Hello Paul, Rachael and Laura -
What an interesting set of questions this thread raises. Gideon's show is not part of our own Refugee Studies project, but we have been in dialogue with him about his work and that of the Gallery hosting this show (Association of Black Photographers): thinking about what it shares with our approach, and what it doesn't. I've already learned a lot from those conversations, and look forward to continuing these at the CHAT meeting at the gallery on Thursday.
We're still thinking about all these issues as a team, and this discussion is very helpful as we do so. Paul G-B raises some important themes. But I also have the strong sense that there is an ethics to failing to collect, to display, to represent, or to intervene as archaeologists in moments of impermanence. It's the salvage archaeologist in me, probably, but there are direct parallels with the longstanding debate over the ethics of non-intervention in photojournalism. In contemporary archaeology, especially where we so often limit our toolkit to photography, or our field-sites to abandoned places, forensic detachment risks giving way to flânerie or to disinterested "ruin archaeology".
Will look forward to hearing the thoughts of others, both on this list and on Thursday evening.
My seminar at UCL on March 13 will continue the conversation - http://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/calendar/articles/2016-17-events/20170313
DH
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Dan Hicks MCIfA, FSA
University of Oxford
http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/DH1.html
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