|
Claims on human cultural heritage vary widely in scale and type. Most commonly,
the language of heritage is one of permanent crisis, assuming a finite number
of artefacts, sites and associated knowledge that are constantly under threat
from development, time, vandalism, war and so forth. Foundational questions
such as why conserve? are usually assumed rather than asked. Additionally,
visually spectacular and complex material manifestations of cultural heritage
are cast as being the physical and intellectual property of all humanity -
even if specific communities make exclusive claim on such heritage, and if
specific entities such as museums own or control that heritage manifestation.
It is useful then to examine more closely the archaeology of heritage and its
care within the Western world in order to understand how this set of beliefs
and practices meets or fails to meet with heritage prerogatives in the
Indigenous world. Part of this examination involves studying how people are
defined by themselves and by others; by tracing the liberal underpinnings of
the commons and our stewardship of it; and of the heritage industry as an
instrument of an extractive capitalist economy. The conversation between these
Western formulations of heritage, with those held by Indigenous communities
who acknowledge the sentience of certain artefacts and sites and their right to
live, decay and die, is crucial in order to find common ground, identify
differences, and enable mutual reform. In this way, hard notions of ownership can be softened via exploring options such as leasing and time-sharing without
escaping the ever-changing responsibilities of being a heritage custodian or
getting caught up in conflictual legal language that stresses material
property rather than allegedly intangible cultural knowledge. |
|
Sven Ouzman
Anthropology, 232 Kroeber Hall, University of California at Berkeley, CA
94720-3710, USA.
< ouzman@uclink.berkeley.edu >
Sven Ouzman is an archaeologist and civil servant whose work charts the use of
archaeology artefacts, sites, symbols in the present, especially with
regard to contemporary identity formation. Southern Africa, past to present, is a
landscape that responds especially well to questions about human origins,
oppression, multi-culturalism and the supra-human world. Previously Head of the
Rock Art Department, National Museum South Africa (1994-2002), he took up a
Fulbright Scholarship to complete a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, USA. |
