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History, Advocacy, and Context


Why is the past important? This is the question at the core of any advocacy or integrity argument. The response is nuanced and varied. So as an archaeologist I do fancy myself a storyteller.

Context. Something we value in excavation. What is the context of a fact? You find one pottery sherd and it is like one brush stroke in a greater painting or one word in a larger story.What is the whole story? What is the context of the artifact, the context of the data collected, or the context in the stratigrahy of a multi-layered site. 

Context. What is the context in the greater story of humanity? I do not live in a vaccum. There are people that have been here before me and people that will come along after me. Learning and discovering and respecting the greater story of the land I come from is important. We need to know where things fit and the details of the greater story of humanity. We human beings should want to know that story. We should want to know the streams of that story. The bigger streams of different groups of people like the Maliseet or Passamaquoddy or Kurds or Mongols all come together at some point in time... even if that time is 2009.

Context is both a geographical term and a chronological term. What is the story for these certain people in this certain area at this specific time? We should not negate the importance of these details in the stories/story because of where and when they took place or who was involved. Or because of what we want to build in order to expand and progress as a people. Progress bought at the cost of the past is a steep price and one that will ultimately show our true quality as human beings. 

Of course, the next question is "how important?" and an answer like "sort of" doesn't cut it.

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