Archaeology in a Post-Truth World: An Interdisciplinary Philosophical Research Project
Creator: Darby Vickers
Co-Organizers: Darby Vickers, Taylor Dunn, Gianluca Ciullo
Faculty Sponsor: Professor Sven Bernecker
Website forthcoming, courtesy of Stuart Chapin
Archaeology in a Post-Truth World: An Interdisciplinary Philosophical Conference
Conference Abstract: Pseudoarcheology and alternative history pose a unique threat to archaeologists and historians. Conspiracy theories—like the story that the Smithsonian has a hidden collection of bones that would rewrite human evolutionary history—have gained remarkable social media momentum. Some archaeologists study this phenomenon, researching what stories gain traction and how those narratives misinterpret the evidence. However, pseudoarchaeology proves difficult to debunk; often, the most virulent pseudoarchaeological narratives are those which feed into racist or nationalist sentiments and propagate deep-seated suspicion of academics. Work in cognitive science and epistemology on the phenomenon of conspiracy theories can aid in solving some of these problems. These fields study how and why people form beliefs and, as a result, they can offer strategies to counter the appeal of misinformation. This conference will bring together scholars from epistemology, cognitive science, history, and archaeology to raise informational literacy, discuss strategies for public outreach. This conference will provide theoretical depth to the conspiracy theory phenomenon and a needed opportunity for an interdisciplinary response to the dire matter of misinformation in the digital age. It will include traditional presentations, interdisciplinary round-table sessions, and will produce interactive media coverage and lesson plans to raise information literacy.
Conference Sponsors: University of California Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI), Humanities Commons (at University of California, Irvine), Department of Art History (UCI), Department of Classics (UCI)
Debunking 101: How to Spot Fake (Archaeology) News and What to Do about It
Our aim for this workshop is to provide an opportunity for undergraduates to think carefully about what might count as a pseudo archaeological theory, and give students strategies to combat the spread of misinformation. The presenters will be Dr. Cailin O’Connor, associate professor in the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science and Darby Vickers, a PhD candidate in the Department of Philosophy. The workshop will last for 2 hours. It will be divided into three parts.
1) Pseudoarchaeology Case Studies: In the first part, Darby will present a series of pseudoarchaeology case studies. She will use these case studies as scaffolded exercises for students to learn strategies and tips for spotting false or distorted claims as well as evaluating sources.
2) Social Networks and the Spread of Misinformation: Professor Cailin O’Connor will present (in an accessible manner) research from her new book The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread.
3) Call to action– Stopping the Spread of Fake News: Darby and Professor O’Connor will methods students can use to try to protect their epistemic networks from misinformation.
Workshop Sponsors: Illuminations (UCI)
For a taste of the information covered at “Debunking 101,” check out this short video:
AIA: Archaeology and Conspiracy Theories
In order to engage the public, journalists and bloggers often distort the nature of archaeological discoveries, frequently claiming there is some great mystery where none exists. Beyond this, there is a large audience that is receptive to conspiracy theories that distort the evidence to a much greater degree. An entire show called Ancient Aliens is devoted to interpreting archaeological evidence to show there were aliens that came to earth in ancient times and built things with their technology (and there are interpretations of all sorts of ancient art to show depictions of these “aliens”).
Archaeology conspiracy theories have been around for centuries (e.g., before he investigated, Thomas Jefferson believed that Native American mounts that he found were to advanced to have been built by Native Americans so he hypothesized a mysterious race of “mound builders” who he believed had preceded the Native Americans), but which the advent of social media, today’s archaeologists have a direct avenue of communication with the public. However, social media swarms with people who believe in conspiracy theories and often prove incredibly difficult or impossible to persuade.
New tools are now available for this task since academics in a variety of disciplines have begun to analyze conspiracy theories. This workshop will unite research from archaeology, history, epistemology, and psychology to discuss how best to debunk conspiracy theories. It aims to gather information from those in archaeology about their experiences dealing with conspiracy theories and their proponents in academic and social settings. Ultimately, we hope to put together in an interdisciplinary collaboration to produce a pamphlet along the lines of John Cook and Stephen Lewandowsky’s “The Debunking Handbook.” In the age of social media, academics are faced with unprecedented ability to shape the narrative about their field in the public consciousness but also the difficulty of facing a public who hold erroneous opinions. Our aim is to discover what archaeologists need to make the best use of their social-media presence.
Panelists: John Albertson (nautical archaeologist), Anna Leinberger (editor at Berrett-Koehler Publishers), Carly Maris (Ancient and public history, UC Riverside), Giulia Napolitano (Epistemology, University of Cologne), Elizabeth Parker (Classics, UC Irvine), Emily Sumner (Cognitive Science, UC Irvine)
The workshop took place on January 9, 2019.
Darby Vickers, Ph.D. 