Cultural Heritage for the Undergrad Continued

In my internet ramblings over the last few days, I’ve discovered that I left out a few crucial programs from my first post on cultural heritage studies for undergraduates. How utterly negligent of me. Here are some more opportunities for you to get your heritage on while getting a BA, not after:

UMass Amherst Center for Heritage and Society

Big fat duh. I totally forgot to include this amazing program the first time I covered this topic. The Center for Heritage and Society caters to both undergraduate and graduate programs at the school, as well as providing research opportunities for scholars in heritage related fields. This past May, they hosted the conference, “Why Does The Past Matter?”, which honored scholars Henry Cleere (former Director of the Council for British Archaeology and currently Senior Advisor to the US-based Global Heritage Fund), Barbara Little (an author who takes an activist approach to historical archaeology), and David Lowenthal (emeritus professor of geography and honorary research fellow at University College London, and Fulbright, Guggenheim, Leverhulme, and Landes Fellow. Whew.) Most excitingly, they offer courses for both undergraduates and graduates. This upcoming fall, the only course listed is a graduate level seminar called Heritage as Politics. But hey. It only says “graduate LEVEL”, which means if you’re an undergrad at UMass Amherst and you’re pushy, passionate, and accomplished enough, you might be able to get in. I say “might” because I don’t go to UMass Amherst so I don’t know if that kind of thing is allowed like it is at Bennington. We’re pretty incorrigible at Bennington.

The Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania

I just discovered this center today and man oh man am I excited about it. Penn CHC is a research, outreach, and educational center that studies the threats to cultural heritage from looting, the illicit antiquities trade, and commercial development, and promotes heritage policies, and, my favorite, connects cultural heritage and human rights by asking, “Is there a basic human right to have your Cultural Heritage protected?” Their events page have an impressive number of past lectures, and projects are ongoing in eight countries. The best part: the center offers courses for both undergraduate and graduate students, AND they have trained law enforcement agents in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and in Customs and Border Patrol. (They got swagger, man.) Two undergraduate courses are listed: “Public Policy, Museums, and Cultural Heritage” and “Ethic, Archaeology, and Cultural”. Both are listed for fall semester and are taught by Dr. Richard M. Leventhal, the founder of the center. There’s even a fancy little section where two undergraduate students working in close collaboration with Penn CHC are profiled. I could spend a really long time talking about all the opportunities I keep finding on this site, but I won’t. Just please. Check it OUT.

Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative (CHI) at Michigan State University

This is one of the strangest and coolest programs I’ve found so far. The Cultural Heritage Informatics Initiative isn’t just into cultural heritage; it’s into the creative application of informing, communicating, and computing cultural heritage. They define “informatics” as a term used to “describe the creative application of information, communication, and computing technologies (broadly defined) to address the needs, challenges, and content of a specific domain.” CHI believes collaboration is necessary for cultural heritage informatics, and stress the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. To accomplish this, CHI has a fieldschool that takes place from late May to early July on the Michigan Statue University campus. The CHI Fieldschool employs the model of an archaeological fieldschool but instead of working on a dig, students work collaboratively on several cultural heritage informatics projects. The site says, “The CHI Fieldschool is built firmly on the principle that students develop a far better understanding of cultural heritage informatics by actually building tools, applications, and digital user experiences than they do with passive analysis and commentary. The added benefit is that by building tools, applications, and digital user experiences, students also have the opportunity to make a tangible and potentially significant contribution to the cultural heritage community.” They go on to note the importance of learning digital media, information technology, and computing technology, which is vital to cultural heritage fields, yet many professionals only acquire these skills after their graduate degree. So they’re helping both graduate and undergraduate students to make digital know-how a major part of their education now rather than later.

I am now seriously considering applying to the fieldschool for next summer.

THIS STUFF IS SO COOL, EVERYBODY. Sometimes I just can’t keep my excitement at an inside-voice level.

Hawass sort of kind of a little bit back

Zahi Hawass is still kind of sort of in his post as minister of antiquities, at least until a replacement can be found.

For crying out loud.

More on Joseph Lewis, collector indicted in major antiquities bust

Lee Rosenbaum at CultureGrrl has obtained a list from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts of works that were loaned by Joseph Lewis II, who was indicted last week with three dealers. There are 8 artifacts, all of which appear to be Egyptian. Many have ambiguous and suspect provenances in Swiss collections conveniently dated before 1970; Dr. David Gill questions exactly which Swiss collections these are, and whether they belonged to Swiss dealers'. The museum stated that they were all accepted in "good faith". Please. Anyone even slightly involved in this business knows that Switzerland has no policy on importing and exporting antiquities, making it the perfect destination for dealers who need to fake provenances. These pieces may or may not have been looted, but the museum should have been much more thorough in researching the origins of their pieces, regardless of the owner, as opposed to blindly accepting objects "in good faith". Have we learned nothing from all the major museum scandals over the past decade?

