Dialogues in Cuban Archaeology

1 / Introduction
Shannon Lee Dawdy, L. Antonio Curet, and Gabino La Rosa Corzo
This volume evolved out of a symposium titled “Prehistoric and Historic
Archaeology of Cuba: A New Era of Research, Dialogue, and Collaboration”
presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in
2002. The goal of the symposium was to provide a setting for Cuban and
American archaeologists to engage in a dialogue that could help thaw the state
of communication between scholars from both countries, which in many
ways has remained frozen in the political climate of the early 1960s. The symposium
also provided an opportunity to present a retrospective on the history
of Cuban archaeology, as well as results of recent research. This volume shares
the aims of the symposium, but it also has the goal of raising awareness
among American archaeologists about the current social, political, and academic
state of archaeology in Cuba. In particular, we want to present a more
precise picture of Cuban archaeology since the beginning of the Revolution
in order to redress some of the misunderstandings, mistrust, and myths created
by the absurdities of the Cold War and its lingering ghosts.
SOCIETY AND ARCHAEOLOGY:
INTERACTION BETWEEN CUBAN AND AMERICAN
ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNDER THE EMBARGO
For some time now, archaeologists and social scientists have recognized that
the social, political, and economic context of their work can and does affect
many aspects of research, including the questions being asked and the results