Members of the IPinCH team, including Melissa Baird, Hirofumi Kato, Ndukuyakhe Ndlovu, and George Nicholas, were in Uppsala, Sweden, last month to participate in an international conference, “Archaeologies of ‘Us’ and ‘Them’?– Debating the Ethics and Politics of Ethnicity and Indigeneity in Archaeology and Heritage Discourse.”
The conference, which was held at Uppsala University, focused on examining what happens when groups are categorized as “indigenous” and “non-indigenous” in the fields of heritage and archaeology.
Participants in the conference brought expertise from Sweden, Argentina, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Russia, Israel, Canada, Norway, the United States, Denmark, Finland, and elsewhere, and this was a great opportunity to explore the concept of indigeneity from a broad range of perspectives and experiences.
The meeting was organized by Carl-Gösta Ojala (Uppsala University), Anna Karlström (University of Queensland), and Charlotta Hillerdal (University of Aberdeen).
Presentations by IPinCH team members included:
- “Extractive Industries and Indigenous Heritage Landscapes” — Melissa F. Baird,
- “Archaeological Heritage and Hokkaido Ainu: Ethnicity and Research Ethics” — Hirofumi Kato
- “Power relations and the management of heritage in South Africa” — Ndukuyakhe Ndlovu
- “Culture, Property, Indigeneity, Information, and Archaeology: Addressing Inequality in Who Controls, Who Benefits from Heritage” — George Nicholas
- Ronald Niezen (McGill University), who participated in an earlier IPinCH workshop at York University, presented on “Collective Rights and the Construction of Heritage.”
Photos: George and Hirofumi during the conference (courtesy Carl-Gösta Ojala); Ndukuyakhe and Hirofumi outside the conference venue (G.Nicholas); the conference participants (courtesy Carl-Gösta Ojala).
