Inconstant Companions

Archaeology and North American Indian Oral Traditions

Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Native American Studies, Archaeology
Cover of the book Inconstant Companions by Ronald J. Mason, University of Alabama Press
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Author: Ronald J. Mason ISBN: 9780817381417
Publisher: University of Alabama Press Publication: February 15, 2008
Imprint: University Alabama Press Language: English
Author: Ronald J. Mason
ISBN: 9780817381417
Publisher: University of Alabama Press
Publication: February 15, 2008
Imprint: University Alabama Press
Language: English

One of the most significant theoretical issues in contemporary American archaeology—the role of oral tradition in scientific research.

** **

Ronald J. Mason explores the tension between aboriginal oral traditions and the practice of archaeology in North America. That exploration is necessarily interdisciplinary and set in a global context. Indeed, the issues at stake are universal in the current era of intellectual "decolonization" and multiculturalism.

 

Unless committed to writing, even the most esteemed utterances are inevitably forgotten with the passing of generations, however much the succeeding ones try to reproduce what they think they had heard. Writing shares with archaeo-logical remains a greater, if unequal, durability. Through copious examples across academic and ethnographic spectra and over millennia, Mason examines the disparate functions of traditional "ways of knowing" in contrast to the paradigm of science and critical historiography.

  

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

One of the most significant theoretical issues in contemporary American archaeology—the role of oral tradition in scientific research.

** **

Ronald J. Mason explores the tension between aboriginal oral traditions and the practice of archaeology in North America. That exploration is necessarily interdisciplinary and set in a global context. Indeed, the issues at stake are universal in the current era of intellectual "decolonization" and multiculturalism.

 

Unless committed to writing, even the most esteemed utterances are inevitably forgotten with the passing of generations, however much the succeeding ones try to reproduce what they think they had heard. Writing shares with archaeo-logical remains a greater, if unequal, durability. Through copious examples across academic and ethnographic spectra and over millennia, Mason examines the disparate functions of traditional "ways of knowing" in contrast to the paradigm of science and critical historiography.

  

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