ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the case study of the author's interest in archaeology. During his graduate years, the dangers of his interest were brought home to him by many native people who initially decried his involvement in archaeology. He served as editor of the Canadian Journal of Archaeology, co-editor of the World Archaeological Congress Research Handbooks in Archaeology series, and of the volume At a Crossroads: Archaeology and First Peoples in Canada. To be an archaeologist, on the other hand, is to participate in a profession that was born from a colonial process of distancing and evaluating the 'other'. He began to study Native American bioarchaeology out of the same desire to honor their lives. Claire Smith is President of the World Archaeological Congress. One stereotype that Native students struggle against is the concept that people are able to speak on behalf of all tribal people; he was routinely questioned for Native American examples in some of my anthropology classes.
