__________________________________________________
Call for Papers
"Appropriating the Past:
The Uses and Abuses of Cultural Heritage"
Interdisciplinary Conference
Centre for the Ethics of Cultural Heritage,
Durham University
Durham (UK)
6-8 July 2009
__________________________________________________
This two-and-a-half-a-day conference should be of wide
appeal to archaeologists, anthropologists, philosophers,
lawyers and others with an interest in the ethical
principles and problems associated with the concept of
cultural heritage. The meeting will open with four invited
lectures to introduce the conference theme and relate it to
the specific aims and methods of the new Centre.
In recent years, the right of archaeologists to erect 'Keep
Out' signs around what they conceive of as the
archaeological record has come under increasing challenge
from other interest groups which may assert equal or
superior rights to access, utilise and manage those remains,
or to determine their significance. So a decorated bronze
vessel which for an archaeologist is primarily a source of
information to be extracted by academically approved methods
may be, to other eyes, a sacred or tabooed object, an anchor
of social or cultural identity, a work of art, or a
legitimate source of hard cash. These different perceptions
correspond to different forms of appropriating the past, and
they can give rise to sharp practical conflicts.
This conference will explore some of the key ethical issues
raised by the competing modes in which archaeologists and
others appropriate the past. These include: rights to
interpret the past and tell stories about it; handling the
sacred; the concept and ethics of birthright; local versus
national versus international rights over sites, antiquities
and artifacts; roles and responsibilities of museums;
duties/rights of international intervention to defend
antiquities; study and custodianship of human remains;
looting and the antiquities trade; the economic exploitation
of sites and resources; duties of preservation for future
generations; the use of destructive research techniques; the
roles of codes of ethics and of legal frameworks.
Keynote Speakers
Professor James O. Young (Philosophy, University of
Victoria, Canada)
Professor Robert Layton (Anthropology, Durham University,
UK)
Dr John Curtis OBE (Keeper, Dept. of Middle East, British
Museum, UK)
Ms Janet Ulph (Law, Durham University, UK)
Abstracts
Abstracts of no more than 400 words (double spaced, prepared
for blind review) should be submitted to Dr Andreas
Pantazatos (email: andreas.pantaza...@durham.ac.uk) by the
11th of May 2009. Notification of acceptance will be sent no
later than the 25th of May 2009. Offers of papers from all
relevant disciplines will be welcomed, including those
working in the field and academics (together with
postgraduates). Further information will be provided in May
for those who wish to attend without presenting a paper.
Accommodation
The conference will be held in the College of St Hild and
Bede.
Further information can be obtained from the Centre's
website at:
http://www.dur.ac.uk/cech/conferences/appropriatingthepast/
Contact:
Dr Andreas Pantazatos
Department of Philosophy
Durham University
50 Old Elvet
Durham DH1 3HN
UK
Email: andreas.pantaza...@durham.ac.uk
Web: http://www.dur.ac.uk/cech/
__________________________________________________
InterPhil List Administration:
http://interphil.polylog.org
Intercultural Philosophy Calendar:
http://cal.polylog.org
