Archaeology Research

Care-full: Exploring the potential of posthuman pedagogies of care in archaeology and heritage

Professor Hannah Cobb (University of Manchester)

 

Abstract: 

In this paper I begin with a basic premise; Archaeologists care. We care about the past, about teasing out the details that enable us to tell rich and peopled stories. We care about the present, about working ethically and methodically. We care about the future, for whom we preserve the past.
However, beyond these simple statements, I will interrogate the concept of care in our archaeologies in more detail. Employing a specifically post humanist feminist lens I will examine how the hegemonic structures of contemporary neoliberal archaeological and higher education practice exclude and minimise the work of those who care. In contrast, I will explore how, by surfacing care in a deliberate and explicit way, by making our archaeologies deliberately care-full, care has the potential to be an act of radical and transformative resistance in how we practice, how we teach and how we connect and understand the relationship between pasts, presents and future.

 

Time:  4:00–5:30pm

Place:  Room 301, 15 Southpark Terrace, Glasgow G12 8LG

 

As usual, we’ll head to Curlers Rest on Byres Road afterwards for informal discussion.

 

Online meeting details: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/322769070694793?p=1OqNGlxhQ5M9lQ9GMD

Meeting ID: 322 769 070 694 793

Passcode: uN3Qq7RS

For issues/questions with the Teams meeting, please contact Isobel Harvey (Isobel.Harvey@glasgow.ac.uk)

If you need alternative formats or other reasonable adjustments, please contact Julia Hopkin (j.hopkin.1@research.gla.ac.uk) so that arrangements, where possible, can be made.

 

 

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First published: 30 October 2026