eNewsletters

Volume 42 December 2013

Click here to download PDF

In this issue:

1. Executive News, by Claire Smith and Koji Mizoguchi
2. President Elect Address, by Koji Mizoguchi
3. Highlights from WAC-7, by Akira Matsuda and Dru McGill
4. News Items
5. Research Reports
6. New publications by WAC members
7. Opportunities
(a) Calls for Publication Contributions
(b) Forthcoming conferences and sessions
(c) Jobs
(d) Other

1. EXECUTIVE NEWS

Firstly, the WAC Council would like to thank all WAC members who work on various projects during the year. WAC is an organisation of volunteers and without your help, we would not be able to achieve any of our programs or activities.

WAC-7
The highlight of 2013 was the Seventh World Archaeology Congress (WAC-7) that was held during 13-18th  January, 2013 at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre, Dead Sea, Jordan. The Patron for WAC-7 was His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, and the President of the Congress was his uncle, His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal.
The Congress brought together 985 archaeologists and Indigenous represen-tatives from 82 countries to discuss, debate and share information about world cultural heritage issues in a face-to-face forum.  Funding was provided to some 440 participants, including 140 people from Palestine and Jordan.

Prior to and after WAC-7, representatives from the 14 regional colleges that constitute WAC’s global representation met to discuss global issues and strategies relating to scientific research, indigenous rights and the protection of cultural heritage around the globe. These meetings included the election of representatives for the WAC Council, WAC Assembly and WAC Executive.

Like any WAC Congress, WAC-7 has faced unique challenges. In this case, the major challenge was unrest in the region, particularly in the neighboring country of Syria. This unrest led some people to question whether it was wise to hold the Congress in Jordan at this time. However, neither WAC nor the WAC-7 organizers wavered. Holding an international conference of this stature in Jordan at this time not only recognized Jordan’s stability but also sent a message about the world’s confidence in this stability.

A special tour program was arranged so participants could visit Jordan’s fascinating cultural heritage. This cultural heritage is of great significance to the world. Participants in WAC-7 had the unique opportunity to visit these outstanding archaeological sites with the local, national, and international experts who know them best.

The success of WAC-7 was due to the efforts of a relatively small number of highly committed people. On behalf of WAC members, the Executive would like to reiterate its thanks to those people who put their time, expertise and care into the organisation of WAC-7, particulary Talal Akesheh, Arwa Badran; Anne Pyburn; Dru McGill; Arek Marciniak and a team of volunteers, from Jordan and from around the world.

WAC-8
Bids for WAC-8 were presented by members from Calgary, Canada; Nairobi, Kenya; Prague, Czech Republic; and Kyoto, Japan.  These were all strong bids, and each was unique in its own way.  The winning bid was from Japan, and WAC-8 will be held in Kyoto, during 2-16th June.

Election of Officers and new Executive
New officers were elected at WAC-7.  They are Koji Mizoguchi, Japan (President); Anne Pyburn, USA (Vice-President); Akira Matsuda, Japan (Secretary): and Dru McGill, USA (Treasurer).   This is a very strong team and we congratulate them all, and thank them for their past, current and future work for WAC.  The new Executive is comprised also of an Indigenous representative, student representive and three members of the WAC Council, from regions that are not represented by the elected officers.  This structure is outlined in the WAC statutes.  It ensures the geographic, cultural and linguistic diversity of the WAC Executive and of WAC decision-making processes.

Executive Meetings
The year 2013 has been a year of transition and consolidation for WAC, with business organised through a combined Executive. The combined Executive consists of the outgoing officers, the incoming officers, the Indigenous representative, the student representative, the membership secretary and three members of the WAC Council. The new officers take on full responsibility for their posts in January, 2014.

Sponsored Memberships
The Executive is sending out an annual call for WAC members to nominate Indigenous people, and people from economically disadvantaged countries for sponsored membership of WAC.  Our aim is to increase representation in under-represented regions, as well as our Indigenous membership. In order to be eligible for nomination, the person should have not been a member of WAC in the past. Sponsored membership is a once up benefit for a duration of two years, after which we hope sponsored members will join WAC in the normal way. Nomination forms can be downloaded from the WAC website. Nominations should be sent to the WAC Membership Secretary, Gunes Duru, gunes@redd.com.tr.

Membership Renewal
We would like to remind WAC members that it is time to pay our membership fees. These funds cover the cost of the journal, and contribute towards a range of activities, such as the Archaeologists Without Borders Program. If you have any doubts about your membership status, please check this with the WAC Membership Secretary, Gunes Duru, gunes@redd.com.tr.

Finally, we wish all of you all the best for the holiday season.

Claire Smith and Koji Mizoguchi
for the WAC Council

2. PRESIDENT ELECT ADDRESS

Let us empower ourselves together: WAC, our dreams and objectives.

My name is Koji Mizoguchi; I am the president-elect of the World Archaeological Congress.

We have come a long way. I am not only talking about the World Archaeological Congress but about everybody sharing this world: we have come a long way from the time when the world was perceived to run its course according to a single divine plan; we have come a long way from the time when some believed we could happily replace god(s) with a unified theory such as ‘Science’, the Modern, or Western Philosophy; and we have come a long way since the time when we first began to realize that there are many different ways of seeing and experiencing the world, making sense of the world, enjoying or suffering from the world, and doing good or bad for the world.

The World Archaeological Congress, as I see it, stands upon the realization of human differences, or the multi-polarity of the world mentioned above, and therefore inevitably, and necessarily, many archaeologies must exist. This perspective implies that we cannot solve problems and disputes with one another, with heritage, with history and with the past once and for all by referring to any singular, universal, or ostensibly neutral framework. Instead, we have to be prepared for continuous and ongoing dialogues, in which legacies of our past, both historical and archaeological, reveal the origins and cultural patterns of Colonialism and the rise of the world system that led to the current unequal distribution of resources and opportunities. Such dialogues are inevitably political so in order to maintain a continuous and open conversation, we need an arena in which we respect and cherish each other’s differences, and discuss better ways to work together to understand and address historically-generated human problems through doing archaeologies, learning archaeologies, teaching archaeologies, publicizing archaeologies, and enjoying archaeologies.

For the realization of these objectives and dreams, we have WAC: its international conferences, inter-congresses, One World Book Series, ‘Archaeologies’ journal, Arqueología Suramericana/Arqueologia Sul-Americana, web-site, educational programs, and programs democratizing archaeological knowledge (to name only a few of our assets). Our current president Claire Smith, all the past presidents, Executives and Council members, together with all the members across the world, have done an amazing and unique thing in establishing and developing these pillars of WAC. And WAC members, from the Executive to the poorest undergraduate have all worked very hard and sacrificed time and resources to maintain the financial health of WAC to make these programs possible.

