ABSTRACT
The debate between processual and postprocessual archaeologies has, as in other disciplines, highlighted a polarization ‘between objectivism and relativism’ (Bernstein quoted in Purvis and Hunt 1993: 476; see also Wylie 2000a). This chapter provides a way between the two, by weaving together some postprocessual insights into subjectivity and discourse with a clearer understanding of the relationships of such issues to ‘politics’. The previous chapters brought the argument to a point where a conception of politics is needed that considers the concrete effects of discursive practice, and consequences of the power/knowledge dyad. Although this dyad informs much of the literature on which postprocessual theorists have drawn, it remains significantly under-theorized in postprocessual writing.
