Power to the (Indigenous) Past and Present! Or: The Theory and Method behind Archaeological Theory and Method

Why write about archaeological theory and method in a book on Indigenous archaeologies? Are these topics not at loggerheads in discussions of archaeological practice? Why do theory and method in archaeology and Indigenous archaeologies suggest an internal contradiction, if not an oxymoron, when used in the same sentence? In this paper I explore why theory and method in archaeology and Indigenous archaeologies continue be so far apart from each other that many archaeologists (see, for example, Friends of America's Past 2003) and a number of Indigenous representatives (for example, Deloria 1969, 1992, 1995) view them as inherently incompatible.