Programme of Activities – Autumn 2020
At the beginning of 2020 Laura Hampden (Museum Detox, Historic England) and Hannah Cobb (CIfA Equality and Diversity Group, University of Manchester) presented the outline of a decolonise archaeology toolkit to CIfA Advisory Council. The conversation about the impact of colonialism and racism in our profession has been going on for some time, and in May this year the brutal murder of George Floyd, and subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, further highlighted how racism is systemic and present throughout our society, and how we must act now to change this. Our programme of events responds to this, centring on the development of an anti-racist decolonise archaeology toolkit in collaboration with colleagues across the heritage sector.
Through a programme of workshops across the autumn we aim to engage in a two-way process. The events will be themed by sector, and through critical self reflection and round table discussion participants have both the opportunity to explore how racism and colonialism impact your own practice whilst also contributing to one of the most important conversations in our profession today, and feeding into the development of the decolonise toolkit. By the end of each session we hope to have gained insights from you about areas where anti-racist action is needed in your part of the archaeology and heritage sector, and in return we hope you will leave with clear take-aways about how you can actively challenge these, and actively decolonise your own heritage practice. The sessions are classed as CPD by CIfA and you can obtain a certificate for attending if needed.
These events support CIfA’s wider work to instil a culture change around equality and diversity practice in archaeology and to ensure that equal opportunities are an issue integral to every aspect of archaeological work. You can find out more about this on our equality and diversity webpage.
Programme of activities
- Wednesday 9 September, 12.30pm - 2pm
Cross sector Decolonise archaeology workshop.
- Thursday 24 September, 10.30am - 11.15am
CIfA tea break chat: learn more about the toolkit and how to get involved.
- Thursday 29 October, 12pm - 1.45pm
CBA Festival of Archaeology – Decolonise Archaeology Voluntary and Community focussed session
- Tuesday 10 November, 11am - 12.30pm
Society for Museum Archaeologists Conference – Decolonise Archaeology Museum and Archives focussed session.
- Wednesday November 25, 11am -12.30pm
Archaeology Teaching and Learning Virtual Roundtable Decolonise Archaeology Academia focussed session.
- Wednesday 9 December, 12.30pm - 2.30pm
CIfA hosted Decolonise Archaeology Commercial and Developer Funded Archaeology consultation session
Before attending any of the above events we ask participants to:
- Check their privilege! Undertake the privilege check here and record your score.
- Read this short article
- And watch this YouTube video
When you join the event please make sure your Zoom shows:
- Your name
- Your pronouns
- The number corresponding to the breakout group you would like to be in
- To do this, right click on your name in “Participants” and select “rename”