Colonial Archaelogy

So we all, and by "we" I mean social science/humanities nerds, have heard about the colonial origins of many of our fields. For many of us, it was a thing of the past, to learn from in order to push for de-orientalization.

In Israel, it is a thing of the present.

Yigal Bronner and Neve Gordon wrote a fascinating piece on the movement against archaelogical digs in Jerusalem (Silwan, namely) that are displacing Palestinians. On a few occasions, Jewish Israeli residents moved in to take their place. They profile the ideological aspects of these digs and the bad cop-bad cop relationship the diggers have with local officials.

Yes, this is nothing new.