The world is changing at an ever accelerated pace. With the newly elected Executive and Council members, and all of you, I will do my very best as President to ensure that the pillars of WAC that make it an active organization advocating for good archaeologies and a better world, are always engaged with current issues and strive to strengthen and improve them to realize our objectives and dreams. Let us empower ourselves together, let us communicate honestly, openly and respectfully, let us learn together and let us do good archaeologies so we may strive to create a context in which we can celebrate being archaeologists and doing archaeologies in the world!

Koji Mizoguchi
President-elect of WAC

3. HIGHLIGHTS FROM WAC-7

The Seventh World Archaeological Congress (WAC-7) took place at the King Hussein Conference Center at the Dead Sea in Jordan from 13th-18th January 2013. It was the first time that the World Archaeological Congress was held in an Arab country. The patronage extended to WAC-7 by His Majesty King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan clearly attested to Jordan’s commitment to the Congress.

Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of the rediscovery of Petra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, WAC-7 created a strong momentum to promote the global significance of archaeology from Western Asia. This momentum was reflected in the number of WAC-7 participants; approximately 1000 people from 82 countries took part, and about 140 of them were from Jordan and Palestine. In addition, there were over 10 participants from not only each of the usually well-represented WAC countries (i.e. the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom) but also from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Japan, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain and Turkey – WAC-7 was a truly global meeting!

WAC provided financial support to attend WAC-7 to the largest number of participants in its history – approximately 400 people. The support allowed many from economically disadvantaged countries to attend WAC-7, and was thus vital in achieving a very diversified Congress. WAC-7 was also innovative in enabling live-streaming of conference proceedings – over $15,000 was raised to this end by donations from 141 supporters via the online crowdfunding platform Pozible. It was probably the first archaeological conference of such a scale to achieve live-streaming.

Spurred by the forcefully argued speech during the Opening Ceremony by His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal, the President of the Congress, WAC-7 saw over 100 sessions including poster presentations that addressed a wide range of topics. The core theme of WAC, the social relevance of archaeology, was discussed from a number of angles. One of the most creative initiatives in WAC-7 was the open forum organised by the WAC Ethics Committee, in which the participants discussed the rights and responsibilities of WAC membership.
Student participation was notable throughout WAC-7. Many international and local students helped the conference organization as volunteers under the coordination of WAC Student Committee (WACSC). Indeed, WAC-7 would not have been possible without the hard work of student volunteers. The WAC-7 Student Ethics Debate, organized by a number of student participants from various countries, was one of the most successful sessions in WAC-7.
As in previous Congresses, WAC-7 also provided many opportunities for its participants to experience the cultural heritage of the host country. Four pre-Congress tours, seven mid-Congress tours, and three post-Congress tours were organized.

WAC-7 concluded on 18 January with the ever-exciting and engaging Plenary Session, a general business meeting at the end of every major WAC Congress that presents, for consideration by the WAC Council and Executive, matters arising from the academic proceedings. Professor Peter Stone, the 2013 recipient of the Peter Ucko Memorial Award, chaired the WAC-7 Plenary, which was attended by over 100 participants.

In total, 14 resolutions were brought to the Plenary. The topics of resolutions ranged widely, reflecting the missions and interests of WAC, the diverse themes of WAC-7, and pressing concerns in the world of archaeology and cultural heritage today. Several resolutions dealt with the protection of cultural property and related laws or national interests, while others were related to the topics of Indigenous and local community rights, long-term archiving and curation of excavated materials, or the rights and responsibilities of WAC membership. Two resolutions were proposed as serious suggestions for future Congresses, including a request that WAC ensure future meetings are affordable to all participants, and an appeal that WAC consider sustainability (environmental and otherwise) in its planning of future meetings.

After reading each resolution to the audience, the authors were allowed to make brief statements explaining the events that lead to a need for action by WAC. Afterwards, each resolution was opened for discussion, and, in true WAC-fashion, spirited debates ensued. In some cases, Plenary participants asked only for clarification of certain issues mentioned in proposed resolutions, such as whether it was really true that the United Kingdom had not yet ratified the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. In other cases, concerns about language in the resolutions, or disagreements or their philosophical approaches, were voiced. For example, a resolution calling on WAC to recognize “the ethical importance of the long-term archiving of archaeometric data” was agreed by many attendees to be fitting with WAC’s missions, but concern was voiced on whether archaeometric data included such sensitive forms of data as DNA and human remains.

After more than two hours of debate, nine resolutions were passed by a show of hands of attendants of the Plenary. As the Plenary is not an official decision making body of WAC, all resolutions passed were sent to the Council and Executive for consideration, so that they might be adopted as WAC initiatives or policy.

A summary sentence on each of the nine resolutions passed is copied below, and the full-texts of the resolutions as originally authored will be provided on the WAC website. More information concerning what resolutions were passed by the WAC Council and Executive, and what actions are currently being taken, will be provided in another announcement.

Summaries of Resolutions Passed at the WAC-7 Plenary:

1) Participants of the WAC-7 Workshop “Archaeology as a Target: Protection of Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis- where do we go from here?” call on archaeologists to work towards enhancing national legislative measures for protecting cultural heritage in times of crisis, including capacity building programs.

2) Participants of WAC-7 call on the United Kingdom, and all other countries that have yet to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention and its two Protocols, to do so immediately.

3) WAC is called to endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and WAC members are called to incorporate the principles therein in their practices.

4) WAC is called to recognize the importance of repatriation to many communities, and to encourage dialogue and relationships as foundational to archaeology.

5) WAC is called to express its concern over new legislation in Columbia concerning underwater heritage, which may encourage underwater treasure hunting and make more difficult the long-term preservation and protection of underwater heritage.

6) WAC will consider a statement on the “Rights and Responsibilities of WAC Membership” that individuals will be asked to read and consider when becoming or renewing WAC membership.

7) WAC is called to express concern at the planned construction of large dams on the Middle Nile and its tributaries in Egypt, due to the possibilities of displacing local people and endangering cultural heritage.

8) WAC is called to support cooperative work between the Nigerian government, local communities, and scholars with the Goethe University, and to encourage all parties to abide by the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed.

9) The resolution that was passed states: “It is unethical for Professional Archaeologists and academic institutions to conduct professional archaeological work and excavations in occupied areas possessed by force.”

Altogether, WAC-7 was an incredible success and the WAC Executive is thankful to everyone who contributed to the Congress. We hope to see you all again in Kyoto in 2016!

Akira Matsuda and Dru McGill

4. NEWS ITEMS

Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) Project
Simon Fraser University archaeologist George Nicholas is surprised to hear that a federal research-funding agency has awarded $50,000 to a global group that he leads. Its large-scale use of a methodology that puts indigenous community partners in the drivers’ seat of the research process is unprecedented.

