ways in recent years that in 2012 Eve Tuck and K. Wayne Yang felt compelled to publish the article Decolonisation is Not a Metaphor. They argue that decolonisation is a form of rebellion, it is an explicitly political act based on a historical analysis of colonialism using the same critical frameworks applied to white supremacy and racism. In order to position ourselves, we need to understand how our research questions and approaches are intertwined with geo-and socio-political discourses. Additionally, it allows us to draw conclusions from these analyses about how to break inequalities, injustices, and inconsistencies, and, hopefully, to leave them behind. Decolonial arguments should not fall prey to simplistic schemes of 'good' vs. 'evil' in this particular context. In his short essay from 2020, Thomas L. Gertzen outlines such points with regard to Egyptology; he emphasises the complexity of disciplinary histories and the discourses and processes that take place over time (Gertzen 2020: 192).
Forum Kritische Archäologie, 2025
Forum Kritische Archäologie, 2023
Forum Kritische Archäologie, 2023
Archäologie als Empowerment: Für wen und wie? Kommentare zu einem
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Papers by Forum Kritische Archäologie
Forum Kritische Archäologie, 2024
Richard Bussmann, Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cologne, recently published the bo... more Richard Bussmann, Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cologne, recently published the book The Archaeology of Pharaonic Egypt: Society and Culture, 2700–1700 BC (2023, Cambridge University Press), which places people at the centre of an analysis of the so-called “Pyramid Age” of Ancient Egypt. The book focusses on life “in the shadow of the pyramids” by exploring aspects of daily life (and death) as well as social interactions beyond the traditional Egyptological focus on royal and elite spheres. Bussmann examines cross-cultural themes such as urbanism, materiality, non-elite culture, political and religious practice, gender roles, and perceptions of the body. As a comparative approach to ancient societies and as a study drawing heavily on anthropological and theoretical concepts, the book raised the interest of the FKA Editorial Board. To allow us and the author to critically reflect on some of the issues raised in our discussion, we took the opportunity to pose a set of questions to Richard Bussmann, which he kindly answered.
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Theme Issues by Forum Kritische Archäologie
Papers by Forum Kritische Archäologie