Sociology
Presenter(s): Annabelle Koeber
Advisor(s): Dr. Stephanie Takaragawa
Human interest in humankind’s history now seems like a standard fixture in education. This was not always the case. The study of humankind, anthropology, brought questions about how to study the past. Thus, we find that not all history is equal. The pasts of different cultures are not understood or discussed in the same terms as others, this stems from hegemonic structures. These structures affect all aspects of life and can often be overlooked. Antonio Gramsci argued that having control of the dominant ideas within a society was the highest form of hegemony as it requires a form of consent from those it controls. Language is one way ideas are controlled. Organizations and institutions are often perpetuating these hegemonic structures through their language whether or not they recognize the impact. Collectively, Western understanding of the past tends to be focused on themselves, as the pinnacle of “higher” culture that was established with the theory of unilineal cultural evolution, this makes other cultures subordinate to western ideologies. In the absence of writing, archaeology has become important in constructing and understanding the pasts of cultures. All objects have meaning, but these objects from the past have more meaning associated with them as they have become representative of not just the past but power. The people who control artifacts also control the language used to understand and discuss these objects. I explored how the meaning is constantly created for artifacts from their initial discovery to archival, and how this has shaped the Western understanding of the past and these objects. My research included archaeological fieldwork in Menorca, participant observation in museums, and interning for the collections department of a museum. My findings suggested that artifacts themselves do not matter to the public, but it is the value of the history they represent and the idea of human exceptionalism. The importance of history within society originates from individuals and cultures using the past to help support their importance is the present.