ANTH 324 - Decolonizing Museum Archaeology

Units: 3 ; Breadth Area: GE-UD-4; Diversity
This course explores the interconnectedness of archaeology and museums, highlighting their shared history and responsibility to BIPOC communities. It examines the museum archaeology life cycle, advocating for archaeological collaboration and exhibit co-creation with descendants and other stakeholders.

Breadth Area(s) Satisfied: GE-UD-4 - Upper Division Social and Behavioral Sciences, Overlay -Diversity
Prerequisites: Completion of GE Areas 1A, 1B, 1C and GE-2 with grade C- (CR) or better (GE Areas A1, A2, A3 and B4 for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Strongly Recommended Preparation: Upper division status (greater than 60 earned semester units) and completion of lower division GE Area 4 requirements (Area D1-2 requirements for students on the 2024-25 or earlier catalogs).
Possible Instructional Methods: On-ground, or Hybrid, or Online-Asynchronous, or Online-Synchronous.
Grading: A-F or CR/NC (student choice).
Course Typically Offered: Fall, Spring, or Summer

Student Learning Outcomes - Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Understand the utility and general methods of community-based and stakeholder-informed archaeological and museological practice,
appreciate the complexities inherent to operating on the intersection between museum archaeological practice and the application of decolonial theory,
develop a justice-inclined and solutions-oriented understanding of museum archaeology as the jointly archaeological and museological process by which museum objects are sourced (or stolen), interpreted, and exhibited, and
appreciate the urgency and complexity of repatriation and the various dimensions of its emotionally and spiritually draining impact on descendant populations.

GE-UD-4. Upper-division Social and Behavioral Sciences Learning Outcomes

Analyze how power and social identity affect social outcomes for different cultural and economic groups using methods of social science inquiry and vocabulary appropriate to those methods.
Demonstrate an understanding of and ability to apply accurately disciplinary concepts of the social or behavioral sciences.
Demonstrate an understanding of and the ability to effectively plan or conduct research using an appropriate method of the social or behavioral sciences.