Resumen
Politics in archaeology has been dominated over the last couple of decades by discourse that has emphasised identity, multivocality, ethics, negotiation and consensus. The truly political – which is characterised by agonism and radical disagreement – was thus replaced in many cases by policy or harmless politics: what Chantal Mouffe and other political philosophers have called “post-politics”. Even those fields of practice that have had to face the harshest controversies, such as conflict archaeology, indigenous archaeology or the archaeology of the contemporary past, have all too often skewed the political, seeking refuge in ethics or bland forms of political engagement. The current global situation, dominated by a reactionary backlash and the spread of extreme right populism, has caught archaeologists largely unprepared. If archaeology wants to become relevant in social debates, it will inevitably have to change the paradigm. This implies a willingness to accept conflict as part of our daily work, to take sides and opt for unpopular discourse. In this talk, I would like to illustrate my points through my archaeological research on the Spanish Civil War (1935-1939). This is a conflict that left deep wounds in the social fabric that have never properly healed. Defending the dictatorship that followed the war and which lasted 40 years is still seen as legitimate and attempts at producing narratives that challenge accepted views of the war and the dictatorship are met with hostility. In this context, the conceptual tools of social archaeology as is usually practiced are of little help. Here, I will defend a relationship between archaeology and politics that fully embraces conflict and keeps away from apolitical positivism and the post-political – but also from activism.
Palabras clave
Política de la arqueología.