Communities and knowledge production in archaeology

Communities and knowledge production in archaeology
Editors: Julia Roberts, Kathleen Sheppard, Ulf R. Hansson and Jonathan R. Trigg

The dynamic processes of knowledge production in archaeology and elsewhere in the humanities and social sciences are increasingly viewed within the context of negotiation, cooperation and exchange, as the collaborative effort of groups, clusters and communities of scholars. Shifting focus from the individual scholar to the wider social contexts of her work, this volume investigates the importance of informal networks and conversation in the creation of knowledge about the past, and takes a closer look at the dynamic interaction and exchange that takes place between individuals, groups and clusters of scholars in the wider social settings of scientific work. Various aspects of and mechanisms at work behind the interaction and exchange that takes place between the individual scholar and her community, and the creative processes that such encounters trigger, are critically examined in eleven chapters which draw on a wide spectrum of examples from Europe and North America: from early modern antiquarians to archaeological societies and practitioners at work during the formative years of the modern archaeological disciplines and more recent examples from the twentieth century. The individual chapters engage with theoretical approaches to scientific creativity, knowledge production and interaction such as sociology and geographies of science, and actor-network theory (ANT) in their examination of individual–collective interplay. The book caters to readers both from within and outside the archaeological disciplines; primarily intended for researchers, teachers and students in archaeology, anthropology, classics and the history of science, it will also be of interest to the general reader.

eISBN: 9781526134561

Introduction: clusters of knowledge - Julia Roberts, Kathleen Sheppard
1 How archaeological communities think? Re-thinking Ludwik Fleck's concept of the thought-collective according to the case of Serbian archaeology - Monika Milosavljevic
2 Circular 316: archaeology, networks, and the Smithsonian Institution, 1876-9 - James E. Snead
3 'More for beauty than for rarity': the key role of the Italian antiquarian market in the inception of American Classical art collections during the late-nineteenth century - Francesca de Tomasi
4 Digging dilettanti: the first Dutch excavation in Italy, 1952-8 - Arthur Weststeijn and Laurien de Gelder
5 A romance and a tragedy: Antonín Salac and the French school at Athens - Thea De Armond
6 Geographies of networks and knowledge production: the case of Oscar Montelius and Italy - Anna Gustavsson
7 'More feared than loved': interactional strategies in late-nineteenth-century Classical archaeology: the case of Adolf Furtwängler - Ulf R. Hansson
8 The permeable clusters of Hanna Rydh - Elisabeth Arwill-Nordbladh
9 'Trying desperately to make myself an Egyptologist': James Breasted's early scientific network - Kathleen Sheppard
10 Frontier gentlemen's club: Felix Kanitz and Balkan archaeology - Vladimir V. Mihajlovic
11 Re-examining the contribution of Dr. Robert Toope to knowledge in later seventeenth century Britain: was he more than just 'Dr. Took'? - Jonathan R. Trigg
Index