More information on Moussa "Morris" Khouli

Rick St. Hilaire, a cultural heritage lawyer, has an incredibly useful post on Moussa "Morris" Khouli, one of the men indicted in the antiquities ring bust. He gives a wonderful summation of the indictment papers and elaborates on the details of Mr. Khouli's dealing business, which he accomplished through two companies, Windsor Antiques and Palmyra Heritage. Paul Barford points out that Palmyra Heritage is still active on Ebay.

Read up, younguns.

MOU with Greece and Zahi Hawass kicked like a bad habit

This week is mad money for events concerning the illicit antiquities trade. First, there was that major bust in the U.S. (go team). Now, Hillary Clinton has signed an MOU with Greece (yay!) and everyone is in a tizzy after Zahi Hawass was fired as Egyptian antiquities minister (ack).

First, the good news: this week, Hillary Clinton signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Greece to reduce incentive for pillaging Greece's archaeological heritage and the sale of its artifacts in the U.S. Essentially, this means that the Department of Homeland Security will publish a list in the Federal Register of the types of archaeological materials that require documentation to be brought into the country. Every country has the option to request import restrictions in the U.S.; their requests are reviewed by the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, who generally accept requests from countries who promote the development and sustainment of safeguarding cultural heritage. Once the bi-lateral agreement has been set up, it lasts only five or so years, after which the request must be renewed. Which is, frankly, really dumb, because five years is an incredibly short amount of time. Regardless, this MOU with Greece is fantastic news!

Second, Zahi Hawass was fired by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf in a massive cabinet shuffle that flushed the Egyptian ministry of its last ties to Mubarak. As of this writing, there has been no statement on Hawass's firing on his personal website. For those of you baby scholars who are just getting into this stuff, Zahi Hawass has garnered a lot of mixed reactions in his time as minister of antiquities. He is best known for his brash nitpicking over Egyptian antiquities in other countries and his repeated calls for the return of Egypt's best known artifacts from European countries, particularly the bust of Nefertiti in Berlin. His media blitzing and brashness has both raised awareness of the illicit antiquities trade and hugely annoyed the academic community. Most articles you'll see on him this week will begrudgingly admit that he has done wonders for the tourist trade in Egypt, but go on to point out that many see him as a media-driven character that has less interest in preserving and maintaining Egypt's archaeological sites than in branding himself. After the riots during the revolution that led to the break-in to the Egyptian museum and the severe increase in looting at many of Egypt's major historical sites, Hawass received a lot of criticism for his poor handling of the disaster. His firing has been a long time coming.

Personally, just talking about Hawass makes me tired because the dude is so obnoxious and so hard to suss out. In my undergraduate opinion, the success of this decision could swing either way. Ultimately, I think what Egypt needs right now is an antiquities minister who is unarguably focused on Egypt, who will be a strong, economically aware leader, and who will not embarrass the country by throwing little media fits to get attention and attract tourists. Hawass's bold, nontraditional ways may have been effective in peacetime, but it is obvious that the man cannot operate in a war zone. Egypt needs a leader that is very aware of the strengths and weaknesses of its archaeological sites and institutions, and who will make their care in an unstable political environment a priority over his or her own international reputation. Whether or not this kind of person will be able to step up to the job is the big question right now.

A Candid Review of Chasing Aphrodite

I’ve been reading a lot of wonderful reviews over the summer for Chasing Aphrodite, by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino. (I particularly recommend Derek Fincham’s review, which I think best sums up the superiority of this text as a highly efficient and effective journalistic take on the Getty’s scandals.) Now that I have finally read it for myself, Chasing Aphrodite didn’t let me down. Everything everyone has been saying in various reviews applies to my view as well: it is a beautifully written tome that seamlessly organizes decades of complicated transgressions and scandals into one fluid linear narrative. Magically, this is done without any dryness or sensationalism whatsoever. All the complicated U.S. and international laws on antiquities and trafficking are described briefly and effectively; the personal in-fighting and politics at the Getty are mentioned when necessary but not hyped up for a glorified gossip fest; and though the personal views of the authors are somewhat transparent in their treatment of figures like Philippe de Montebello and James Cuno (I’m not disagreeing or anything though), they have still set themselves far enough back to give a fair and thorough account.

