University of California, Berkeley
Graduate Student, Anthropology
Margaret Conkey
About
I am a doctoral student in archaeology at UC Berkeley. My interests are in hunter-gatherer archaeology, social inequality, development of political authority, historical archaeology, labor conflict, anarchist theory, and working class emancipatory archaeology.
Currently, I am writing my dissertation on Blair Mountain, the site of the largest class war in US history. In the fall of 1921, West Virginia coal miners rebelled against an oppressive social system. 10,000 miners clashed with a private army backed by coal operators, and were only stopped by the intercession of federal troops.
Today, Blair Mountain is embroiled in another conflict. Massey Energy Company is attempting to conduct mountaintop removal (MTR) operations at the site. This
catastrophic coal extraction process would destroy Blair Mountain. Due to this imminent threat, a variety of groups have reinterpreted and reasserted the mountain's historic meaning as a place of resistance in the fight to stop MTR completely.
My research examines the archaeology of the site to deconstruct bias against the miners in the historic record. I also look at the socio-political forces operating then and now which have galvanized the grassroots organization at both points in time. Collaboration and collectivist methods are used in my project in order to facilitate effective emancipatory and activist research.
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