ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the inherent political nature of archaeology and its impact on the practice of the discipline. Serving as ethical and political barometers for archaeology are the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) and the American Anthropological Association (AAA), both of which have specific ethical guidelines regarding not only how archaeologists proceed in the course of research, but in matters of respect for subject groups and how they should disseminate their results to the public. Modern Southwest archaeology's Eurocentrism is well illustrated by the research conducted at Chavez Pass Pueblo, or Nuvakwewtaqa, an ancestral Hopi community dating predominantly to the 14th century. The society leads the archaeological community by promoting research, stew-ardship of archaeological resources, public and professional education, and the dissemination of knowledge. The Southwest archaeologists uses colonialist terminology and models to explain the prehistory of the southwestern United States, despite Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) and their own ethical codes emphasis on cultural sensitivity.
