| dc.description.abstract | The most widely used definition of community archaeology is archaeology that is with, for, and/or by the community. The breadth of that description and all that it encompasses means there are as many ways to engage and work with a community, as there are communities and this thesis examines three such examples from Cyprus. There are several frameworks used throughout the research, primarily to create a shared language with which to discuss the methodologies which are its focus, but its theoretical underpinnings embrace the aspects of Posthumanist theory which looks to deconstruct strict binaries, typologies, and hierarchies, and instead focus on processes and relationality. Every community archaeology project is different, according to its physical, temporal, and communal settings. Therefore, as this thesis is not interested in quantifying projects as "more" or "less" community archaeology; frameworks can only provide scaffolds for discussion, not definitions.
Understanding the development of community archaeology is the essential starting point. ?With, for, and by? is a phrase adapted from George P. Nicholas' 1997 chapter entitled, "Education and Empowerment: Archaeology with, for, and by the Shuswap Nation, British Columbia." As suggested by Nicholas' title, one branch of community archaeology draws heavily on Indigenous archaeology, which emerged from the Red Power movement of the 1980s and encompassed issues around ownership by descendant communities over their cultural material and sites, and their erasure from their own pasts by mainstream archaeologists and anthropologists. The other line of descent is less political and has fewer theoretical discourses surrounding it, though it fulfils an important role in its archaeological ecosystem. In Great Britain and Ireland especially, there is a long tradition of local history and archaeology groups, who in the past would have participated in excavations and other major works. Today these groups are primarily made up of non-specialists for whom archaeology is a hobby and a vehicle for social wellbeing, they are often social drivers of conservation and education efforts at the local level.
In Cyprus, neither of the practices of community archaeology mentioned above has developed. To examine what has made Cyprus? path different in this regard, this thesis examines methods of community engagement with archaeology. Because, while there are very few community-based projects in Cyprus, and those are mostly in their infancy, community engagement with archaeology has existed and evolved within the flourishing academic and professional Cypriot archaeological landscape. This thesis follows the thematic threads of these engagement methods through three case studies, each with different specialist teams, research focuses, and occurring at different times over the past 20 years. Through examinations of in-person programming, digital engagement, and international contextual examples, this thesis aims to gain a wider understanding of how engagement has occurred in the past, how it is currently happening, and how it may develop in the future. | en |
