The Practice of Writing and the Archaeological Process: Exploring the Ineffable and the Fable as Means to Create Knowled
- PDF / 1,094,238 Bytes
- 31 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 106 Downloads / 157 Views
RESEARCH
Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeological Congress ( 2020) https://doi.org/10.1007/s11759-020-09401-y
Se´rgio Alexandre Gomes , CEAACP – University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal E-mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACT ________________________________________________________________
This article approaches the role of writing in the archaeological process. I revisit some earlier literature focusing on this topic within which is argued that the practice of writing participates in the shaping of the knowledge we produce about the past. This is so because writing entails a dialogue between the limits of the way we experience past materials and the limits of the languages we use to translate such experiences. In order to understand this dialogue, by following Michel de Certeau, we may ask what kind of subject are we while writing about past materials? And, how does such a practice entail a transformation of our subjectivity by seeking to create the conditions to express the difference of the past? I will discuss how this concern about the process of writing, and the exploration of different styles of narrative, help me to expand the study of late prehistory deposition contexts. By analysing the emplotment used in the study of these contexts, I will argue that deposition needs to be understood as an individual character, and not as just something resulting from practices of deposition. In arguing this, I present fable as a narrative style exploring alternative plots highlighting the irreducibility of archaeological evidences. Re´sume´: Cet article s’inte´resse au roˆle de l’e´criture dans le processus arche´ologique. Je revisite des publications ante´rieures consacre´es a` ce the`me dans lesquelles il est affirme´ que la pratique de l’e´criture participe de la construction du savoir que nous e´laborons sur le passe´. En effet, l’e´criture implique un dialogue entre les limites de la fac¸on dont nous faisons l’expe´rience des e´le´ments du passe´ et les limites des langages que nous utilisons pour traduire ces expe´riences. Afin de comprendre ce dialogue, en suivant Michel de Certeau, on pourra s’interroger sur la nature du sujet que nous sommes lorsque on e´crit sur des vestiges du passe´. Comment une 2020 World Archaeological Congress
ARCHAEOLOGIES
________________________________________________________________
SE´RGIO ALEXANDRE GOMES
telle pratique entrıˆne-t-elle une transformation de notre subjectivite´ en cherchant a` cre´er les conditions pour exprimer la diffe´rence du passe´? Je discuterai de la manie`re dont cette pre´occupation concernant le processus d’e´criture et l’exploration des diffe´rents styles de narration m’aident a` e´largir l’e´tude des contextes de de´poˆts de la Pre´histoire re´cente. En analysant «l’emplotment» (composition d’e´le´ments disparates au sein d’une narration signifiante) utilise´e dans l’e´tude de ces contextes, j’argumenterai que le de´poˆt doit eˆtre compris comme un caracte`re individuel, et non pas simplement comme quelque chose re´sultant des pratiques
Data Loading...
