Appropriating the Past
Philosophical Perspectives on the Practice of Archaeology

An international and multidisciplinary team addresses significant ethical questions about the rights to access, manage and interpret the material remains of the past.

Geoffrey Scarre (Edited by), Robin Coningham (Edited by)

9780521124256, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 12 November 2012

364 pages, 5 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.57 kg

“This sophisticated volume brings together a stellar and interdisciplinary group of cultural heritage specialists to address ethical issues in contemporary archaeology. However, the contributions of this book go well beyond archaeology, to address issues of ethics, theory, and practice in cultural heritage. Their use of the term ‘appropriation’ includes the uses, abuses, and control over ‘the past’ more broadly. The volume makes an important and timely contribution to the burgeoning field of international heritage studies.” – Elizabeth S. Chilton, University of Massachusetts Amherst

In this book an international team of archaeologists, philosophers, lawyers and heritage professionals addresses significant ethical questions about the rights to access, manage and interpret the material remains of the past. The chapters explore competing claims to interpret and appropriate the past and the major ethical issues associated with them, including handling the sacred; contested rights over sites, antiquities and artifacts; the involvement of local communities in archaeological research; and the legal status of heritage sites. The book covers a range of hotly debated topics in contemporary archaeological practice, focusing particularly on the relationship between academic archaeologists and indigenous communities for whom the material remnants of the past that form the archaeological record may be part of a living tradition and anchors of social identity.

1. Introduction Geoffrey Scarre and Robin Coningham
Part I. Claiming the Past: 2. The values of the past James O. Young
3. Whose past? Archaeological knowledge, community knowledge, and the embracing of conflict Piotr Bienkowski
4. The past people want: heritage for the majority? Cornelius Holtorf
5. The ethics of repatriation: rights of possession and duties of respect Janna Thompson
6. On archaeological ethics and letting go Larry J. Zimmerman
7. Hintang and the dilemma of benevolence: archaeology and ecotourism in Laos Anna Källén
Part II. Problems of Meaning and Method: 8. What is a crisis of intelligibility? Jonathan Lear
9. Contesting religious claims over archaeological sites Elizabeth Burns Coleman
10. Multivocality and 'wikiality': the epistemology and ethics of a pragmatic archaeology Alexander A. Bauer
11. 'Do not do unto others …': cultural misrecognition and the harms of appropriation in an open-source world George P. Nicholas and Alison Wylie
12. Should ruins be preserved? David E. Cooper
Part III. Problems of Ownership and Control: 13. Legal principles, political processes, and cultural property Tom Allen
14. Monuments versus movables: state restrictions on cultural property rights David Garrard
15. Looting or rededication? Buddhism and the expropriation of relics Robin Coningham and Prishanta Gunawardhana
16. Partitioning the past: India's archaeological heritage after independence Nayanjot Lahiri.

Subject Areas: Ethics & moral philosophy [HPQ], Archaeological science, methodology & techniques [HDW], Archaeological theory [HDA], Archaeology [HD], History: theory & methods [HBA]