The funding accompanies the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s (SSHRC’s) Partnership Award, which the Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) Project, led by Nicholas, has garnered over two other finalists. The new money allows the group to expand its work on intellectual property (IP) issues in cultural heritage.

IPinCH is the SSHRC Partnership Award’s first recipient. The award is one of five categories of the funding agency’s new Impact Awards. Through 15 global community-based initiatives, case studies and special projects, IPinCH’s 52 scholars and 26 partnering universities and organizations are addressing a variety of IP-related concerns about cultural heritage. An initial $2.5 million SSHRC grant launched the global project in 2008.

Its efforts are reflected in 47 journal articles, 17 book chapters, nine books and a long legacy of tangible and practical outcomes that address community needs when it comes to IP and cultural heritage matters. IPinCH has also provided fellowships and employment to 64 graduate students, recognizing that this new generation of scholars will further advance this work.

IPinCH has supported indigenous communities from the Canadian Arctic to the Australian outback and the steppes of Kyrgyzstan by reuniting them with their cultural artefacts, staving off linguistic extinction, developing cultural tourism and accomplishing much more.

Nicholas sees the Partnership Award as SSHRC’s validation of IPinCH’s unparalleled work in supporting indigenous communities across the globe in protecting their cultural heritage and IP.
He also sees the award as reflecting SSHRC’s and academics’ growing recognition of community- based participatory research’s validity and value as a primary methodology in working with indigenous communities.

“To obtain SSHRC’s original grant, it took us several attempts to convince the adjudication committee that giving considerable control of the research process to the partnering communities in essence allowing them to lead the research is the way to go,” explains Nicholas.

IPinCH’s support of indigenous communities in their cultural heritage’s reclamation is winning those communities’ praise. During a recent meeting of IPinCH team members, Anishinable Elder Sydney Martin, from the United States, remarked: “IPinCH is a living thing; it has a spirit.”
Archeologist Susan Thorpe, who works on an IPinCH project in which New Zealand’s Moriori have created a database to preserve traditional knowledge of their cultural landscape, has witnessed the project’s positive outcomes first-hand.

“We have found that engaging in research with IPinCH members as collaborative partners has enhanced our control over our intellectual property,” says Thorpe. “We’ve created a multi-layer database that ties together research on Moriori identity, heritage protection, land use and resource management in culturally sensitive ways.”

Nicholas, a 25-year veteran of teaching about and working with indigenous communities, says IPinCH has a shopping list of projects to be financed by the SSHRC Partnership Award. At the top of the list are: a community-based research workshop and public symposium, an IPinCH national research ethics policy forum and a public speaker series on intangible cultural heritage.

Photos: http://at.sfu.ca/AfVaBJ
Video: http://at.sfu.ca/IUQQwp

For more information contact:

George Nicholas (Burnaby resident), 778.782.5709, nicholas@sfu.ca
Kristen Dobbin, IPinCH communications, 778.782.9682, kristen_dobbin@sfu.ca
Yoan St-Onge, 613.614.3861, Yoan.St-Onge@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca
Susan Thorpe, +64 3 3050457, susanthorpe@xtra.co.nz (email best contact)
Carol Thorbes, PAMR, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca

Open Consultation: English Heritage New Models
The government of the United Kingdom is supporting the creation a new charity to run the National Heritage Collection with an £80 million investment. This ambitious funding programme will allow a series of investments that will improve conservation of historic sites. Visitors will also benefit by being able to view these heritage sites in the manner they deserve. Through this programme, the charity will be able to grow its income and become self-financing by 2023, while the Collection will of course remain in public ownership.

This proposal is not just about the Collection. It is also an opportunity to develop the other services provided by English Heritage (EH) which help everyone to understand, value and care for our wider historic environment and ensure its position at the heart of sustainable growth. So as part of this process EH has also thought about the future priorities and opportunities for the part of EH that will continue to deliver planning and conservation services and advice. In the consultation EH is particularly interested on your views regarding the proposed benefits of this proposal, measuring success and the priorities for both organisations. To comment, please click on the link below. The consultation will end on 7th February 2014. Visit Website

5. RESEARCH REPORTS

Archaeology in Kalimantan Timur (Indonesia):  Investigating human pre-history with a pluridisciplinary approach

François-Xavier Ricaut1, Adhi Agus Oktaviana2, Jean-Georges Ferrié3, Bambang Sugiyanto4, Josette Sarel5, Sébastien Plutniak6, Antonio Guerreiro7, Pindi Setiawan8, Michel Grenet6, Benedicte Voeltzel5, Budi Amuranto9, Jean-Michel Chazine7, Bambang Sulistyanto2

The karstic Eastern Borneo (East Kalimantan, Indonesia) is a poorly studied region despite its value in understanding human prehistory in Island Southeast Asia. Our multidisciplinary project has involved an archaeological survey of this area, which led to the discovery and survey of more than 150 caves and shelters. Recently, the excavation of the Liang Abu rock shelter (2009 and 2012) attested a human occupation from late Pleistocene (cal BP 15,453-14,570).

A bioanthropological study of the surrounding autochtonous community, the Lebo’, who are still using the caves/rock shelters and are possibly linked to the prehistoric rock art found there, is bringing new information to the complex processes of human occupation in Kalimantan since the late Pleistocene.

1 CNRS UMR 5288, Laboratoire d´Anthropobiologie Moléculaire et Imagerie de Synthèse (AMIS), Université de Toulouse (Paul Sabatier) -, Toulouse, France

2 National Research Center for Archaeology, Pusat Penelitian dan Pengembangan Arkeologi Nasional, Jakarta, Indonesia

3 Independent researcher- Laboratoire AMIS,  CNRS UMR 5288, Toulouse, France

4 Balai Arkeologi, Banjarmasin, Banjar-masin, Indonesia

5 CNRS, UMR 7041, ArScAn, Maison de l’Arch-éologie et de l’Ethnologie, Université de Paris X, Nanterre, France

6 CNRS, UMR5608 Laboratoire TRACES, Toulouse, France

7 CNRS, UMR 65717, IrSIA, Aix-Marseille Univer-sité, Maison Asie-Pacifique, France

8 Art and Design Research Centre, Institute of Technology Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia

9 Dinas Kebudayaan dan Pariwisata, Sangata, Indonesia

Museums and identities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Virginia Cassola, PhD Student

Ecole du Louvre – Université Paris X

This PhD research is part of an ongoing study of museums in the Arabian Peninsula and fills a gap, as museums of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are little known. This research consists of studying the history of both public and private museums of the Kingdom in taking into account their architecture, collections, display, management and visitors. These topics are studied through the concept of identity that, if it is always relevant when thinking about museums, makes sense in such a country that encompasses several and interlinked identities. Firstly, Saudi Arabia is the only country named according to the founder name, Abdul-Aziz al Saud. Secondly, as the country is the cradle and the home of Islam, the Islamic identity is part of inhabitants’ life. Finally, Bedouin tribes and ancient families have been occupying the territory for a long time and they convey their own identity sometimes distant from the Saudi one.

