Re: [Ancientartifacts] Re: Who Owns the Past?

Ramon Jr wrote:
>
> Possibly, in the future, Wisconsin.
> "BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Wisconsin, in
> convention assembled, asks lawmakers to pass a bill exempting art,
> books, coins, militaria, pottery, stamps, weapons and other common
> antique collectibles for consideration from future import
> restriction and cultural property laws and treaties".
> Ramon Saenz de Heredia
> --- In Ancientartifacts@yahoogroups.com
> <mailto:Ancientartifacts%40yahoogroups.com>, "Dave Welsh" <dwelsh46@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > James Cuno contends that antiquities from great cultures belong to
> humanity,
> > not nation states that emerged centuries later
> >
> > http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=10678

> <http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=10678>
> >
> > Unprecedented global travel and cultural exchange help make the
> world a
> > smaller place but, ironically, they also stir national pride.
> Nationalism,
> > combined with business calculation, now threaten to segregate
> antiquity that
> > belongs to all of the humanity.
> >
> > Most nation states have cultural property laws that restrict the
> > international movement in archaeological artifacts found within
> their
> > borders. But some antiquities are undocumented, lacking evidence of
> > archaeological circumstances or removal. In the current debate over
> the
> > acquisition of undocumented antiquities, the world's archaeological
> > community has allied with nationalistic programs of nation states.
> >
> > Nations can and do bring charges of possession of, or conspiring to
> possess,
> > stolen property against people and institutions holding objects
> covered by
> > the relevant ownership laws, as seen with the Republic of Italy's
> charges
> > against the former J. Paul Getty Museum curator, Marion True, or
> Peru's
> > charges against Yale University with regard to contested Machu
> Picchu
> > artifacts. More often than not, such laws are perceived as free of
> politics
> > - the stuff of objective, reasoned best practice and indifferent
> government
> > regulations. Nothing could be farther than the truth.
> >
> > Government serves the interest of those in power. Once in power,
> with
> > control over territory, governments breed loyalty among their
> citizens,
> > often by promoting a particular identity and history. National
> culture -
> > language and religion, patterns of behavior, dress and artistic
> production -
> > is at once the means and manifestation of such beliefs, identity and
> > loyalty, and serves to reinforce governments in power.
> >
> > Governments can use antiquities - artifacts of cultures no longer
> extant and
> > in every way different from the culture of the modern nation - to
> serve the
> > government's purpose. They attach identity with an extinct culture
> that only
> > happened to have shared more or less the same stretch of the earth's
> > geography. The reason behind such claims is power.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > Sadly, the public discussion about nationalist retentionist cultural
> > property laws focuses on their role, which foreign governments and
> the
> > archaeological community promote, as a means of protecting the
> integrity of
> > archaeological sites. It's argued that the laws inhibit looting and
> > consequent illicit trade.
> >
> > But this is only partly true. Over the decades in which they've
> been in
> > place, strengthened by international conventions and bilateral
> treaties, the
> > looting of archaeological sites has continued. In fact, many
> archaeologists
> > claim it's increased. The real purpose of such laws - and this is
> what we
> > should be arguing about - is to preserve nation states' claims of
> ownership
> > over antiquities found or presumed to have been found within their
> > jurisdiction. This happens just as the world is increasingly
> divided along
> > nationalist, sectarian lines.
> >
> > The alternative to consigning the protection of our ancient
> heritage to
> > national jurisdiction is the United Nations, specifically its
> cultural body,
> > UNESCO. Sadly, UNESCO's Achilles' heel is its grounding in nation-
> state
> > politics and its respect for nationalism. For example, relying on
> its
> > charter, the organization maintained that it could not prevent the
> > destruction of much of the Kabul Museum's extraordinary collection
> in 2001.
> > This occurred in the aftermath of the destruction of the monumental
> Buddhas
> > at Bamiyan, led by Taliban forces who ran the Afghan government at
> that time
> > and thus had sovereignty over Afghanistan's cultural property. The
> UNESCO
> > special envoy to Afghanistan had discussed the edict with the
> Afghan foreign
> > minister before the destruction, but in the end UNESCO only
> condemned the
> > actions, watching as the collection was attacked.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > Ironically any state can denounce a UNESCO Convention "on its own
> behalf or
> > on behalf of any territory for which territorial relations it is
> > responsible" and simply ignore it altogether.
> >
> > To date, 30 years later, the convention has failed because it cannot
> > contradict the authority of member states. Meanwhile, the world is
> losing
> > our common ancient heritage through theft and destruction, poverty,
> > development, warfare and sectarian violence. No amount of
> international
> > conventions and agreements that proclaim to respect the "collective
> genius
> > of nationals of the State" can overcome the obstacle of
> nationalism, the
> > age-old route out of international agreements.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > Nations that have hosted excavations depend in great part on the
> work of
> > foreign archaeologists for the raw material of their nationalist
> ideologies,
> > not to mention the tangible property that fuels their tourism
> economies.
> > Archaeologists, especially those who benefit from working in host
> university
> > museums, should examine their support of nationalist retentionist
> cultural
> > property law. Many collections could not have been formed since the
> > implementation of these laws.
> >
> > Archaeologists should work with museums to counter the nationalist
> basis of
> > laws, conventions and agreements, and promote a principle of shared
> > stewardship of our common heritage. Together we should call
> attention to the
> > failure of these laws to protect our common ancient heritage and
> perversion
> > of that heritage by claiming the archaeological record as a modern
> nation's
> > cultural property.
> > <http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.image?id=10677

> <http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.image?id=10677>>
> > The recent rise in nationalist and sectarian violence and the
> pervasive
> > misunderstanding, even intolerance of other cultures, adds urgency
> to the
> > need of resolving these differences. Ignorance of the
> interrelatedness of
> > cultures overlooks that we all have a stake in their preservation.
> One need
> > only consider the loss of the Gandhara sculptures in the Kabul
> Museum -
> > which bore reference to the region's historic place at the
> crossroads of
> > Asia, where Greek, Chinese, Indian, Pagan, Buddhist and Hindu
> cultures
> > influenced one another over centuries - to recognize what we lost
> in their
> > destruction: sublime evidence of the basic truth of culture: It's
> always
> > mongrel, made of numerous and diverse influences from contact with
> new and
> > strange experiences. This was as true in antiquity as it is as
> today.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > Dave Welsh
> > Unidroit-L Listowner
> > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Unidroit-L

> <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Unidroit-L>
> > dwelsh46@...
> >
>
>
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HOw can I unsubscribe to this forum? Thanks.

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