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. Rather than promoting a
distinct regional tradition to one of equality with mainstream
Anglo-American archaeological discourse, a further boost will be added to
the 'American way' of doing archaeology and its status apparently confirmed
and endorsed by a global institution.
I do not think it is yet time to take WAC to the USA. Other areas of the
world should have had priority. But clearly the congress is set for
Washington, and I wish it well as a congress: I am sure it will live up to
the high standards WAC has set in the past. But I am also concerned to put
on record what I think should be legitimate concerns for the organisers and
all the members of WAC. I do not wish to see WAC5 become -- whether by
design or default or accident or oversight -- merely another American
conference with some (albeit large) international attendance and
participation. I want it to be WAC in as full a sense as possible: a global
event representing archaeology as a global activity in which all
archaeological traditions are accorded equal opportunity to engage. My fear
is that by taking WAC to the USA at this stage, (Anglo-) American
archaeology will be made even more dominant than before, and the sometimes
fragile representation of other traditions by our colleagues in other parts
of the world will become even more fragile.
Best regards
John
--On 15 February 2001, 15:46 +0000 "Julian Thomas" <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> on 15/2/01 3:13 pm, Dr John Carman at [log in to unmask] wrote:
>
>> Am I the only person concerned that WAC appears to be abandoning one of
its
>> principles in holding the next Congress in the USA?
>
> Dear John,
>
> I appreciate your concern about WAC and its future development, but
> don't forget that the first WAC was in Southampton! As I understand it,
> WACs commitment is not to have all of its congresses outside of the first
> world, but to alternate between different parts of the world, with
different
> economic and cultural circumstances. Taking WAC to India or Venezuela was
a
> great thing to do, but I think that it's equally important to create the
> conditions under which participants from all over the world can attend WAC
> in Washington. And I have no doubt that a great deal of effort will be
> expended in making sure that that will be the case.
>
> Julian Thomas
>
> --
> _____________________________________________________
> 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
> _____________________________________________________
Dr John Carman
co-Director, "Bloody Meadows" Project and
Affiliated Lecturer, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge
Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1223 333323
Fax: +44 (0)1223 333503
Email: [log in to unmask]
|