Bourdieu’s Fields and Capital in Community Archaeology: An Example from Jordan

This chapter discusses Bourdieu’s field theory, capital and Habitus as possible theoretical tools for planning and establishing an archaeological community project. Collaboration and cooperation with local communities and stakeholders is acknowledged as an essential part of archaeological projects – not only as a means of decolonising the research field but, overall, to provide an ethical way to create long-term empowerment and benefits for local communities, and to make the research transparent and accessible. Various methods and tools have been proposed and tested for building and assessing community projects, but the heterogeneity of cultures and communities makes standardisation a challenging task. Using the Petra region in Jordan as a case study, I examine how Bourdieu’s theories could be utilised in understanding community structures, as well as in collaborating and creating long-term benefits before, during and after an archaeological project.