The Importance of the Past: Why We Can't Just Repatriate Art and Artefacts
One of the most contentious issues in the world today seems to be one of those matters, that on the face, of it appears simple: the question of returning art and artefacts to the native peoples from whom it was taken by the 19th Century European empires.
By now, I imagine you're thinking that of course that's what should happen. It's barmy to think otherwise, isn't it? Those people have a right to their ancestors' works back and that should be the end of it. It's simple, an open and shut case. Any questions and queries can be referred to it literally being the heritage of that set of people and that's that. From the Elgin Marbles to the over 40,000 items held in the Victorian and Albert Art Gallery, all the way to the treasures looted from the Chinese Summer Palace by General Gordon, it should all be returned. It doesn't belong in Britain.
It's hard to gainsay that claim, harder to find a decent justification for not simply saying that it's right. However, there are some easy responses to the claim, and they're often quite dramatic. First, let's think about the Afghan Buddhas. Destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban because it conflicted with their ideology, and the history of Afghanistan as a purely Muslim country, it now appears they are to be restored, in the BBC clip I found in YouTube, below.
Or, how about the destruction of Palmyria by Islamic State in 2015? True, these are both extreme cases, but we should bear in mind that the world is a lot less stable than we believe it to be: the veneer of stability is an illusion, not something we should depend upon.
It would, of course, be true to say that there are museums and archives all over the world, and to say that the original point still stands: those items rightfully belong to the people in the formerly colonised countries. I feel that that overlooks an important point though, which is that none of us is alone, we are all part of humanity and the things we do, the culture and arts and artefacts, are all we really have to show that we're here. All of it is precious, all of it needs to be preserved. We should try to stop the destruction of any artefacts, and if we can't prevent that, we should work hard to make sure that even if the item is lost, we have photos, 3D modelling and other methods to make sure we have reliable records. That way we can slowly build a world where, everyone has the physical versions of their own heritage artefacts, but at the same time there are digital copies and information for academics and historians to utilise. Obviously, this shouldn't be led from the Developed World's governments, that would smack too much of the old, bad, world where colonialism was political, not economic (that version's still okay, right?), but originate from an NGO with enough international pull to be taken seriously... Part of me dearly wants to suggest someone like UNESCO, but is the UN actually that organisation? I'm not sure.
We shouldn't only act this way for the relics held in the UK, and other countries. This report shows that an Australian mining company has destroyed an Aboriginal cultural site that was 46,000 years old. My proposal would allow us to preserve records, just in case someone chose to vandalise other cultures that way.
Anyway, this hypothetical organisation would house all the knowledge as a sort of cultural "seed bank", much like the Millennium Seed Preservation Project. It would be for future generations to access and learn about the past, and to protect cultural and historical heritage that would otherwise disappear, swamped by non cultural, endlessly recycled products that are soulless.
You might be saying at the moment that I'm a white guy, living in a country that hasn't been conquered since 1066 and what the hell do I know about all this. To an extent you'd be right, but my country has been through this kind of thing, not just when the Normans conquered us, but during the Reformation too. That was an event so momentous, that one anecdote holds that a visiting Chinese dignitary compared it to the PRC's Cultural Revolution. You only need to see the ruins of abbeys and the bare interiors of churches to see the sort of change that England (and Scotland) undertook. Who knows, now, what wonders we lost because of the rise of Protestantism?
So, I do know some of what I'm talking about, in the same way that I find it sad and hilarious when people talk about cultural appropriation, ignoring the fact that the UK's already been plundered by the Americans (though that's been something of a two way street, I mean without rock n roll, we'd not have the Beatles or the Stones, just as without the Ramones we'd not have Punk). I believe strongly that we should preserve our past, that the artefacts and art of yesteryear is so much more important than simply being someone's "stuff" they should have the final say over, that I would honestly commit to a project to pool all these things for future generations to learn from. Without our past, we're nothing, and without our cultures we have no identity. We should fight to preserve this lore, this knowledge and make it something we can pass down to our descendants, because without it, we're nothing at all.
