Archaeology’s links to international relations are well known: launching and sustaining international expeditions requires the honed diplomatic skills of ambassadors. U.S. foreign policy depends on archaeologists to foster mutual understanding, mend fences, and build bridges. This book explores how international partnerships inherent in archaeological legal instruments and policies, especially involvement with major U.S. museums, contribute to the underlying principles of U.S. cultural diplomacy.

Archaeology forms a critical part of the U.S. State Department’s diplomatic toolkit. Many, if not all, current U.S.-sponsored and directed archaeological projects operate within U.S. diplomatic agendas. U.S. Cultural Diplomacy and Archaeology is the first book to evaluate museums and their roles in presenting the past at national and international levels, contextualizing the practical and diplomatic processes of archaeological research within the realm of cultural heritage. Drawing from analyses and discussion of several U.S. governmental agencies’ treatment of international cultural heritage and its funding, the history of diplomacy-entangled research centers abroad, and the necessity of archaeologists' involvement in diplomatic processes, this seminal work has implications for the fields of cultural heritage, anthropology, archaeology, museum studies, international relations, law, and policy studies.
Reviews

"In archaeology it is impossible, no matter what your nationality or where you conduct research, to escape the fallout from US interventions. This book effectively charts those effects and future ramifications for host countries and researchers. It exposes our constitutive disciplinary inheritances and responsibilities for the future." – Lynn Meskell, Stanford University

Contents

1. Introduction: Archaeology and U.S. Cultural Diplomacy 2. The Tea Circuit: Foreign Centers, Archaeology, and U.S. Cultural Policy 3. Archaeological Permits and Hbjects 4. Hard Borders, Soft Loans 5. Securing Heritage: The Hard Power Approach 6. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation 7. Lessons Learned: The Future of Cultural Relations and Archaeology Notes References Index

Author Bio

Christina Luke is a Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program and Anthropology Department and a Senior Research Associate Professor in the Archaeology Department at Boston University. She earned her doctorate in Anthropology from Cornell University. Her current work focuses on cultural heritage policy and legal implementation in the United States as well as archaeological landscapes and heritage management in western Turkey. She worked for two years in the Cultural Heritage Center of the Department of State and for four years directing programs for the Cultural Heritage Center and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. She is co-director with Christopher H. Roosevelt of the Central Lydia Archaeological Survey (CLAS) in w...