The perks that no one with a Master’s degree likes to talk about are the truly endearing and irrelevant bits of information that infuse the book with a beautiful sense of humanity. I found myself “awwing” out loud when Daniela Rizzo and Maurizio Pellegrini fall in love while matching photos of antiquities from Giacomo Medici’s raided warehouse to photos of works at the Getty over pizza during all-nighters. That’s my ultimate idea of romance. I’m not kidding. At the end of the book, I was particularly tickled by the mention of Tom Cruise and Katie Holme’s wedding, which took place during the final stages of the legal battle over the Getty’s looted Italian artifacts. I was even more tickled when the authors referred to them as “TomKat” and described the totally surreal scene of two beaten down lawyers trying to figure out their case in a hotel lobby, surrounded by celebrities in town for the nuptials.

Quirks aside, I firmly believe that every student interested in the illicit antiquities trade should read this book. It is non-negotiable in fostering your understanding of the issues. Not only is it well-written and entertaining, but it describes the trade from the top down better than any other book I’ve read so far. Without sparing any detail of how complicated, intricate, and straight up confusing the trade can be, the authors have clearly and eloquently laid out all the types of major contenders, the roles they play, how they play them, and the consequences. They do a particularly good job of demonstrating how badly equipped police forces are in dealing with these issues and how ineffective the law has been in staunching the flow of artifacts from ground to collector. In this book, you will learn what took me years and multiple books and articles to understand: how the trade is configured, how it operates, the names and roles of the most important people who were operating and benefitting from the trade, and how it came to be this way.

Most importantly, though the Getty scandal is unique, the points of view expressed by many of the people in the book are not. This all happened just a few years ago, and I get the feeling that many museums and institutions are already acting like it’s as historical as Napoleon dragging whole temples back with him from Egypt. There’s this sense of “people just don’t do that anymore”, which is totally false and incredibly dangerous. College students, I’m talking to you. Study the people in this book. Take your time to note the best and worst parts of this world we’ll soon be stepping into, because even though it has changed, in many ways it is still the same. (Especially because James Cuno is now at the Getty.) We need to prepare ourselves for the kind of politics, hypocrisy, and temptations that we’ll find there, and begin building and solidifying our own ethical codes while we’re still dirt poor and not in a position to accept great sums of money for doing questionable things at major institutions.

Twitter

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International Antiquities Trafficking Ring Busted in U.S.

Two days ago, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced (found via Derek Fincham) that they have made arrests in the first major bust of an antiquities trafficking ring in the U.S. Four men were indicted and three arrested: Salem Alshdaifat, an antiquities dealer who operated Holyhead Numismatics in Michigan; Joseph Lewis, a collector and benefactor of Egyptian antiquities; Mousa Kouli, an antiquities dealer who operated Windsor Antiquities in new York; and Ayman Ramadan, a Jordanian antiquities dealer who operated Nafertiti Eastern Sculptures Trading in Dubai. Ramadan is a fugitive. All four face multiple counts of smuggling and money laundering and face up to 20 years in prison. ICE and Homeland Security agents seized Egyptian, Middle Eastern, and Asian artifacts along with more than a thousand ancient coins in the bust.

Those of you who are already involved in combatting these issues know just how mega exciting this kind of news is. For those of you in the nascent stages of discovering these issues, I can tell you right now that underneath every somber word of every blogger reporting on this bust is the barely suppressed, hardly verbal exclamation of "AHSDFGSFG YEAH THAT'S RIGHT YOU GUYS! WE'VE GOT YOUR NUMBER. YOU ALL BEST WATCH YOUR ASS NOW BECAUSE ETHICS AND LEARNING AND PRESERVATION OF OUR HISTORY WILL PREVAIL. BOO YA!"

But really, this is serious business.

Why is this bust so important? Because instead of just being able to charge, say, the dealer/middleman, authorities were able to lock down on the biggest players in the scenario. The illicit antiquities trade looks (very) roughly like this:

The U.S. authorities, with help from Egypt, were able to take out the broker, the conduit, the dealer, AND a collector, effectively shutting down a major arm of the illicit antiquities trade.

Larry Rothfield has pointed out some of the most exciting and truly enlightening aspects of this bust, particularly how it definitively demonstrates the international scale of the trade on all levels, from the individuals involved to the artifacts being sold. Check out his blog, as well as this CNN article.

Summer Book List For Historically-Inclined

I spent basically the entire month of June recovering from spring term by vegging out in front of Netflix, eating kale chips, and reading Maeve Binchy novels. The entire month of June. I'm not even kidding. Thankfully for my brain cells, I'm fully recovered now, so it's time to start reading something mildly serious again to get my mind back in shape by September. Unfortunately, the things I really want to read (Two Essay: Chief and Greed, by Edmund Carpenter, who recently passed away; Who Owns Objects?: The Ethics and Politics of Collecting Cultural Artefacts, by Eleanor Robinson; and many books by Colin Renfrew) aren't carried by Central Massachusetts public libraries, but I have managed to find some things that have been on my book list for forever. (Forever being a year or two ago.)

Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum, by Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino

Felch and Frammolino were the two reporters who led a Los Angeles Times investigation that revealed the Getty Museum's illicit purchases of looted

Greek and Roman antiquities. This book chronicles the indictment of Marion True and the controversy surrounding the return of various pieces to Italy, including a statue of Aphrodite bought by True in order to put the Getty on the map. I have read about this controversy and Marion True in many articles, but am really looking forward to just getting it all straight in one sitting with one source.

Thieves of Baghdad, by Matthew Bogdanos with William Patrick

Matthew Bogdanos is a lawyer, student of ancient civilizations, and Marine Corps Reserve colonel who gave himself the mission of finding antiquities that had been stolen from the Iraq National Museum after the American invasion. Aka my hero. This book covers his mission and investigation into the illicit antiquities trade in Iraq.

Whose Muse? Art Museums and the Public Trust, edited by James Cuno

Earlier this spring, I read Whose Culture?: The Promise of Museums and the Debate Over Antiquities, also edited by Cuno, and was about halfway through his introduction when I realized that this was the first book I'd ever read about the illicit antiquities trade that I really didn't agree with most of the time. Realizing this rendered me ecstatic. I will be using Whose Culture? quite heavily in researching my senior work, and so decided Whose Muse? looked like a great summer read to supplement my understanding of contrary opinions.

Unfamiliar Fishes, by Sarah Vowell (I already read it, but I think you should too.)

Vowell's latest book chronicles the colonization of Hawaii by American missionaries in the 19th century, ending with the year of Hawaii's annexation in 1898.

I was lucky enough to be given a copy of this book by my friend Eric while we were still at school (thank you, Eric!), but only got through the first forty pages at the time because a) finals, man, and b) my first opinion of the book was heavily impacted by the review in the New York Times, which wasn't glowing. The reviewer, a Hawaiian, painted the book as slightly obnoxious, if entertaining, and lacking in scholarly merit. It may have been that finals had me feeling overly sensitive about everything, but the first time I tried to read it, I was a little uncomfortable about the way Vowell treats Hawaiian culture the same way she treats American culture in her earlier books; slightly mocking, full of that social criticism flavor, rife with comparisons to the cheaper aspects of pop culture, sometimes admiring. My gut reaction was that you're only supposed to do that to your own culture. Kind of like how you're the only one who's allowed to beat up your little brother. But yesterday I read a review of Unfamiliar Fishes by Alex Golub on Savage Minds; Golub, a professor of anthropology at the University of Hawaii, compared two books on haoles, or white people in Hawaii, and declared Vowell's the winner. Unlike the NYT reviewer, he attests to the validity of her research, the depth of information, and the breadth of voices she brings in to flesh out her story.

So I decided to give it another go, and finished it today. I have to preface anything I say by telling you that I am one of Vowell's biggest fans. Her book Assassination Vacation changed my life by finally getting me interested in American history and giving me the validation I had craved as an adolescent for often liking really old things a little too much. Like, so much so that I was always singled out for it, just like Vowell. Unfamiliar Fishes didn't disappoint me, and I hope it won't disappoint you either. Though it lacks the utterly perfect combination of wit and fact contained in Assassination, it is not as dry and pedantic as The Wordy Shipmates. It strikes me as the most mature and even-tempered piece by Vowell as she continues her particularly unique brand of social criticism, history, and cool kid word smithing. Though it is incredibly entertaining, it does not treat the fall of Hawaii lightly. There is genuine admiration in Vowell's voice for the Hawaiian nation, and genuine sympathy as she discusses the factors that led to its annexation. Additionally, though there is quite a lot of information, it's a relatively quick and easy read. Perfect for a beach. I highly recommend it for your summer reading.

2011 Smithsonian Folklife Festival!

If any of you are in the Washington, D.C. metro area this week, you should totes go check out the Folklife Festival on the Mall, which is resuming tomorrow the 7th through the 11th. This year's festival is focusing on Colombia, The Peace Corps, and Rhythm and Blues! I was an intern for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage a few years ago (under the wonderful Betty Belanus and Dorey Butter - hi!), and I can't begin to tell you how hard these people work to create such an amazing event. The first year I went, I saw the prince of Bhutan give the most beautiful welcome speech. So go check it out and tell everybody and everything that I say hi and I miss it!

PRO TIP: If getting there by Metro, don't get off at the Smithsonian station unless you want to do battle with other tourists getting out. Have some patience and wait one more ride for L'Enfant Plaza, then find the exit for Maryland Ave/7th and walk a couple blocks to arrive slightly sweaty but largely unbothered by clamoring crowds.