Organizers – WAC Student Committee
Gonzalo Linares (St. Hugh’s College (University of Oxford), United Kingdom), gonzlinares@gmail.com
Hannah Quaintance (University at Buffalo (SUNY), United States), hlquaint@buffalo.edu
Marian Bailey (Flinders University, Australia), marianbailey95@gmail.com
Session Abstract:
A commitment to ethical principles has been embedded in WAC from its beginning, and attention to these responsibilities continues to flow through everything our organisation does. Given that ethics are not a set of rules but rather are ideals and guiding principles that are employed in real-life situations, they are not so easily ‘taught’. Ethics debates have been developed as an essential tool to help students to develop their ethical decision-making skills before facing such situations in reality.
The WAC-9 ethics debates will be the third iteration of what is now a congress tradition. During the ethics debates students will come together in teams to debate hypothetical but realistic ethical cases in archaeology and heritage management. The cases selected for discussion and debate may include, among other topics, contemporary concerns regarding climate change and looting, the export of materials and remains for study, and issues related to the representation and protection of contested heritage. These will provide participants with an excellent opportunity to practice and hone their ethical decision-making skills. The WAC-9 Student Ethics Debate is intended to reflect WAC’s mission to promote international dialogue and aims to create a space that is open and supportive of emerging scholars and practitioners from around the world.
The WAC Student Committee invites students to participate in the WAC-9 Student Ethics Debate. Participation is open to both undergraduate and graduate students but all must be members of WAC in order to take part. Students may self-nominate to join as individuals and will be introduced to their peers via the teams formed for the event. The WAC-9 Student Ethics Debate will be run as a two-part session with two preliminary rounds and one final round deciding the winning team. While the WAC-9 Student Ethics Debate focuses on learning and developing skills, there will be prizes on offer for the winners!
On behalf of the student committee of WAC, we encourage interested students to contact us and to bring to our attention case studies/topics that they find engaging and requiring discussion. Please send us an email with an expression of interest to participate along with a few lines about your professional commitments to archaeology. Please write to us at, wacstudentcommittee@gmail.com
