Licenciatura

A History of Archaeology Thought (Second Edition)
by Bruce G. Trigger. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 710 pp. ISBN 0–521–84076–7 (hardcover) US$90. ISBN 0–521–60049–9 (paperback) US$31.99. 2006. and

The Archaeology of Bruce Trigger
edited by Ronald F. Williamson and Michael S. Bisson. McGill-Queen’s University Press, Montreal and Kingston. ISBN 0–7735–3127–0 (hardcover) $80. ISBN0–7735–3161–0 (paperback) $29.95. 2006.

B

ruce Trigger occupies a towering and distinctive position in Anglophone archaeology, having successfully steered an apparent middle intellectual course between the Scylla of extreme positivism and the Charybdis of extreme relativism during his career. I say “apparent” because while he quite explicitly does that in some publications, in others, such as AHistory, he seems to offer a third ground, not a middle course. Some of the 16 chapters in The Archaeology of Bruce Trigger also wonder whether his distinctive position and influence stem from being a Canadian archaeologist. Ronald Williamson, Jeremy Cunningham, and Jane Kelley, in the essay (“The Many Influences of Bruce Trigger”) that opens The Archaeology of Bruce Trigger, suggest Canadianarchaeology possesses an important critical distance from the theoretical debates between and among British and American archaeologists. This distance gives Canadian archaeol-

ogy a distinctive and perhaps somewhat skeptical perspective that both influenced Trigger and which he influenced in turn. They find interesting contrasts between the contents of the Journal of Canadian Archaeology (CJA) andAmerican Antiquity (AA). AA papers are far more likely to be concerned with culture process, whereas more CJA papers are concerned with archaeological practice and archaeology’s role in the broader contemporary society. They do not mention that one of the major papers on practice in AA in the last decade was by Canadian authors (Pokotylo and Guppy 1999). On the other hand, most such papers in theUnited States are published in The SAA Archaeological Record, a companion publication to AA. As someone who has worked in both countries, I don’t think American archaeology is less concerned with practice, although I doubt an edited book celebrating Lewis Binford, for example, would contain papers contem-

Book Reviews

Canadian Journal of Archaeology/Journal Canadien d’Archéologie 32: 128–134(2008)



HistoryofArcHAeologytHougHt/ArcHAeologyofB.trigger • 129

plating the degree to which his impact can be related to his nationality. Allison Wylie further develops the notion of Canadian archaeology having a critical distance, applying what she terms “standpoint theory,” the argument that those situated on the margins may be able to “develop a critical perspective onknowledge production” (p. 32). This view of Trigger’s position and role in global archaeology reminds me of Winston Churchill’s comment that Canada is the lynchpin of the Englishspeaking world. The discussions about the marginality of Canadian archaeology also brought to mind a comment by H. L. Mencken, the famous Baltimore curmudgeon of the early 20th century, that living in Canada must be a lot likeliving in an apartment over a loud, noisy bar. Throughout the collection of articles is the thought that Trigger’s strong emphasis on diversity and multivocality reflects deep Canadian values. Over his career Trigger stressed the importance of different traditions of archaeological practice and this is an important theme in A History. He expands on his commitment to Canada and Canadian archaeologyin his “Retrospection” at the end of this volume. Other chapters in The Archaeology of Bruce Trigger include Ian Hodder’s brief essay entitled “Triggering Post-Processual Archaeology and Beyond,” in which he both lauds Trigger’s efforts to steer his middle course and criticizes him for being trapped by the subject-object dichotomy. Besides being the one who here seems trapped in his own...