Prospects and Pitfalls: Comments on Action Research at Sites of Mixed Heritage

ABSTRACT The variants of community-based research projects in archaeology have increased exponentially in number since the 1980s, and the once-well-defined lines dividing “academic” and “public” archaeology continue to fade. We welcome the protracted and necessary change, but community-based research lacks the rigidity of previous paradigmatic approaches in archaeological research. For good reason. Here we provide a commentary based on our collaborative projects with two communities of mixed-descent on Long Island to emphasize how action research defies well-defined approaches. If anything, our experiences showcase some of the challenges community archaeologies encounter yet are reluctant to acknowledge. We focus on race and heritage, their intersection, and the dynamic experiences they impose and create. We offer very little in the way of solutions to the challenges we present, but hope to illustrate how self-reflection and flexibility are requisites of effective collaborative research, particularly with communities of mixed-ancestry.