Online Resistance to Precarious Archaeological Labour

Abstract

The international cultural heritage economy has long been underpinned by a reserve army of unemployed/underemployed labour. The entry-level workforce is being further undermined and unpaid/underpaid labour is additionally being consolidated through the crisis and austerity measures. Independently and under different pressures, archaeologists across Europe have begun to use blogging, micro-blogging and other social media in concerted national efforts to document, analyse and resist exploitative and exclusive employment practices. This article focuses on the development of movements against unpaid labour (free archaeology) in the UK, against unpaid and underpaid internship (volontariato and stage) in Italy, and for employment (istihdam) in Turkey. Using insights gained through observing and participating in these movements, and through running a research blog on precarious labour in the cultural heritage industry, this article examines the benefits and limits of blogging/micro-blogging as a tool for debate within the profession, communication with the public, and activism.