All these identities tend to be displayed, or not, within Saudi Arabia’s almost 200 museums. Most of them are dedicated to archaeological, traditional and historic objects (archaeological site museums, regional museums, private ones), as specialized museums display Saudi intangible heritage (palm tree, falconry).

[ Virginia was recently invited as a speaker at Identities & Islam: Material Culture, Self and Society in the Pre-Modern Muslim World, Inaugural UK Early Career Symposium on Islamic Archaeology, University of Southampton, 19th-20th April 2013 ]

6. NEW PUBLICATIONS BY WAC MEMBERS

An Archaeology of the Margins. Colonialism, Amazighity and Heritage Management in the Canary Islands.

By Augusto Josė Farrujia de la Rosa. Springer.

This volume Analyses the effects of colonialism and eurocentrism on the management of the archaeological heritage and shows how the course of history influences the ways in which archaeological heritage is managed. Moreover, it presents a proposal for enhancing the archaeological heritage of the Canary Islands through the creation of archaeological parks involving the local community, and considers the Canarian Archipelago as part of an issue that is not unique to this area but is an example of poor indigenous heritage management overall.

Language: English
Publication date:  Dec 2013
Hardback
Extent: 75 pp
ISBN-10: 1461493951
ISBN-13: 978-1461493952
Price: $61.25

7. OPPORTUNITIES

7a. Calls for Publication Contributions

New Danish Journal of Archaeology

This innovative peer-reviewed journal is dedicated to the presentation, discussion and interpretation of the archaeological record of southern Scandinavia in its international, regional and local context. Providing a platform for publication and debate for professionals from the museum as well as the university sectors this journal is open for empirical, methodological and theoretical contributions covering all time periods and all kinds of archaeology with relevance for theScandinavian, Baltic, and North Atlantic regions.

Danish Journal of Archaeology and Routledge are very pleased to announce this new publishing relationship. The journal builds on the tradition of the Journal of Danish Archaeology, but with a new and broader focus.The journal is edited by Eva Andersson Strand from the University of Copenhagen, Mads Dengsø Jessen from The National Museum of Denmark and Felix Riede from Aarhus University.

Visit the www.tandfonline.com/rdja to:

•   Learn more about the journal
•   Find out how to submit your paper
•   Register for table of contents alerts

Museum and Curatorial Studies Review

Museum and Curatorial Studies Review is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that publishes essays from all academic fields such as art history, anthropology, and ethnic studies. To read our current issue, visit our website at: www.macs-review.org

The editors are now seeking articles (6,000-9,000 words) for the journal’s second and subsequent issues. All submissions should be polished final drafts that follow The Chicago Manual of Style in preparation for the peer-review process. Email submissions and inquiries to: macs.review@gmail.com

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development

We are currently considering papers for inclusion in the Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development (JCHMSD), an exciting new title co-edited by Ana Pereira Roders, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands and Ron van Oers, UNESCO World Heritage Centre, France. JCHMSD stimulates and encourages research devoted to the sustainable development of cultural heritage and to the positive contribution of cultural heritage management towards a sustainable environment.

The journal seeks to publish high-quality articles on immovable cultural heritage and its role in sustainable development, as well as the sustainable development of immovable cultural heritage. Immovable cultural heritage ranges from cultural landscapes to monuments. Other relevant dimensions of cultural heritage will also be considered for publication, e.g. rural cultural heritage, indigenous cultural heritage management. The journal welcomes a range of theoretical and practical papers based upon quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches. It disseminates the results of innovative research and practices, contributing to the improvement of current practices while developing and applying new/emerging practices.

Submissions to the Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development are made using the journal’s online submission and peer review system:

http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jchmsd

More information, including full author guidelines, can be found at: www.emeraldinsight.com/jchmsd.htm

META Journal

Call for Articles Deadline: 15th January 2014

Middle East – Topics & Arguments (META) is a peer-reviewed online journal. The editorial board is now accepting submissions for its November 2014 issue focusing on the “cultural heritage” of the Near and Middle East (both past and present). “Cultural heritage” is commonly associated with buildings, monuments and other historical relics (such as, for example, the pyramids, the Ishtar Gate or the Nefertiti Bust), as well as with the work of museums or other public institutions and organizations whose duty it is to restore, preserve, and present them to the public.

In a wider sense, however, the term covers not only material artefacts but also the intangible legacy of cultures such as customs, traditions, religion, literature, sciences and languages. These are passed on from generation to generation, often without their value as “cultural heritage” being noticed, and it is only in exceptional situations—for example, when their continued existence is in danger—that they are recognized and treated as important elements of a community’s shared history and that positive steps for their preservation are undertaken. Influenced by the work of organizations like the UNESCO since the second half of the 20th century, and the development of concepts like “world heritage” (i.e. concepts that have no precedent in history), one might be tempted to regard the preservation of cultural heritage as a modern invention; but the awareness—inherent in the concept—that for the continuity of a culture it is necessary to protect at least some of its specific features, is in fact as old as mankind itself.

Conceived with the aim to highlight historical depth and to bridge the gap between ancient and modern Near Eastern studies, the planned volume of META is dedicated to the long history of “cultural heritage” and its treatment in the Near and Middle East from the invention of writing (or even before) until the modern era. Thereby, lines of tradition and continuity (concerning, for example, languages, onomastics, religion, literature, art and architecture) will be discussed, as well as breaks with tradition, deliberate or accidental destruction of historical monuments (by wars, dam building, illegal excavations, etc.), the rediscovery of forgotten cultures (following excavations or the decipherment of ancient texts), the preservation and presentation of cultural residues (in museums and on archaeological sites), and the integration of previous accomplishments into contemporary ideologies and political programs (like Saddam Hussein’s affinity with Nebuchadnezzar II or the Shah of Persia’s “2500 year celebration of the Persian Empire”). Further topics could address the role of antiques as economic factors (tourism) and issues of political negotiation (e.g., the granting of excavation licenses or the request for return of archaeological artefacts), the problem of dealing in antiques (including the discussion whether it is legitimate to publish material of unknown provenance), the question of who owns cultural heritage (e.g., the objects that came from the Near and Middle East to Europe or North America during the late 19th and early 20th centuries), and its artistic reception (both in Near Eastern and Western traditions).

