"As Trigger (1995) notes, the main impact of nationalism has been to influence the questions about the past that archaeologists are prepared to ask (or not to ask) and the amount of evidence that is required to sustain a particular position. This has had positive and negative effects. On the positive side, nationalist archaeology has stimulated asking questions about local cultural and ethnic configurations that would not have occurred to colonially oriented archaeologists. It has brought different assumptions, perspectives, and concerns to the data, exposed colonial predispositions and imperial biases, forced a reevaluation of old dogmas, and provided resistance to racism and colonialism. .... On the negative side, nationalism has encouraged the misinterpretation of archaeological data for political purposes and ignored important aspects of human history.... Kohl and Fawcett (1995a), note that the relationship between nationalism and archaeology seemed so natural and close at so many levels that it remained largely unexamined and subconscious throughout the nineteenth century."
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in Bryant, E. F. (2001). The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture : the Indo-Aryan migration debate. Oxford University Press. ch 13
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nationalist_historiography
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Nationalist historiography
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