By now, I imagine you're thinking that of course that's what should happen. It's barmy to think otherwise, isn't it? Those people have a right to their ancestors' works back and that should be the end of it. It's simple, an open and shut case. Any questions and queries can be referred to it literally being the heritage of that set of people and that's that. From the Elgin Marbles to the over 40,000 items held in the Victorian and Albert Art Gallery, all the way to the treasures looted from the Chinese Summer Palace by General Gordon, it should all be returned. It doesn't belong in Britain.
It's hard to gainsay that claim, harder to find a decent justification for not simply saying that it's right. However, there are some easy responses to the claim, and they're often quite dramatic. First, let's think about the Afghan Buddhas. Destroyed in 2001 by the Taliban because it conflicted with their ideology, and the history of Afghanistan as a purely Muslim country, it now appears they are to be restored, in the BBC clip I found in YouTube, below.
Or, how about the destruction of Palmyria by Islamic State in 2015? True, these are both extreme cases, but we should bear in mind that the world is a lot less stable than we believe it to be: the veneer of stability is an illusion, not something we should depend upon.
It would, of course, be true to say that there are museums and archives all over the world, and to say that the original point still stands: those items rightfully belong to the people in the formerly colonised countries. I feel that that overlooks an important point though, which is that none of us is alone, we are all part of humanity and the things we do, the culture and arts and artefacts, are all we really have to show that we're here. All of it is precious, all of it needs to be preserved. We should try to stop the destruction of any artefacts, and if we can't prevent that, we should work hard to make sure that even if the item is lost, we have photos, 3D modelling and other methods to make sure we have reliable records. That way we can slowly build a world where, everyone has the physical versions of their own heritage artefacts, but at the same time there are digital copies and information for academics and historians to utilise. Obviously, this shouldn't be led from the Developed World's governments, that would smack too much of the old, bad, world where colonialism was political, not economic (that version's still okay, right?), but originate from an NGO with enough international pull to be taken seriously... Part of me dearly wants to suggest someone like UNESCO, but is the UN actually that organisation? I'm not sure.
We shouldn't only act this way for the relics held in the UK, and other countries. This report shows that an Australian mining company has destroyed an Aboriginal cultural site that was 46,000 years old. My proposal would allow us to preserve records, just in case someone chose to vandalise other cultures that way.
Anyway, this hypothetical organisation would house all the knowledge as a sort of cultural "seed bank", much like the Millennium Seed Preservation Project. It would be for future generations to access and learn about the past, and to protect cultural and historical heritage that would otherwise disappear, swamped by non cultural, endlessly recycled products that are soulless.
You might be saying at the moment that I'm a white guy, living in a country that hasn't been conquered since 1066 and what the hell do I know about all this. To an extent you'd be right, but my country has been through this kind of thing, not just when the Normans conquered us, but during the Reformation too. That was an event so momentous, that one anecdote holds that a visiting Chinese dignitary compared it to the PRC's Cultural Revolution. You only need to see the ruins of abbeys and the bare interiors of churches to see the sort of change that England (and Scotland) undertook. Who knows, now, what wonders we lost because of the rise of Protestantism?
So, I do know some of what I'm talking about, in the same way that I find it sad and hilarious when people talk about cultural appropriation, ignoring the fact that the UK's already been plundered by the Americans (though that's been something of a two way street, I mean without rock n roll, we'd not have the Beatles or the Stones, just as without the Ramones we'd not have Punk). I believe strongly that we should preserve our past, that the artefacts and art of yesteryear is so much more important than simply being someone's "stuff" they should have the final say over, that I would honestly commit to a project to pool all these things for future generations to learn from. Without our past, we're nothing, and without our cultures we have no identity. We should fight to preserve this lore, this knowledge and make it something we can pass down to our descendants, because without it, we're nothing at all.
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