Towards a Public Archaeology of the Working Classes

This introduction to the special issue on ‘The Public Archaeology of Working Class Communities’ situates the articles included in this issue within the broader context of identity-based public and community archaeology efforts. Despite being part of the gender-race-class classical triad of identity, class has been repeatedly overlooked as it’s own area of focus within community engagement and public archaeology. This introduction calls for public archaeologists to more thoroughly consider their engagement strategies with working class communities in order to ensure our projects capture the intersectionality of our stakeholder and descendant populations. Finally, the articles in this issue are examined as case studies that are already highlighting some thematic trends within working class public engagements.