Dear John and list,
as WAC regional rep I forwarded your discussion to the
WAC-5 organisers and the President of WAC. Joan Gero,
the Academic Secretary of WAC-5 asked me to pass this
message below to the mail lists where this discussion
is going on.
I hope to get round to mailing my own views on this
issue soon.
Best wishes,
Maggie
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 15 Feb 2001 14:24:48 -0500
From: Joan Gero <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: is WAC neo-colonialist?
To: Maggie Ronayne <[log in to unmask]>
Copies to: [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask]
Hello Maggie,
Carmen certainly raises an important point... but I never understood
WAC's mission as being to hold congresses in developing nations! (And
CERTAINLY not to give Euro-Americans a nice place to visit!!!) I rather
think our central mission is to have people participating in dialog and
debate who are seldom invited to participate in scholarly and
interpretive dialogs (bringing difference "to the table"), and to assist
their attendance at global archaeological meetings. Ironically, we may
be in the best possible position to do this from Washington D.C. in
terms of resources, expenses for travel, fund-raising opportunities.
Beyond this, I suspect many people from out-of-the-way places will WANT
to visit D.C. (maybe not the Euro-Americans first and foremost!), even
if it isn't politically correct in Carmen's view. I think we will find
general enthusiasm for a well-run, well-financed meeting that manages to
travel many people from far-flung places, and offers them an honored
place from which to speak their minds and exchange their ideas.
D.C. also offers another perspective: looking the beast in the eye!
That is also surely a lesson worth knowing from many parts of the world.
D.C. shows us how power operates, how it "looks", its seductions and
prizes. We will have these at WAC-5: special library and museum
privileges for visitors from afar, an abundance of exhibits and things
to see and do. I am working extraordinarily hard to make these happen.
Still, it won't be everyone's cup of tea; no place ever is, and some
people will find D.C. taboo. But at the last exec board meeting in
Athens, there were not a lot of volunteers to run this conference... it
was felt it should be in the northern hemisphere again after 15 years,
and that holding it in the U.S.A. would bring in new members, new
moneys, new concerns from a different group of native peoples and
practicing archaeologists. I hope it proves inviting for some folks.
I'd appreciate it if you could post this reply to Carmen on the
Euro-lists where he offered his opinions. Could I also ask you to
provide me with a link to these discussion groups where wac5 is being
discussed, so I can follow the discussion? Thanks much. With regards,
Joan Gero (Academic Secretary of WAC-5)
__________________________
Maggie Ronayne
Lecturer in Archaeology
National University of Ireland, Galway
Ireland
Tel: +353 91 524411 ext. 3701
Fax: +353 91 525700
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