ABSTRACT
The book Archaeology as Political Action argues that the intellectual tools for an activist, working class archaeology are praxis, craft and class. The collaboration created a working class archaeology that differs from the tradition of archaeology as middle-class practice. His colleagues, Phil Duke and Dean Saitta, have argued that an activist, emancipatory, working class archaeology can not advance a hegemonic theory, but instead engage in a pragmatic epistemology. Michael Shanks argues that archaeology should be a craft that combats alienation by unifying hearts, hands, and minds. Archaeology is part of the intellectual apparatus that produces the symbolic capital that individuals need to be part of the middle class. In Wisconsin, the Republican governor and legislator of that state have stripped public employees of the right to collective bargaining. Instead, It needs an active process of collaboration that defines how our activism can meet their needs and wants.
