Event Details

Anne Pyburn has been involved in archaeology since she was 9 years old. She has been involved in economic development since 1984, when she consulted for a Women in Development Project in Yemen for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). She recently co-edited a book on the subject of archaeology and development, called Collision or Collaboration: Archaeology Encounters Economic Development. She has done archaeologically-based development projects in Belize and Kyrgyzstan. She is currently Provost’s Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University.

Archaeologists frequently cite economic development as a possible positive outcome of their research, despite increasing evidence that such programs often have problems with resource allocation, shifting government priorities, participant competition and conflict, and sustainability. While there are no hard and fast guidelines that lead to success across all cultural contexts, there are some basic considerations that may improve outcomes. In this course, Anne Pyburn will summarize and critique her own efforts to ally archaeology to economic development in Belize and in Kyrgyzstan as a prelude to outlining some useful rules of engagement for other archaeologists hoping to contribute to developing economies. In particular, she will consider the model of common pool resources elaborated by economist Elinor Ostrom and recently developed for archaeological application by Peter Gould.

The Knowledge Series seminars are opportunities to learn from prominent archaeologists as they share their experiences and expertise.