Maryam Dezhamkhooy
This project investigates illiberalism and resistance to it through emancipatory methodologies and pedagogies in the discipline of archaeology. The research includes two interconnected parts: first, the role of the archaeology of the contemporary past as a form of resistance to dictatorship, and second the rise of right-wing politics such as populism in archaeology. Building on pioneering work by Iranian scholars marginalized under conservative regimes, the research examines how archaeologists in repressive contexts generate alternative methodologies, pedagogies, and challenge official histories. Through archival research, interviews and the incorporation of applicant’s lived experience, as an at-risk scholar, the project asks how archaeologists can create spaces of dialogue for academic freedom and for marginalized voices. Since 2002, the applicant as one of the co-founders of GAP END, an unofficial association of engaged archaeologists, has participated in the introduction of the archaeology of contemporary past, as an emancipatory and non-conservative methodology to the Iranian archaeology, where t most encouraged form of archaeology is nationalist and conservative. It also interrogates how academia and knowledge cooperate with and is influenced by authoritarian and populist constraints, particularly at war times. The expected outcomes include a theorization of archaeology as resistance (based on the applicant’s research), a framework for understanding authoritarian and right-wing politics in academia, particularly in the context of the Israel attack at Gaza and Iran.
Website: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=fkxULAkAAAAJ&hl=en
https://www.capas.uni-heidelberg.de/en/fellowships/former-fellows/maryam-dezhamkhooy