Bones, Bias, and Backlash: Elizabeth Weiss on the Politicization of Anthropology
In her autobiographical book On the Warpath, archaeologist Elizabeth Weiss recounts her battles on the front lines of the culture war in academia. Her opposition to the reburial of Native American remains, her insistence that indigenous knowledge is not science, and her fight against political correctness have exposed her to numerous controversies, including a court case, cancel culture campaigns, and the university shutting her out of its collection over a photograph of her holding a skull. Weiss tells the story of her fight for science against superstition and her attempts to promote free speech and academic freedom, while examining the current challenges facing universities through her battles against absurdities such as attempts to bar \u201cmenstruating personnel\u201d (formerly known as women) from curation facilities and plans to declare X-rays sacred for repatriation to Native Americans.
Elizabeth Weiss is a controversial and world-renowned anthropology professor, specializing in the analysis of human skeletal remains. For much of her career she was based at San Jose State University, where she curated one of the largest collections of skeletal remains in the U.S. She is the author of numerous books and articles, and she played an essential role in bringing the Smithsonian\u2019s traveling exhibition \u201cWhat Does it Mean to be Human?\u201d to the San Francisco Bay Area. She\u2019s been featured in The New York Times, Science and USA Today, and has been interviewed on Fox News and Newsmax. She currently lives in New York City, where she holds a visiting fellowship with Heterodox Academy.
Shermer and Weiss discuss the politicization of archaeology, covering Weiss\u2019s experiences in the field, including controversies like the Kennewick Man, the binary nature of sex in bone studies, and the impact of \u201cwokeness\u201d on anthropology. They also explore issues like the connection between modern tribes and ancient remains, the peopling of the Americas, and Weiss\u2019s discrimination experiences, including her lawsuit against San Jose State University.