Over the summer of 2020, a dedicated group of CIAMS graduate students formed the Anti-racism and Anti-colonialism (ARCO) Interest Group.

In their own words:

The Anti-racism and Anti-colonialism (ARCO) Interest Group is an organization geared toward uprooting systemic racism in archaeological practice and pedagogy by facilitating productive discussions and providing anti-racist programming for the CIAMS community.

Current projects include:

• Facilitation of follow-up discussions between students and faculty about the seminar series hosted by the Society of Black Archaeologists (SBA), Indigenous Archaeology Collective (IAC), Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, SAPIENS, and Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies seminar series.
• Organization of reading group discussions for all members of the CIAMS community that focus on texts that consider the historical and current role of colonialism in archaeology.
• Organization of a student-led reading group and town hall in order to discuss issues of importance for the Cornell graduate student community.
• Curation of an anti-colonial and anti-racist reading list with a focus on publications in archaeology.
• Development of a fieldwork and laboratory code of conduct.