Alexander Bauer
Associate Professor
Ph.D, University of Pennsylvania 2006
Office: Powdermaker Hall 313A
Phone: (718) 997-5517
Fax: (718) 997-2885
Email: alexander.bauer@qc.cuny.edu
I am an archaeologist with interests that cut across the subfields of anthropology. My specific projects are:
The Sinop Region Archaeological Project (SRAP): I currently co-direct an integrated regional archaeological project in the Black Sea coastal region of Sinop, Turkey, with Dr. Owen Doonan of California State University-Northridge. This project combines archaeological, ethnohistorical, and geophysical research into the Neolithic-Ottoman period landscapes and seascapes of the Sinop region and seeks to address questions regarding how long-term structures of interaction along and across the Black Sea have both developed and persisted there over time.
Semiotic Archaeology: I have been trying to develop an approach to archaeological interpretation that builds on the semiotic writings of Charles Sanders Peirce. My hope here is that Peirce’s model might help archaeologists better deal with issues such as the variability or “ambiguity” in material culture meaning, the “agency” of objects, and may allow us to integrate process vs. meaning-based perspectives into a more holistic archaeology. More specific for my work on the early Black Sea, I have been trying to develop a new approach to communication in archaeology inspired by Peirce-based models of social relations and discourse.
International Journal of Cultural Property: Since 2005, I have been the Editor of this interdisciplinary journal focused on legal and political disputes over the ownership, use, appropriation, and preservation of cultural objects and practices that invariably arise when the interests of consumers, institutions, nations and indigenous communities come into conflict. My goal in both my this work and my own research on the subject has been to move beyond the polarized positions that often characterize current discussions, and to develop new approaches that are truly interdisciplinary.
Research Focus
- Archaeology
- Semiotics
- Interaction and Trade
- Cultural heritage law and policy
- Middle East, Eurasia
Courses Taught
- Intro to Archaeology (103)
- History of Anthropology (200)
- Archaeology of the Near East (246W)
- Archaeological Method and Theory (340)
- Origins of Complex Society (342)
Publications
A. A. Bauer (2013). Objects and their Glassy Essence: Semiotics of Self in the Early Bronze Age Black Sea. Signs and Society 1.
A. A. Bauer (2013). Multivocality and ‘Wikiality’: the Epistemology and Ethics of a Pragmatic Archaeology. In Appropriating the Past: Philosophical Perspectives on the Practice of Archaeology, C. Scarre and R. Coningham, eds. Pp. 176-194. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
A. A. Bauer and O. P. Doonan (2012). Fluid histories: culture, community, and the longue durée of the Black Sea World. In New Regionalism or No Regionalism? Emerging Regionalism in the Black Sea Area, Ruxendra Ivan, ed. Pp. 13-30. Aldershot: Ashgate Press.
A. A. Bauer (2011). Life is Too Short for Faint-Heartedness: The Archaeology of Andrew Sherratt. Journal of World Prehistory 24:99-105.
A. A. Bauer (2010). Cultural Property, Ethics, and Law in International Context. In World Archaeological Congress (WAC) Handbook of Postcolonial Archaeology, J. Lydon and U. Rizvi, eds., pp. 249-257. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
A. A. Bauer (2009). The Terroir of Culture: Long-term History, Heritage Preservation, and the Specificities of Place. Heritage Management 2:81-103.
A. A. Bauer (2008). New Ways of Thinking About Cultural Property. Fordham International Law Journal 31:690-724. [Download PDF]
A. A. Bauer, S. Lindsay, and S. K. Urice (2007). When Theory, Practice and Policy Collide, or Why Do Archaeologists Support Cultural Property Claims? In Archaeology and Capitalism: From Ethics to Politics, Y. Hamilakis and P. Duke, eds., pp. 45-58. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
A. A. Bauer (2002). Is What You See All You Get?: Recognizing Meaning in Archaeology. Journal of Social Archaeology 2: 37-52. [Download PDF]
R.W. Preucel and A. A. Bauer (2001). Archaeological Pragmatics. Norwegian Archaeological Review 34(2): 85-96. [Download PDF]
A.A. Bauer (1998). Cities of the Sea: Maritime Trade and the Orgin of Philistine Settlement in the Early Iron Age Southern Levant. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 17:149-68 [Download PDF]
Books and Edited Volumes
N. A. Silberman, A. A. Bauer, M. Diaz-Andreu, C. Holtorf, E. Waterton, eds. (2012). Oxford Companion to Archaeology, 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford U. Press.
