An Archaeology of the Contemporary Era approaches the contemporary era, between the late nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, as an archaeological age defined by specific material processes. The materiality of our era, the book argues, and particularly its ruins and rubbish, reveals something profound, original and disturbing about humanity.
An Archaeology of the Contemporary Era approaches the contemporary era, between the late nineteenth and twenty-first centuries, as an archaeological age defined by specific material processes. The materiality of our era, the book argues, and particularly its ruins and rubbish, reveals something profound, original and disturbing about humanity.
Alfredo González-Ruibal is a researcher with the Institute of Heritage Sciences of the Spanish National Research Council. His research focuses on the archaeology of the contemporary past, and particularly on the dark side of modernity: war, dictatorship, predatory capitalism and colonialism. He has conducted fieldwork in Spain, Brazil, Equatorial Guinea and the Horn of Africa.
Inhaltsangabe
Introduction CHAPTER 1. An archaeology of the contemporary era CHAPTER 2. Ruins CHAPTER 3. Politics CHAPTER 4. Ethics CHAPTER 5. Aesthetics CHAPTER 6. Timey CHAPTER 7. Space CHAPTER 8. Materiality CHAPTER 9. Concluding remarks: Beyond the Anthropocene