tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post1291125007982019742..comments2024-03-27T04:46:33.198-07:00Comments on Portable Antiquity Collecting and Heritage Issues: Thinking about cultural propertyPaul Barfordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10443302899233809948noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post-50282296932339492692009-03-15T13:23:00.000-07:002009-03-15T13:23:00.000-07:00Well I must say "baulking at" doesn't play much pa...Well I must say "baulking at" doesn't play much part in a search for the truth, not in most academic and legal circles anyway. Or is commerce different?<BR/><BR/>But if "cultural property" is to appear on the business cards I think the L word, together with P for Pillage and M for Misappropriation and Th for Theft would all have to feature as well if you wanted the golf club to see you as a good egg since they are all intimately connected. For instance, if you were involved in any way with cultural property you'd not want to be guilty of flouting the spirit of your country's commitments under the '54 Hague Convention relating to stuff in war zones to "prohibit, prevent and, if necessary, put a stop to any form of theft, pillage or misappropriation of, and any acts of vandalism directed against, cultural property" would you? Or, again, is commerce different?Marcus Preenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03603874627751387853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post-35287660520095203722009-03-15T11:57:00.000-07:002009-03-15T11:57:00.000-07:00"Looting facilitators"? I think they'd baulk at th..."Looting facilitators"? I think they'd baulk at that, but what about "cultural property acquisition and dispersal facilitators", now THAT sound professional - antiquities free of the taint of the L-word and the T-word.Paul Barfordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10443302899233809948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8174756573570334952.post-13523372542204265622009-03-15T11:23:00.000-07:002009-03-15T11:23:00.000-07:00I wonder whether conservation would be served by t...I wonder whether conservation would be served by the abandonment of the term “trafficking”? In itself it is a harmless activity, merely meaning “transporting”. Only if the objects transported are illicit does it become reprehensible.<BR/><BR/>But that is not the reason for my suggestion. Transport implies a journey, commencing at a source and ending at a final destination. Yet it seems to me trafficking tends to be thought of as involving a much shorter journey, and in the case of archaeological artefacts one that takes place in a faraway country and involves foreigners, one that certainly doesn’t extend into one’s own country or involve one’s own countrymen.<BR/><BR/>But in logic, this cannot be true. If a journey from source to port is trafficking then clearly the journey from port to display cabinet is also trafficking. Accidental or deliberate, careful or deliberately not so, eyes wide or carefully averted, it matters little if the journey is completed. Source to final destination – one journey, one process of trafficking - sometimes in illegal goods, who could seriously think otherwise? Could this be true? Could a sophisticated Western collector be in precisely the same moral position as an unlettered peasant-looter thousands of miles away? I think so, on the basis of my limited knowledge and rudimentary grasp of logic. But I’ll be happy to be put right on the point so long as it is explained in full detail.<BR/><BR/>In case I’m right I feel the term “trafficking” should be dropped from the lexicon of the debate – partly because it tends to misleadingly and unjustly point the finger at the “foreign” part of the incoming journey alone and partly because sophisticated, educated Western collectors and dealers would hate to be labelled as “traffickers”. So may I suggest, as an alternative, “looting facilitators”. That sounds rather more professional, something they might feel far more comfortable with on their business cards and golf club membership forms, while still describing their role in the artefacts’ journey with absolute precision.Marcus Preenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03603874627751387853noreply@blogger.com