We are happy to accept articles from a broad array of disciplines which involve the Near and Middle East, including cultural studies, archaeology, history, philology, anthropology, literature studies, sociology, political science, and economics. With regard to the interdisciplinary and debate-oriented culture of META, innovative approaches and controversial hypotheses are particularly welcome. Submit an abstract (300 words max.) including a working title, some key words, and 3-5 relevant bibliographic sources. submissions#3@meta-journal.net

Museums and Social Issues: A Journal of Reflective Discourse

Call for Papers Deadline for Volume 9 article submissions: 21st April 2014

Museums & Social Issues welcomes the submission of original articles on the interaction between social issues and the way that museums respond to, influence, or become engaged with them. Topics should address questions and issues that are pervasive, long standing, critical, and not easily solved. Submissions may include a history of the issue, critical questions, philosophical reflections, theoretical positions, examples of exhibits, programs or initiatives that have addressed issue, and a review or bibliography of pertinent books, websites, exhibits and other resources. All manuscripts are subject to anonymous peer review by knowledgeable scholars and professional practitioners, and if accepted may be subject to revision. All submissions should be sent to Elee Wood, Director, Museum Studies Program, IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. email: msi@iupui.edu. Authors wishing to correspond directly with the Editor are also welcome to do so via email: eljwood@iupui.edu.

Place, Memory, Affect: Book Series

Place, Memory, Affect is a new interdisciplinary book series interested in proposals that seek to extend and deepen debates around the intersections of place, memory and affect in innovative and challenging ways. Above all, through such explorations the series will look for trends, key concepts and theories being discussed across the disciplines and engage with redefining notions of place and space, such as affect, memory, psychogeography, belonging, the ordinary / everyday, phenomenology, borders and thirdspace. We wish the series to forge an agenda for new approaches to the edgy relations of people and place within the transnational global cultures of the twenty-first century and beyond. As a series, it might ask such questions as:

• How place is re-imagined and re-experienced through different relations, both materially and through memory, sensation, affect, dream, imagination

•   How cultural, political and economic forces are experienced by and inscribed upon and through bodies as affect and emotion

• How reconsiderations of place, memory and affect might interrupt entrenched views and structures of thought and power

•   How theoretical and experiential uses of place expand and challenge perception and creativity.

The vision for the series shares something with US writer Terry Tempest Williams: “To see the world whole. To feel ourselves interconnected and interrelated. To explore the issues of our time through the kaleidoscopic vision of many disciplines, not just one.” To propose a book for this series please complete the book proposal form available at: www.rowmaninternational.com

Please send proposals to Professor Neil Campbell n.campbell@derby.ac.uk and Dr Christine Berberich at Christine.Berberich@port.ac.uk marking your email Place, Memory, Affect Book Proposal

7b. Forthcoming conferences and sessions

30th January 2014

Community of the Dead: An interdisciplinary conference exploring the contested claims to human remains

Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge Campus, UK

This one-day conference, sponsored by the Anglia Law School, looks at the contested claims to human remains and reviews our relationship, both individually and as a community, with the remains of the dead.

Suitable for academics, students, professionals within the legal, heritage construction and public sectors, as well and general interest groups. This conference will focus on the practical difficulties of the ever-increasing challenge of full cemeteries and the exhumation of remains in the course of construction and archaeological excavations.

This is an increasingly controversial and emotive issue that tests the ability of the law, researchers and diverse communities to find an agreed resolution.

www.anglia.ac.uk/communityofthedead

For further information please contact Jane Martin, Anglia Law School: jane.martin@anglia.ac.uk

7th – 8th April 2014

Collections, Collaboration and Communities Museum Ethnographers’ Group annual conference 2014

University of Aberdeen, Scotland

Call for Papers Deadline: 6th January 2014

Museums now embrace opportunities to work with a range of communities and to develop a variety of partnerships. Recent research has also re-conceptualised the relationships between objects and between objects and people. This conference will explore how museum collections can inspire and benefit from a range of collaborations, and the opportunities brought by different disciplinary perspectives. Issues to be considered could include:

•   What are the results of the ways that collections are understood, curated and interpreted differently?
•   What are the different ways in which different disciplines engage with communities – and what can be learned from them?
•   Can the ‘relational museum’ offer ways of reconceptualising relationships with communities?
•   How can these specialisms collaborate and increase the uses of collections?
•   How can collaborations help rejuvenate and develop collections without specialist curators?
•   Can partnerships with originating communities benefit other communities?

A ‘work in progress’ session is also planned for up-to-date information on current and on-going projects; this may relate to any field of museum ethnography not just this year’s conference theme (informal 5-10 minute presentations are required). Papers from the conference may be considered for publication in the Journal of Museum Ethnography published annually by the Group.

For further information or to propose papers or sessions contact:

Neil Curtis, neil.curtis@abdn.ac.uk, King’s Museum, University of Aberdeen, Old Aberdeen Town House, High Street, Aberdeen AB24 3EN, Scotland

2nd – 3rd May 2014

Igbo Heritage: Production, Diffusion and Legacy

SOAS, University of London

Call for Papers Deadline: 7th February 2014

A people’s heritage refers to the tangible and intangible inheritance that informs notions of identity, history and culture. Structures, religious artefacts, crafts, texts and landscapes are examples of material elements of heritage, which include manufactured products as well as the natural environment within which a people inhabit. The intangible aspects of heritage such as language, tradition, culture and knowledge form the basis for communicative and epistemological frameworks. As such, heritage assists the location of a people within socio-historical, cultural, religious and linguistic trajectories.

The dispersal of Igbo people and Igbo heritage into the Americas due to the transatlantic slave trade resulted in the contribution of Igbo heritage to the formation of ‘new world identities’ amongst enslaved African communities. In the case of Olaudah Equiano, an enslaved African who purchased his own freedom, he identifies his Igbo heritage as a source of sustenance. Equiano, who became a leading figure in the abolitionist movement, stated in his autobiography that ‘the manners and customs of my country (…) had been implanted in me with great care, and made an impression on my mind, which time could not erase’. Within struggles in colonial Nigeria, Igbo informed modes of protest such as “sitting on a man” facilitated the Igbo women’s war of 1929, whilst the cultural and historical background of Nnamdi Azikiwe’s informed his ‘cosmopolitan ideas’. The Igbo heritage has contributed to the political and cultural production in pan-African, globalised settings as well as providing a source for transformation within Igboland and the wider Nigeria. This conference invites contributions that focus on Igbo heritage on both the micro (localised variants) and macro (pan-Igbo) levels.

This conference invites papers that examine a variety of aspects of Igbo heritage. Please email abstracts of up to 300 words including the paper title, your name, current position, institutional affiliation, email address and phone number to Louisa Uchum Egbunike: le7@soas.ac.uk.

14th – 16th May 2014

Heritage and Healthy Societies: Exploring the Links among Cultural Heritage, Environment, and Resilience

UMass Amherst Campus

Call for Papers Deadline: 1st February 2014

Whether on an on an individual or a societal scale, heritage and well-being are often seen as disparate concerns. When heritage is viewed as related to community well-being, its value is often reduced to economic development and tourism, rather than something that might be integral to wellness on a larger scale. But how can the collective remaking of the past in the present play a role in imagining a more sustainable and healthy future?

