The stakeholders for the HCPCP is us- the team that is working on the project. With our interest in the cemetery, the data we collect will become the public’s knowledge of the cemetery. I often see clear communities existing throughout the Valley are without a doubt religious groups. Religion is a large way of life in the Valley that church goers often consider themselves a part of the community for the church they go to. Additionally, I have also seen there are some communities that are established when the individuals feel a sense of being an outsider. For instance, there is a Deaf community that many individuals may not know about and that is perhaps due to Deaf individuals not associating much with other communities in the Valley of not much observation is being expressed throughout this Geography.
My initial thought upon pondering the question of which communities include the cemetery and the individuals as members was none. Then I continued to think and I remembered Cinco de Mayo. Individuals that celebrate Cinco de Mayo certainly do include members of the cemetery as a part of their community as they continue to involve them in their lives as much as possible.
In the sense where individuals are constant church goers and very active in their community I believe the proper response would be, “yes, we are a part of the communities we work with.” However, in the debate questioning if archaeologists and anthropologists are a member of the community they performed ethnographic projects with, I may then declare that the researcher is a member of the community if they implement the emic approach.
Researching without cultural affiliation is likely not ideal, for the ancestors may be offended if the research team does something unintentionally offensive. Though, I do believe that if the team conducts their research with a clear display of caution and no intent of being offensive to the individuals buried at the site then perhaps investigating without cultural affiliation is acceptable.
In the possibility that we choose to work with certain communities we simultaneously risk neglecting the communities we did not choose as well as the individuals at the cemetery. The cemetery may be a community in itself thus by deciding to work with one community there may be the possibility of overlooking what the cemetery is in need of. However, when there is a larger team working together to gather information on one project it provides more insight from different fields benefiting the project in all aspects. For example, gaining volunteers and/or individuals in similar professions to archaeology will increase productivity as well as contribute to the final outcome of the project.
