An interview with Antonio Gilman Guillén. Part 1

Abstract

Antonio Gilman Guillén, Professor Emeritus at Califor­nia State University-Northridge (USA) was born in Newton (Massachusetts, USA) in 1944, son of the hispanist Stephen Gilman and Teresa Guillén, daughter of the poet Jorge Guillén. He was educated at Harvard College (A.B. Classics, 1965), Cambridge University (B.A. and M.A. in Prehistoric Archeology, 1967 and 1971 respectively) and Harvard Uni­versity (Ph.D. Anthropology, 1974). Professor Gilman has been a US authority in the subject of the Late Prehistory of Europe for the last 40 years. His particular commitment to the Iberian Peninsula since the 1970s has had a double impact in research dynamics. It has significantly favored the internationalization of Iberian prehistoric sites and the native archaeologists who study them in the English-speaking academic community. In addition, Gilman has championed a materialist alternative to Culture-History approaches to Ar­chaeology that have been the theoretical mainstream in Eu­ropean universities for decades. A good example is his po­litical-economy approach to the European Late Prehistoric archaeological record, whose unit of analysis has been the emergence of social inequality. His use of site catchment analysis, among other Geographical research strategies, has been essential to show the feasibility of his alternative pro­ject. His intellectual influence also owes much to his readi­ness to participate in Spanish-led archaeological teams, as well as his assessment and commitment in advising public research organizations and scientific journals, such as Tra­bajos de Prehistoria. The Junta de Andalucía recognized his influential trajectory by awarding him the Menga Medal in 2012. This interview with Antonio Gilman took advantage of his stay during November 2019 at the Residencia de Estudiantes (Madrid) and will be published in two parts. This first article focuses on the biographical aspects of his intellectual background, highlighting the intersection of chance –and therefore individual decision, family, class, cul­tural and academic networks in creating a scientific pathway of excellence.