I find it interesting that in australia we are considered to be 'outside the
first world'. Certainly not insulted or anything, but we don't think of
ourselves that way. I would actually like to hear how
outside-the-australian-world-ers think of us...
-----Original Message-----
From: Arch-theory list is for international discussions, reviews, and
exchanges o [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Julian
Thomas
Sent: Saturday, 17 February 2001 3:18 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: WAC 2003
on 16/2/01 4:02 pm, Dr John Carman at [log in to unmask] wrote:
> Dear Julian
> Many thanks for your reply and of course I too want to see WAC continuing
to
> foster global communication among the archaeological community.
> I am not at all sure that creating 'the conditions under which
participants
> from all over the world can attend WAC in Washington' is the same,
however,
> as creating a sense of global community among archaeolgists and others
> concerned with the remains of the past, which it seems to me has been a
> hallmark of WAC so far. Of course, WAC was founded in Southampton, as a
> result of a split among the organisers of the planned IUPPS conference
over
> South African attendance. It was therefore very appropriate for WAC to go
to
> South Africa last time, to welcome the new post-apartheit South Africa
back
> into the full community of nations and international scholarship.
> There remain, however, parts of the world where international conferences
of
> the range and size of WAC do not go and where WAC itself could go but has
> not yet been: e.g. Western Asia, East Asia, North Africa, Australsia, and
> Eastern Europe (apologies if I have missed any regions out). By contrast,
> North America (and particularly the USA) sees many international
conferences
> all the time.
> It may also be a small point, but one of the features of WAC since 1990
has
> been its opening session dedicated to bringing to the notice of
participants
> the local archaeological tradition. If this is continued at WAC5, then the
> local archaeological tradition will be that of North American
archaeology --
> a tradition which is already influential if not dominant in other parts of
> the globe, especially in the guise of CRM practices.
Dear John,
I'm in no position to speak for WAC, but I don't think that there's any
agenda to turn it into an Anglo-American monopoloy. I do know that other
possibilities for WAC5 were explored - including Brazil and Australia - but
that they had fallen through by the time that the Washington bid emerged. I
am sure that if WAC5 is held in the USA, efforts to keep WAC6 outside of the
first world will be redoubled.
On your point about the session on the local archaeological tradition, it
does strike me that one of the issues that WAC has always been concerned
with is the archaeology of indigenous minority communities: why not a day's
focus on the role of Native Americans in archaeology?
All the best,
Julian
--
_____________________________________________________
Julian Thomas,
Professor of Archaeology,
School of Art History and Archaeology,
University of Manchester,
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL
Phone: 0161 275 3017
Fax: 0161 275 3331
School Website: http://www.art.man.ac.uk/arthist/
Dunragit Project Website:
http://www.arch.soton.ac.uk/Research/Dunragit/index.htm?blank.html
_____________________________________________________
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