The goal of this conference is to explore the application of the past to contemporary and future social challenges, specifically sustainability and wellbeing. Given the current focus on climate change, rising sea levels, and the displacement of peoples, the wellness of societies is a critical issue. But until now, heritage has had little to say about the subject. The conference will explore the relationship between heritage and three interrelated aspects of sustainability and wellbeing. They include: (1) Heritage and environment: How can heritage be brought to bear on the problems of environmental sustainability, including changing ecosystems, food security, and dwindling energy resources? (2) Heritage and resilience: How does the past affect issues of social sustainability, including community adaptability, cohesion and identity? (3) Heritage and wellness: How do cases of historical trauma, and the processes of continuity and memory relate to physical and mental health of individuals and society?

The conference will bring together heritage scholars from a wide range of sectors to examine the potential of cultural heritage to contribute to a more sustainable future. We will do so by promoting transdisciplinary explorations of the intersections among heritage and environment, resilience, and wellness.

Specific topics under these themes may include:

•   Heritage and climate change
•   Historic urban landscapes and sustainability
•   Social dislocation, trauma, and wellbeing
•   Slow food and local foodways
•   Adaptive reuse and green building
•   Traditional forms of healing
•   Heritage and “happiness”
•   Sustainable development
•   Place attachment and community well-being
•   Eco-museums and community

Abstracts for organized sessions, research papers, and poster presentations will be accepted until 1st February 2014. We strongly encourage the submission or abstracts as part of organized sessions, which will be considered for invited session status. Organized sessions should include both panel and individual paper abstracts (a maximum of 300 words in English with a maximum of one illustration or screenshot). Notification of acceptance will be made by Feb. 15, 2014, and conference registration must be made by March 1, 2014. Submit abstracts here:

http://www.umass.edu/chs/news/conference2014.html

For questions or requests for additional information, please contact CHS Research Assistant Grace Cleary (gcleary@anthro.umass.edu) or visit the CHS website: http://www.umass.edu/chs

23rd – 25th May 2014

North American Theoretical Archaeology Group (TAG USA)
University of Ilinois at Urbana-Champaign
Session Proposal Deadline: 17th January

Since 2008, the TAG-USA conference has provided a vibrant link between American and European archaeologists. This year, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is hosting TAG. Converge on Urbana for a lively 2014 meeting in the true tradition of TAG. There will be a plenary on Friday evening featuring Benjamin Alberti, Mary Weismantel, Kim Tallbear, and Rosemary Joyce, two days of break-out sessions on Saturday and Sunday, a special art exhibition, and a Saturday night dance. Optional tours of  the archaeological complexes of  Cahokia and Emerald, 30  minutes from St. Louis,  will be offered on  Sunday the 25th or  Monday the 26th,  for anyone flying  through St. Louis  or wishing to  make the 3-hour  trip south of  Urbana-Champaign.

At this time, we invite session proposals from organizers on any topic that falls within the purview of TAG. Go to the TAG 2014 website to begin. Regular session proposals (max 400 words) are due by 17th January, 2014. By February 2014, a list of sessions will be announced on this website, along with the session organizers’ email addresses. At that time, potential participants should send individual paper abstracts (max 300 words) directly to the session organizers by email (deadline 7th March 2014). Session organizers are responsible  for selecting papers, and  for sending the  complete session  roster along with  all paper  abstracts and titles  to the  TAG-UIUC committee  by 21st March 2014. www.regonline.com/TAG2014

29th – 31st May 2014

Critical Heritage and Photography
British Museum, London, UK
Call for Papers Deadline: 8th January 2014

This panel at the Anthropology and Photography 2014 Conference will re-examine the complex interrelationship of heritage and photography from a variety of socio-cultural, historical, and theoretical perspectives. Since its inception, photography has been part of what we would now define as ‘heritage practice,’ whether deployed to survey historic sites, document cultural practices, or as an aide memoire for travellers and tourists. To some extent, the concurrent emergence of heritage and photography within the modern period may even speak of an elective affinity between the two. More recently, a focus on heritage as process has shifted attention away from the monumental and towards the role of heritage in everyday settings. From this perspective we may interrogate the photo-album as crucial to personal heritage, or the importance of social media and online sharing as they open up new opportunities for the construction of heritage by re-contextualising old photographs (e.g. HistoryPin). Despite these noteworthy intersections, photography remains a largely under-theorised topic within critical heritage studies. This panel will seek to address this shortcoming. A key point of departure here will be recent calls for the interdisciplinary field of heritage to look beyond issues of discourse and the politics of representation and consider instead the ‘affective qualities’ of the past in the present (Harrison 2013). To this end, papers will focus less on aesthetics to examine issues more familiar to anthropology – including bodily experience, memory and processes of meaning-making. To borrow from Edwards (2012), our interest lies not in isolated images, but in the ‘photography complex’ of critical heritage. To propose a paper visit the following website: http://www.nomadit.co.uk

5-7th June 2014

Critical Ethnographies of Cultural Heritage in Mediterranean Cities

University of Bergamo, Italy
Call for Papers Deadline: 17th February 2014

5th Ethnography and Qualitative Research Conference. Panel organizer: Nick Dines, Middlesex University, London, UK

The aim of this workshop panel is to bring together researchers who use ethnographic methods to critically explore the construction and experience of cultural heritage in urban settings in the Mediterranean region (i.e. southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia). Heritage is understood here in its broadest sense as any tangible or intangible dimension of the past that is defined and used in the present. In mainstream public and academic debates, especially in southern Europe, cultural heritage tends to be considered an intrinsically positive “thing” that possesses a set of social and economic attributes, such as local identity marker or tourist attraction. The conservation and valorization of heritage is hence often promoted as a benevolent pursuit and can be endowed with politically progressive connotations when deemed to serve the interests of the common good.

Over the last two decades, and across a range of disciplines, a more critical approach has emerged that has interrogated the positive essentialism inherent within mainstream discussions and has instead highlighted the various power relations through which all forms and expressions of heritage are constructed and classified. Scholars have indicated, for instance, how the “heritagization” of the built environment is often intimately bound up with the neoliberal restructuring of cities, such as its role in processes of gentrification in popular neighbourhoods of historic centres. At the same time, attention has focused on how different groups of people renegotiate, reject or simply ignore dominant discourses about heritage and, moreover, how they formulate alternative notions of heritage that not only challenge hegemonic values about the past but also contest the ways in which cities are governed in the present. The workshop intends to examine the complex relationship between heritage and power in the context of Mediterranean cities. Proposals are welcome that draw on original ethnographic research and which address wider theoretical debates about cultural heritage. Papers should ideally engage with one or more of the following themes:

•  Critical genealogies of heritage discourses: when, why and how do places, people, traditions, memories, etc. become ‘heritage’?
•  Political and everyday contestation of ‘official’ heritage sites.
•  The heritagisation and social/discursive construction of historic centres.
•  The relationship between heritage and neoliberal urbanization.
•  The impact of the Eurozone crisis and the Arab Spring upon cultural heritage management and consumption.
•  The impact of UNESCO and other cultural institutions upon the governance and experience of the built environment.
•  The strategies and ambiguities of ‘grassroots’ campaigns for heritage protection.
•  Heritage management and transnational migration.
•  The potential and limits of theorizing heritage as a commons.
•  The biopolitical nature of heritage politics and the governance of conduct.
•  Dark and ugly heritage: commemorating and contesting past conflicts and unwanted pasts.

