1st February 2012, 02:40 PM
Well, I can definitely agree that I do not think nationalism is a good rationalization for just about anything, save maybe, keeping jobs in your own country as opposed to sending factories overseas, etc ( a whole different issue). With archaeology, while I do not like that our funding is tied to governing bodies who will typically fund only what is "significant" to the modern observer, i.e. a politically un/informed society, I can't see another way at the moment because it is fused to so many other larger problems with capitalism as a whole - how things are valued is one of them. Under capitalism value is almost strictly a monetary attribute to any thing, living (healthcare), dead (funeral industries, taxonomy :o) ), inanimate (consumer goods, housing, antiquities trade), etc - you know what I am getting at.
For us, the industry is valued in terms of its historical or "scientific" relevance which in turn creates higher land value for property owners or heritage value for tourist economies and the National Trust. It is telling that here in the UK the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport are all lumped into one category as two of those categories, media and sport, are in fact billion pound industries, whereas culture is something, I believe at least, something that transcends economies in that economies are cultural and not vice versa. Therefore the official government position inherently positions archaeology as something that needs to be justified in terms of revenue and not in terms of human cultural and intellectual value - which is ultimately what I imagine the majority of archaeologists set out to enhance in the first place (which is why we work for relatively low pay compared to other professional industries). There of course is the issue of property development which adds another massive dimension to how archaeology is valued monetarily - which I can't speak about because I admit I haven't had any experience doing CRM
This is just the way it is right now and until you change the culture of capitalist valuation of society and history then thats the world we have to live in. It doesn't make archaeologists fascists because they have to deal those cards they are dealt. I doubt any archaeologist gets excited about having to justify artifactual material they know in their hearts is priceless yet sell themselves essentially in terms of "culture producers" who are skilled at raising property values because of their keen data collection and interpretation, or who have to justify research projects in terms of how "valuable" and "worthwhile" the investigation will be to the interested (funding) party. Its just a crap situation if you are of the tribe who views history, archaeological remains, etc as something important beyond a cheap price tag and in terms of world heritage for the sake of world heritage. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge, etc. Maybe I am just naive and overly optimistic, I don't care.
But what else do you do. So we take away the state archaeologists in America and tell the Museum of London that their archaeologists wield too much power. Then metal detectorists run amok, driving to the very problem of viewing the past as profit, and the rest of society suffers. The reverse should happen. People should be vetted to become professional archaeologists and we should follow Ireland, in both the US and UK, and outright ban metal detectoring. The condition should be that what lies beneath our feet is so precious that it either stays there, or is taken care of by people who know what they are doing and can transmit that information into raising our culture of understanding. Likewise, journals and publications should be more accessible to the public, less expensive to the point where you have to be an affiliated with a university, or rich, to have access to even basic information about the past. Increase public representation on sites to make knowledge production something engaging and relevant to people, while at the same time increasing respect for us and our life's work. Etc you know the deal from there...
For us, the industry is valued in terms of its historical or "scientific" relevance which in turn creates higher land value for property owners or heritage value for tourist economies and the National Trust. It is telling that here in the UK the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport are all lumped into one category as two of those categories, media and sport, are in fact billion pound industries, whereas culture is something, I believe at least, something that transcends economies in that economies are cultural and not vice versa. Therefore the official government position inherently positions archaeology as something that needs to be justified in terms of revenue and not in terms of human cultural and intellectual value - which is ultimately what I imagine the majority of archaeologists set out to enhance in the first place (which is why we work for relatively low pay compared to other professional industries). There of course is the issue of property development which adds another massive dimension to how archaeology is valued monetarily - which I can't speak about because I admit I haven't had any experience doing CRM
This is just the way it is right now and until you change the culture of capitalist valuation of society and history then thats the world we have to live in. It doesn't make archaeologists fascists because they have to deal those cards they are dealt. I doubt any archaeologist gets excited about having to justify artifactual material they know in their hearts is priceless yet sell themselves essentially in terms of "culture producers" who are skilled at raising property values because of their keen data collection and interpretation, or who have to justify research projects in terms of how "valuable" and "worthwhile" the investigation will be to the interested (funding) party. Its just a crap situation if you are of the tribe who views history, archaeological remains, etc as something important beyond a cheap price tag and in terms of world heritage for the sake of world heritage. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge, etc. Maybe I am just naive and overly optimistic, I don't care. But what else do you do. So we take away the state archaeologists in America and tell the Museum of London that their archaeologists wield too much power. Then metal detectorists run amok, driving to the very problem of viewing the past as profit, and the rest of society suffers. The reverse should happen. People should be vetted to become professional archaeologists and we should follow Ireland, in both the US and UK, and outright ban metal detectoring. The condition should be that what lies beneath our feet is so precious that it either stays there, or is taken care of by people who know what they are doing and can transmit that information into raising our culture of understanding. Likewise, journals and publications should be more accessible to the public, less expensive to the point where you have to be an affiliated with a university, or rich, to have access to even basic information about the past. Increase public representation on sites to make knowledge production something engaging and relevant to people, while at the same time increasing respect for us and our life's work. Etc you know the deal from there...