J. Marstine, A. A. Bauer, and C. Haines, eds. (2012). New Directions in Museum Ethics. London: Routledge [initially published as a special issue of Museum Management and Curatorship]
A. A. Bauer, ed. (2011). Life is Too Short for Faint-Heartedness: Essays in Memory of Andrew Sherratt. Special Issue of Journal of World Prehistory 24(2-3).
A. A. Bauer and A. S. Agbe-Davies, eds. (2010). Social Archaeologies of Trade and Exchange: Exploring Relationships among People, Places, and Things. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
Book Chapters
A. A. Bauer (2011). The Near East, Europe, and the ‘Routes’ of Community in the Early Bronze Age Black Sea. In Interweaving Worlds: Systemic Interactions in Eurasia, 7th to 1st millennia BC, T. Wilkinson, S. Sherratt, and J. Bennet, eds., pp. 175-188. Oxford: Oxbow.
O. P. Doonan and A. A. Bauer (2010). Buying a Table in Erfelek: Socialities of Contact and Community in the Black Sea Region. In Social Archaeologies of Trade and Exchange: Exploring Relationships among People, Places, and Things, A. S. Agbe-Davies and A. A. Bauer, eds., pp. 183-206. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
A. A. Bauer and A. S. Agbe-Davies (2010). Trade and Interaction in Archaeology. In Social Archaeologies of Trade and Exchange: Exploring Relationships among People, Places, and Things, A.S. Agbe-Davies and A. A. Bauer, eds., pp. 29-48. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. [Link]
A. S. Agbe-Davies and A. A. Bauer (2010). Introduction: Rethinking Trade as a Social Activity. In Social Archaeologies of Trade and Exchange: Exploring Relationships among People, Places, and Things, A. S. Agbe-Davies and A. A. Bauer, eds., pp. 13-28. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.
A. A. Bauer (2008). Heritage Preservation in Law and Policy: Handling the Double Edged Sword of Development. In Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development in the Arab World, Fekri Hassan, ed., pp. 253-267. Alexandria: Bibliotheca Alexandrina.
A. A. Bauer (2008). Import, Imitation, and Communication: Pottery Style, Technology, and Coastal Contact in the Early Bronze Age Black Sea. In ‘Import’ and ‘Imitation’: Methodical and Practical Problems with an Archaeological Key Concept, P. Biehl and Y. Rassamakin, eds., pp. 89-104. Schriften des Zentrums für Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte des Schwarzmeerraumes Band 11. Langenweißbach: Beier & Beran.
A. A. Bauer, S. Lindsay, and S. K. Urice (2007). “When Theory, Practice and Policy Collide, or Why Do Archaeologists Support Cultural Property Claims?” in Archaeology and Capitalism: From Ethics to Politics, Y. Hamilakis and P. Duke, eds. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. [Download PDF]
A. A. Bauer (2006). Between the Steppe and the Sown: Prehistoric Sinop and Inter-regional Interaction along the Black Sea Coast. In Beyond the Steppe and the Sown, D. L. Peterson, L. M. Popova, and A.T. Smith, eds., pp. 225-246. Leiden: Brill. [Download PDF]
A. A. Bauer (2002). A Pragmatic Semiotic Model for the Study of Material Culture. In Structural and Semiotic Investigations in Archaeology, A.V. Evglevsky, ed., pp. 27-36. Donetsk: Donetsk University Press.