Crossposted (and expanded) from UNBOSSED
Any day nowJames Cuno, Director and President of the Art Institute of Chicago will publish "Who Owns Antiquity? Museums and the Battle Over Our Ancient Heritage".
In it, he proposes are return to "partage". Partage is the idea that most archaeological resources excavated in Third World countries should end up in the land of the "experts". That would be Europe or America.
DISCLAIMER: I HAVE YET TO READ THE BOOK
Over the past thirty years, the idea of "partage" has given way to national laws and international conventions designed to keep antiquities in thier nation of origin. Cuno wants to do away with all that.
From the Princeton Press website:
Whether antiquities should be returned to the countries where they were found is one of the most urgent and controversial issues in the art world today, and it has pitted museums, private collectors, and dealers against source countries, archaeologists, and academics. Maintaining that the acquisition of undocumented antiquities by museums encourages the looting of archaeological sites, countries such as Italy, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, and China have claimed ancient artifacts as state property, called for their return from museums around the world, and passed laws against their future export. But in Who Owns Antiquity?, one of the world's leading museum directors vigorously challenges this nationalistic position, arguing that it is damaging and often disingenuous. "Antiquities," James Cuno argues, "are the cultural property of all humankind," "evidence of the world's ancient past and not that of a particular modern nation. They comprise antiquity, and antiquity knows no borders."
Cuno argues that nationalistic retention and reclamation policies impede common access to this common heritage and encourage a dubious and dangerous politicization of antiquities--and of culture itself. Antiquities need to be protected from looting but also from nationalistic identity politics. To do this, Cuno calls for measures to broaden rather than restrict international access to antiquities. He advocates restoration of the system under which source countries would share newly discovered artifacts in exchange for archaeological help, and he argues that museums should again be allowed reasonable ways to acquire undocumented antiquities. The first extended defense of the side of museums in the struggle over antiquities, Who Owns Antiquity? is sure to be as important as it is controversial.
Indeed. And Cuno doesnt seem to be bothered by the controversy.
In a recent AP interview Cuno stated:
"Historically, partage has not simply built the collections of the host nations of excavating teams. . . . It also built the local museums and their collections. The Baghdad Museum, Kabul, Cairo, were built through the process of sharing the finds that foreign excavators found.
"Partage encourages a broader understanding of the achievements of different ancient peoples, encouraging the sense that we all collectively have a stake in the preservation of this material."
Sounds nice. But he also said:
"I think any of these modern nations can exercise a greater claim than any other nation on antiquities found within their jurisdiction. But not in terms of an identity with those ancient people. It is not on the basis that they are the modern heirs to the achievements of these ancient peoples, that they descend from them in any kind of continuous or natural way and that the modern culture is akin to the ancient culture."
Wow. I nearly fell off my chair when I read that. Rarely do we see today such blatent cultural superiority (except from my friend Frank, a Canadian who seriously thinks the remaining Amazonian tribes would be served best if they were moved wholesale into apartment buildings in Sao Paolo or Lima).
My position as a professional archaeologist (no longer practicing) has long been that human remains and artifacts should be returned to the nations wherin they reside. I see, for example, no reason for the Elgin marbles to remain in London. They belong in Greece. In that process, however, there must be some careful consideration. But we have to find a way to avoid some of the problems brought on by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) wherein remains have been returned to tribes who have no relation to those remains or where valuable scientific study has been stopped by a tribe that has no relation to the remains found on or near their current land. We also need to recognize that, as Cuno points out, culture is a process not a thing and that culture developed through interaction between cultures and over trade routes.
It is a very fine line to walk. I do agree with Cuno that many of the national laws protecting cultural resources are based on an idea of static, nationally distinct cultures. However, preaching some sort of cultural superiority and entitlement adds nothing healthy to the debate.
(I should add that it bothers the hell out of me, for example, that China, with its very tight controls on antiquities leaving China has no problems with ancient Chinese items being bought and sold within China with no thought to where these items came from nor what they could tell researchers.)
Cuno revists the imperialist claim that modern nation-state ethnic groups have no claim on the actions and achievements of their ancestors:
"I think any of these modern nations can exercise a greater claim than any other nation on antiquities found within their jurisdiction. But not in terms of an identity with those ancient people. It is not on the basis that they are the modern heirs to the achievements of these ancient peoples, that they descend from them in any kind of continuous or natural way and that the modern culture is akin to the ancient culture.
It bothers me that Cuno claims that the modern nations who want to retain their archaeological resources are nothing more than "nationalists". Well, what does that make Cuno and his ilk? Worse, me thinks.
In the AP interview, Cuno doesnt seem to have an understanding of why people in Greece, Italy, Africa and so on might want the stolen antiquities back. Nor does he seem to understand why they may want to prevent current and future theft. While the statements that these items may be better preserved in rich, stable countries with abundant resources seems noble, I found no offer to help build satisfactory preservation systems in the nations of origin.
I think what we may be seeing here is a major whine from declining imperialists who think they are culturally entitled to more and more and more. I hope not.
I'm being a bit unfair to Cuno this morning because I havent read the book. I'll reserve final judgement for the moment I finish reading it and I'll be sure to report back to you at that time. But, based on the interview alone, I can see that I'm going to be bald from pulling my hair out by the time I finish the book.