Please email proposals to Nick Dines n.dines@mdx.ac.uk and the conference organizers workshop.etnografia@unibg.it. The session will be 3 hours in length and will be composed of a maximum of 5 papers (each 20 minutes).

Proposals should include: The title of the paper and an abstract of a maximum 1000 words, author’s contact details (name, email address, postal address and affiliation) and those of any co-authors. Acceptance of proposals will be notified by 17 March 2014.

23rd – 24th June 2014

New Approaches to Heritage Ethics: Interdisciplinary conversations on heritage, crime, conflicts and rights

The Centre for Heritage at the University of Kent (Canterbury), UK

Call for PapersDeadline: 3rd February 2014

Heritage and ethics are too often considered through the lens of a single, specific theme. For instance, analyses commonly focus on separate topics like crime and heritage (e.g. unlawful excavations, vandalism and the removal or theft of cultural property), conflict and heritage (e.g. war, civil unrest, iconoclasm as well as disputes over competing visions of the past), and rights and heritage (e.g. access to cultural and socio-economic rights through heritage initiatives, in particular for disfranchised groups).

Integrating and expanding upon this prior scholarship, the aim of this conference is to consider these three topics of crime, conflict and rights in relation to heritage in an interrelated and holistic manner. Such a comprehensive framework will result in novel approaches to understanding and conceptualizing each of these issues, as well as lay the groundwork for new practical approaches to protecting various rights while mitigating heritage crime and conflicts. This conference also aims to enable academics, heritage, museum and law enforcement professionals, students and community leaders to engage in an innovative and productive conversation with one another. In working across the traditional boundaries that separate the great diversity of academic and professional disciplines whose work all touches upon this burgeoning field – including archaeology, anthropology, sociology, criminology, history, economics, human rights, law, and heritage conservation and management – this conference will open up new and important lines of cooperation and inquiry.

We are particularly interested in submissions that consider the following themes:

•   Looting of classical and archaeological sites and conflict
•   Relationships between looting of classical and archaeological sites and social and economic rights and opportunities
•   Engagements of communities in the prevention of vandalism and the willful destruction of heritage
•   Approaches for taking account of conflicting understandings and visions of the past
•   Practical issues in the promotion of cultural, social and economic rights through heritage
•   Theoretical and applied approaches for preventing and mitigating heritage crime and conflicts, or for promoting social and economic rights through culturally- and historically-minded means
•   Critical approaches to the legal regulation of heritage with particular emphasis on rights

Abstracts in English (250 words maximum) should be sent to s.labadi@kent.ac.uk. Selected papers might be published after the conference

8th – 10th September 2014

Remembering in a Globalized World: The Play and Interplay of Tourism, Place and Memory

Le Chambon sur Lignon, France

Call for Papers Deadline: 31st January 2014

Memory is not only regarded as an individual and cognitive act of remembering the past, but also a social activity of reconstructing the past. Seen by many as a ‘moral practice’ and a collective duty (devoir de mémoire), such as in the form of the public remembering of horrors, ‘social memory’, ‘cultural memory’ and ‘historical memory’ work towards refashioning modern identities, and the contestation of those identities, in a changing World. Memory, in both its particular and universal forms, changes the ways we think of ourselves, of the past, of space, and how we engage with the past and develop narratives. Memory is also seen as inextricably linked to place, as if preserved and anchored in space. Memories also shape our experiences as tourists; of how and what we choose to remember of the places, people, and cultures we visit.

In the postmodern, postcolonial world, new regimes of memory are effectively appropriated, negotiated and contested by ‘cultural actors’, communities and nation states to achieve the agendas of domination, resistance and categorization. As an integral part of the emerging regimes of memory, tourism is being re-considered as a crucial instrument toward the historicisation of social, cultural and public memory. This conference seeks to uncover the role of tourism in this process of historicisation through diverse epistemological approaches. The aim of this conference is to examine the ways in which memory is appropriated in tourism, both at the individual and collective level, in the articulation of identities, the construction of imaginaries about people and places, the re-invention of the past as an instrument of rule and dominance and as form of resistance. In the context of increasing mobilities – particularly in the forms of neo-nationalism and transnationalism – the conference seeks to confront the rise of memory and its social values in touristic practice. What role does memory play in the construction of “globalised public space”? How does it simultaneously represent both universalizing and particularizing phenomena? And how does it shape new mobilities, ‘mixed cultures’, networks, exchange and renewed ways of communication. Also, as we are exploring the practices and experiences of people at memory sites, we wish to consider the experiences and practices of various actors, including tourists, officials, cultural intermediaries and urban planners. In this conference we therefore attempt to engage with the relationship to the past through memory not necessarily as an effect of globalization, but as an agent producing globalization, and endeavour to discuss how and to what extent tourism plays an active role in the globalized convergence between memory, self and the Other; self and the nation.

Themes we propose to explore in this conference but not limited to include:

•  Connections between remembrance, commemoration, tourism and politics
•  Memory and construction of tourism imaginaries
•  Tourism, memory and regimes of values
•  Tourism and Nostalgia

http://memorytour.hypotheses.org/21-2

31st October – 2nd November 2014

CHAT 2014: Dark Modernities: Archaeologies of Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism, and Repression

Museum of West Bohemia
Pilsen, Czech Republic

Call for Sessions Deadline: 1st April 2014

Paper Proposal Deadline: 1st May 2014 In recent years archaeology has succeeded in highlighting the importance of research into ‘dark’ or ‘difficult heritage’ and a number of projects have generated new insights into the mechanisms of state control and repression in the contexts of the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Cold War in Europe, as well as exposing the material remains of more recent crimes against humanity on other continents. CHAT 2014, hosted by the Department of Archaeology at the University of West Bohemia, Pilsen, will explore how archaeology may be used to enhance the documentation and interpretation of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, to advance theoretical approaches and methods, and to broaden the public dissemination and understanding of the topic. Our definition of authoritarianism is intentionally broad and may be extended to encompass forms of so-called ‘corporatist’ authoritarianisms, apartheid and other forms of ‘racial’ and ‘ethnic’ authoritarianism, regimes of illiberal rule associated with colonialisms as well as anti-authoritarian movements in both the recent and more distant past. The conference theme of “Dark Modernities” focuses on the darker side of the recent and more distant past and its interpretation in the present.

