Der Blaue Reiter

Attic Pottery

Cycladic Figurine

Maya Polychrome pot

Archaeologists afraid• “… while archaeologists endeavor to preserve and

understand these discoveries, and sometime make commendable efforts to track down the looters, no one talks about tracking down the wealthy collectors—those responsible for creating demand—or about exposing the networks that constitute the trade. Perhaps we are frightened of losing research or excavation funding (much funding comes indirectly through private collectors); of damaging our museum and academic careers (similarly, many wealthy collectors are museum trustees or sponsor university departments); or of risking our ability to secure permits in foreign countries. Perhaps we are simply frightened of being involved in a police action or a court case.”

• Brodie and Luke Social and Cultural Context of Collecting

Zainab Bahrani talk

Hamilakis• Homo Sacer

• Those who do not need to be considered: – though he has biological life, it has no political

significance

• This gets us to a new meaning of heritage:

• a way of defining who we are in the face of decisions about who will be protected or even survive

NY Times Video

Bamiyan Buddhas, Afghanistan

Destruction of Bamiyan Buddhas, Afghanistan, 2001

Negative Heritage

• “a conflictual site that becomes the repository of negative memory in the collective imaginary” (558)

Past Mastering

• How to decide what to remember and to memorialize? how to master the past?

• Especially difficult in negative heritage

• Turn is usually made when economic benefits weigh in as positive

• Tourism as the ultimate past mastering (567)

Past Mastering

• UNESCO World Heritage Convention 1972– Considering that the existing international conventions,

recommendations and resolutions concerning cultural and natural property demonstrate the importance, for all the peoples of the world, of safeguarding this unique and irreplaceable property, to whatever people it may belong,

– Considering that parts of the cultural or natural heritage are of outstanding interest and therefore need to be preserved as part of the world heritage of mankind as a whole …

Past Mastering

• Burra Charter, Australia 1999 • Co-existence of cultural values

– Co-existence of cultural values should be recognised, respected and encouraged, especially in cases where they conflict. For some places, conflicting cultural values may affect policy development and management decisions. In this article, the term cultural values refers to those beliefs which are important to a cultural group, including but not limited to political, religious, spiritual and moral beliefs. This is broader than values associated with cultural significance.

Heritage moment

• How can we define or apprehend an arbitrary moment in time that transforms the product of the past into an object of heritage?

Carman, Against Cultural Property

• Non-propertied basis for assessing heritage

• Gift (p. 42)

• Community Archaeology (pp 86-93)

• Living monument (p.113)