Felicia J. Fricke

In the current political and academic climate, archaeological organizations are re-evaluating their roles and responsibilities and have produced updated codes of ethics and best practices. In the Caribbean, this movement has had lesser intensity. Reasons for this might include, for example, the exacerbation of neo-colonial practices in small island settings. However, attempts to change this have begun at a recent Congress of the International Association for Caribbean Archaeology (Cuba 2022), where discussions about ethical conduct in archaeology resulted in a new Code of Ethics for the association. While this was an important advance, it is still far from enough, as unethical, colonialist, and asymmetrical practices are still present. This workshop will bring together a group of Caribbean researchers to discuss and develop archaeological, heritage, and museum best practices that explicitly consider current developments in ethics debates. We will work together towards two aims: first, to build a community of Caribbean researchers who explicitly consider ethical approaches in their work; and second, to create a research agenda that considers solutions to key ethical problems in the Caribbean. In achieving these aims, this workshop will make an important and sustainable contribution to Caribbean archaeological ethics and best practices for the future.