Yannis Hamilakis & Rafael Greenberg, “Modernity’s sacred ruins: colonialism, archaeology, and the national imagination in Greece and Israel”

Yannis Hamilakis & Rafael Greenberg, “Modernity’s sacred ruins: colonialism, archaeology, and the national imagination in Greece and Israel”

Professor Yannis Hamilakis (Brown University) & Professor Rafael Greenberg (University of Tel Aviv), “Modernity’s sacred ruins: colonialism, archaeology, and the national imagination in Greece and Israel”

Abstract
Based on a forthcoming book, the presenters will reflect on the shared origins of Classical and Holy Land archaeology as ‘ground zero’ of European modernity, and on points of convergence and divergence in the integration of archaeology into the national imagination in Greece and Israel. They will touch upon contentious issues such as the lingering effects of colonialisms on the direction of archaeological research in both countries, archaeology’s role in the creation  of ‘purified’ national ethnoscapes, whiteness and the racialized use of archaeogenetics research, and the prospect of a decolonized archaeology.

This virtual Upper House Seminar was recorded 8 March 2021.