| Sadly, I am no longer in the vineyards of
Burgundy. Rather, I am sitting at home in
the heat and humidity of subtropical Australia,
waiting for a storm to cool things down.
My study leave – the first I have had -
was wonderful! I was able to meet a large
number of colleagues, new and old, on their
own ground. I also visited a great many
archaeological and cultural heritage sites
in half-a-dozen countries. The thing that
made the greatest impression on me (other
than the extraordinary friendliness and
helpfulness of all the people I worked with)
was the similarity of so many of the problems
we face around the world in our bids to
further our knowledge of the past and conserve
archaeological heritage while fulfilling
our myriad social, moral and political obligations
to the societies in which we work and/or
the people whose heritage it is that we
study.
Some might say that increasing our knowledge
and conserving heritage is a central way
in which we fulfil our social obligations
as a discipline, and of course they would
be right. As most of us know, though, there
is (much) more to it than that. How, for
example, to respond to the Taliban’s destruction
of Afghanistan’s pre-/non-Islamic heritage?
On the one hand, we have a group of people
who have done irreparable damage to what
many others, including leaders of a number
of Muslim communities, have proclaimed to
be world heritage. On the other, we have
reports that despite its rhetoric about
sacrilegious graven images, the Taliban
is actually venting its rage at the West’s
refusal to treat with it as a legitimate
government, striking at the West by striking
at something (ancient Buddhist and other
heritage) that it knows is valued by many
people in the West and other parts of the
world. In this view, the Taliban would hold
the West responsible for the damage that
has been wrought. Should we be primarily
concerned with conserving archaeological
heritage in this case, or with more directly
helping the large numbers of Afghani civilians
said to be suffering cruelly owing to the
West’s approach to the Taliban? Should we
be more concerned to end the Taliban’s highly
discriminatory treatment of women and girls,
or to help right the various other wrongs
attributed to the group, rather than bother
with statues? As archaeologists, we have
a duty to protect cultural heritage, but
how do we meld our disciplinary duty and
our wider social responsibilities in such
difficult instances? WAC’s official statement
on the matter is presented below, immediately
after this editorial.
While the actions of the Taliban are in
focus at the moment, generically similar
questions arise in Australia, as they do
in most parts of the world. Despite Australia’s
long history of institutionalized racism
on both the Left and Right, and the recent
coalescence of a small but vocal racist
minority drawn from the authoritarian fringes
of both sides of politics, there is nothing
now to compare even remotely with the stark
conservatism of the Taliban. None the less,
archaeologists here spend a great deal of
time working to convince Indigenous Australians
of the need to conduct archaeological research
or undertake heritage management programs
at a time when Indigenous people as a group
are still dramatically over-represented
in gaol, are still significantly under-represented
at all levels of the education system and
still have health profiles very much inferior
to those of non-Indigenous Australians.
Little wonder many Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Australians think archaeology
and cultural heritage conservation come
a long way down their list of problems that
need urgent action!
Even so, archaeology continues to be done,
and cultural heritage to be managed, in
close collaboration with Indigenous people
throughout the country. In some cases, this
not so much because the Indigenous people
in question value archaeology in the way
archaeologists do, but rather because they
know many non-Indigenous Australians value
it, and thus may learn from it and in doing
so become more willing to help deliver to
Indigenous people the sort of life-chances
most Australians take for granted. In other
cases, Indigenous Australians and archaeologists/cultural
heritage managers are working together closely
because the archaeologists have modified
their practical and conceptual approaches
to study issues in which both they and Indigenous
Australians have interests and from which
each can gain the benefits they want rather
than those the other dictates that they
should be satisfied with regardless of their
actual human or disciplinary needs.
Encouraging though it is, all this may
sound trite to people who have been concerned
with archaeology and heritage management
for a while, especially if they have been
involved with WAC. The fact remains, however,
that things change much more slowly than
well-known examples of forward-thinking
“best practice” would have us believe. Even
if the actions of the Taliban are excluded
as an extreme worst case, when we look elsewhere
around the world there often seem to be
as many cases which are slowing (if not
actually reversing) our momentum as there
are indications of real progress towards
just outcomes. The Turkish dams issue discussed
again in this volume is one such case, the
US court decision about skeletal material
and aspects of the Bulgarian situation described
elsewhere in the issue are others.
The thing most of these negative cases
have in common is that generally speaking
it is not archaeologists or heritage managers
who are causing the problems any more. Rather
it is governments or government agencies
which have not caught up with international
trends in our field, or ignore such trends
even if they are aware of them. This indicates
that WAC has to continue enhance its profile
by strengthening its membership base, promoting
the dissemination of cutting-edge professional
knowledge and expert opinion, and, when
necessary, taking strong, timely action
in concert with other national and international
professional bodies. All members should
support to this effort by encouraging their
colleagues and students to join WAC, attend
WAC meetings, and contributing to the Bulletin! |
World
Archaeological Bulletin