Contributions are welcome (but will not be limited) to the following topics:

•   Monumentality and the projection of individual/state power
•   Heritage, identities, and the materiality of atrocities
•   Concentration camps, forced labour camps, and confinement
•   Technologies and genealogies of oppression
•   Consumption and daily life
•   Forms of resistance expressed through art, music, literature
•   Racism and the institutionalization of ethnic discrimination
•   Processes of commemoration
•   Memorialisation and the shaping of visitation practices
•   Memorial museums and sites of memory
•   Landscapes and ‘terrorscapes’
•   The politics and praxis of the repatriation of human remains
•   Thanatourism, dark heritage and the commodification of death

Session proposals, composed of 3-4 thematically linked papers accompanied by 150 word abstracts, should be sent to the conference organisers by the 1st of April 2014. Individual paper proposals, consisting of a title and 150 word abstract, should be sent to the conference organisers by 1st of May 2014.

Paper and session proposals should be sent to Pavel Vařeka and James Symonds c/o vareka@kar.zcu.cz Further information regarding accompanying events, conference tours, accommodation, student/unwaged travel bursaries and travel guidance will be circulated and made available on the Contemporary and Historical Archaeology in Theory (CHAT) website shortly: www.contemp-hist-arch.ac.uk

10th – 14th November 2014

18th ICOMOS General Assembly and Scientific Symposium. Heritage and Land-scape as Human Values

Florence, Italy

Call for Papers Deadline: 31st January 2014

The main theme is Heritage and Landscape as Human Values. There are five sub-themes which are:

•   Sharing and experiencing the identity of communities through tourism and interpretation
•   Landscape as cultural habitat
•   Sustainability through traditional know-ledge
•   Community driven conservation and local empowerment
•   Emerging tools for conservation practice

ICOMOS members who wish to propose a paper for one of the five sub-themes, should submit a concise one-page summary (max. 3000 characters), in French or English, by email to GA2014-Symposium@icomos.org by 31st January 2014. http://www.icomos.org

7c. Jobs

National Project Manager

English Heritage
29 Queen Square, Bristol
Closing Date: 8th January 2014
Salary: £37,500 per annum

Flexible National Role based in York, Cambridge, Swindon, Guilford or Bristol. This is an excellent opportunity to take on a challenging and diverse role within the Estates department at English Heritage. The Estates Department, as part of the National Collections Group, is responsible for the repair, enhancement and conservation of buildings, gardens and landscapes. As a National Project Manager, you will be responsible for delivering a portfolio of varied conservation and capital investment projects across English Heritage`s estate to meet a wide range of stakeholder interests with delivery on time and budget to agreed quality criteria. This is an exciting time to join the National Collections Group and in particular the Estates Department who are positioned to deliver a range of exciting capital development projects over the next few years.

The National Projects Team within the Estates Department are responsible for the planning and delivery of the projects carried out on the English Heritage National Collection of Buildings, including Major Maintenance Projects aimed at repair and conservation of buildings and Capital Investment Projects aimed at developing our sites. The Head of National Projects will have overall responsibility for management of the programmes of work over a 3 or 4 year horizon. The team, which is already established, currently comprises of seven full and part time National Project Managers who take responsibility for a portfolio of projects across the estate. This team is planned to grow to accommodate the increased portfolio of projects which it will be expected to deliver as a result of the establishment of the new English Heritage charitable trust. Please apply in writing attaching CV why you think you have the essential criteria and suitability for the role. Interviews will be held week commencing 20th January 2014.

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/jobs/job/?ref=5259

The Urgent Anthropology Fellowship Programme 2014-17

British Museum, London
Deadline: 10th January 2014

The Urgent Anthropology Fellowship will be based at the British Museum and the first fellowship has a specific focus, on threatened Nile Valley communities in northern Sudan.

Applications are now welcome for a fellowship to begin in 2014. For further details please see the link below:

http://www.britishmuseum.org

Past Fellows and background information can be found here:

http://www.therai.org.uk

Enquiries can also be directed to Lissant Bolton lbolton@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk or Neal Spencer: nspencer@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk

 

Fejos Postdoctoral Fellowships in Ethnographic Film

Deadline 1st May 2014
Stipend: $40,000

The Fellowships support the completion of ethnographic film/s based on anthropological research already accomplished by the applicant. Fellowships are awarded to scholars in the earlier stages of their careers, when they frequently lack the time and resources to develop their research in the form of ethnographic film. Scholars who have received a Ph.D. or equivalent within ten years of the application deadline are eligible to apply. A maximum of two Fejos Fellowships are awarded annually.

Further information on this fellowship is at:
http://www.wennergren.org/programs/fejos-postdoctoral-fellowships

7b. Other Opportunities

The San Gemini Preservation Studies Program Summer 2014 Field School

Italy
Various dates, see below

The San Gemini Preservation Studies Program is now in its 15th year, and is dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage and offers students the opportunity to study and travel in Italy. The courses offered are listed below:

•   Building Restoration (June 2nd thru 27th)
•   Introduction to Art and Building Restoration in Italy
•   Surveying and Analyzing Historic Buildings
•   Ceramics Restoration (June 2nd thru 27th)
•   Introduction to Conservation of Archaeological Ceramics
•   Workshop on Ceramics and Ceramics Conservation in Italy
•   Book Bindings Restoration (June 2nd thru 27th)
•   Introduction to the Restoration of Book Bindings in Italy Workshop on the Restoration of Book Bindings
•   Paper Restoration (July 14th thru August 8th)
•   Introduction to Restoration of Paper in Books and Archival Documents
•   Restoration Workshop – Paper in Books and Archival Documents
•   Traditional Painting Materials & Techniques (July 14th thru August 8th)
•   Traditional Painting Methods and Techniques in Italy, including Issues of Weathering and Aging
•   Painting Workshop – Traditional Painting Methods and Techniques in Italy
•   Preservation Theory and Practice in Italy (July 14th thru August 8th)
•   Restoration in Italy – Issues and Theory
*  Field Projects:
•   Restoration of the façade of the Church of San Carlo (13th Century)
•   Surveying the San Giovanni Battista Church complex (12th Century)
•   Archaeological survey of the public baths in Carsulae

To find out more about our program and review the syllabi, please visit our website www.sgpres.org

Our courses are open to students from various disciplines, both undergraduate and graduate. All lessons are taught in English.

 

Issue 43 will be distributed in April. Please send in short accounts of your research to update the WAC community on your new or on-going projects.

Email contributions to Marcus Brittain at mb654@cam.ac.uk