TROUBLESHOOTING: ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE LEGACY OF GENOCIDE

Professor Adam T. Smith, Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies

Modernity has produced few disciplines more critical to the smooth operation of the civilization machine than archaeology. Archaeological research gives solidity and temporal depth to the publics manufactured by its operation. But archaeology also has a unique capacity to serve as witness to historical catastrophes, an ability to both see and to unsee that is vital to the epistemology of the discipline. Through an examination of contemporary archaeology in eastern Turkey, conducted in the aftermath of the Armenian Genocide, this concluding lecture highlights both the failures of the civilization machine and its possibilities.  

in the Sir Charles Wilson Building, University of Glasgow, 1 University Avenue, Glasgow G12 8QQ

First published: 29 October 2019

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