World Archaeological Congress

Kyosei-no-koukogaku: Coexistence in the Past - Dialogues in the Present

12 - 15 January 2006
Osaka, Japan

Wac Osaka site

The Review of WAC Inter-congress in Osaka 2006

The Inter-Congress theme, Kyosei-no-koukogaku: Coexisting in the Past and Present, will provide a forum for examining a range of issues relating to the study and practices of archaeology in the past and present. There will be three main areas of focus:

• Learning from the past.
• Public archaeology.
• Cultural heritage management.

There will be opportunities for archaeologists to explore questions such as:

• How do Indigenous peoples and immigrant/colonial powers coexist in a single society?
• How do we develop practices to allow cultural heritage to be preserved for study in the present (and the future)?
• Are there ways that the past and present can comfortably coexist in our archaeological practices?
• How do we 'teach' coexistence?

We are confronted now with the issue of how archaeologists can approach this problem:

• In the present, another question we should tackle is how we can and/or should live together with the cultural heritage of past people.  What have archaeologists done and how can and/or should they do for the coexistence of the "Past" and the "Present"?
• Through Kyosei-no-koukogaku: Coexisting in the Past and Present archaeologists will address the issues of cultural symbiosis in the past and it's implications for how to coexist with the cultural heritage around us in a fruitful and productive manner so that all people can better learn to appreciate the strength gained through mutual expression of differences and so that cultural heritage is preserved for future generations.

Contact : Katsuyuki Okamura, Osaka Museum of History, okamura@occpa.or.jp