ethnic minority

[judy]

As you all must have gathered by now I am from ?Magrathia?, my people and I do things and not just talk about them. So if you want me to make a move about the BM you better be sure. Who?s in charge here any way? When I talk on your behalf who shall I say we/you are? Come on some help here; e-mail me if you are shy.:face-thinks:

sniper :
Why do we always assume some thing is wrong, I?ve never thought I?ll enjoy British Archaeology when circumstances happened and I changed my studies from near eastern archaeology to British archaeology and I loved every minute of it, admittedly I haven?t dug in winter yet and never got my self stuck in a whole, like some of the people here, but I?m sure I?ll get there one day.
But as troll said, white middle class are the teachers of archaeology in this country and some of them are?. (I whish I?m not job hunting), they think only white middle class should study archaeology?.lets leave it at that.

troll: (are you using Mac?)
I am tempted by your enthusiasm about the ethnic minority paper, but I don?t think I should write it now, maybe after I found work, I?ll be in a better state of mind to do it, otherwise I?ll be using a lot of ?Is it because I is black ent? terminology.[:0]

Mysteryman:
Why are you worried about students from outside we are talking about British Archaeology and British students, I don?t know who are you talking about dear.


Spare a job Please

[Cautionary Tale]

quote:Originally posted by troll
list of good points

I'd also add the mixed nature of the Hadrians Wall workforce/army units.

I tend to agree with the broad sentiment from Mysteryman - harsh financial realities must influence career choices, irrespective of background/gender etc.

I'm not sure about the ease of accessing the sort of information to help with the exact racial breakdown of the workforce, although there should be a record in larger companies when they do HR surveys etc.

(I really have worked in the field)

[kevin wooldridge]

Whilst on this subject. This morning, the second best archaeological discussion site posted links to 2 recent speeches by David Lammy, Heritage Minister. Both speeches make reference to the under representation of minorities in museum and heritage employment.

http://lyxus.net/bah

http://lyxus.net/bai

[leg11aug]

Hi Y'all.
".. white middle class are the teachers of archaeology in this country and some of them are?. (I whish I?m not job hunting), they think only white middle class should study archaeology?.lets leave it at that".

Nah, lets not.I Totally agree that there is an outrageously small proportion of non-white ethnic groups represented in archaeology, I,ve commented on it for years. there are over 40 people on the course I'm taking, they are all, without exception, white.
Where I start getting a bit chippy is where the "white middle class" is casually blamed for everything.
I am of a white middle class background, what do you want, an apology?
don't hold your breath. I went into archaeology for all the same reasons you did (mainly because I love it,you don't do it for the money right?)and I don't see how my background makes anything I say/do/think any more, or less, valid than anyone elses.
If you really do know of people in the profession who think like that I think you have a duty to expose them,however, please refer to them as bigots and stop lumping them in with a huge chunk of the population.


When the going gets weird...

[Reggie]

One of the most high profile archaeologists from an ethnic background has got to be Raksha Dave, one of the newer members of the Time Team....

**ducks**



There is no doubt that Time Team has taken archaeology to a much wider audience than can be categorised as "white middle class" (whatever that is in this day and age...) so you never know, Raksha might inspire a whole new generation of archaeologists from ethnic backgrounds. But at the end of the day you can take a horse to water but you can't make them drink....

On the subject of venue for the conf -
London - no thanks - travel costs are expensive and pretty much everything costs more when you do get there. I am on diggers wages after all....
York - yes please - I live 15 miles away. Somewhere like College of York St John could provide an idea venue in the city centre and there are plenty of cheap places to stay for less local peeps. Plus by then there should be a new "Big Dig" to visit.

[sniper]

well, I will get back on the case for venues in York. Will do some asking about York St John. Not too cheap to stay in York unless you do some asking around, I know a good few places, but no, you can't all come and sleep on my floor

++ i spend my days rummaging around in dead people ++

[kevin wooldridge]

quote: Raksha might inspire a whole new generation of archaeologists from ethnic backgrounds. But at the end of the day you can take a horse to water but you can't make them drink....

David Lammy makes the observation that 'the crisis of Britishness' where many Brits from minority ethic groups feel alienated from the mainstream of British culture is a challenge to the heritage sector. He states '..if you are not part of the solution to this crisis of Britishness, you are part of the problem'.

He also says, 'Heritage comes from the same root as inheritance. It's about what we want to pass on to future generations. Our responsibility for heritage extends not just to the preservation of ancient bricks and mortar but to the custodianship of a legacy of ideas about Britain and Britishness'.

'When I meet leaders of cultural organisations I am far too often the only black person in the room. The argument that there is not a sufficient pool of ...talent to draw on simply does not wash. There are countless creative, experienced and qualified black men and women up and down the country ready to rise to the challenge, but all too often they are held down by glass ceilings and institutional prejudices'

'Until the workforce of our cultural institutions is more reflective of society as a whole they will be falling short of their obligations as bodies in receipt of funding raised by universal taxation'.

It seems that at least one Labour Minister wants to make discussion of some of the central tenets of culture and heritage policy part of this current government's agenda. And maybe that's not such a bad thing. The lack of progress in broadening the cultural origins of the heritage workforce could appear to be interpreted as complacency on the part of the existing employees. Archaeology should begin to address this problem before we become as outdated in cultural terms as the once popular 'Black and White Minstrel Show' (My view not Mr Lammy's, I hasten to add).

Perhaps as a starter universities could add 'Discuss' to any of the points he raises and include in next years Archaeology finals.

[sniper]

which comes back to the question I and others have asked on here: how can we create a more ethnically diverse workforce? I find it difficult to believe that "non-white" diggers exist in droves but they can't get jobs because of prejudice, and indeed, the makeup of archaeology student populations would suggest that they are not there to look for the jobs in the first place.
AS others have said, part of the problem is that you open a textbook or watch a documentary about past periods in Britain, and everyone is white. The trailers for the new Rome drama series didn't appear to show a single non-white face. The archaeological evidence certainly exists for a very diverse population in Britain from a very early period. Just today, for example, a colleague and I found 2 skulls who were very probably from mixed-race or negroid (anatomical term) individuals from a British medieval population. The evidence just doesn't seem to be filtering through to those "in charge" of writing texts and making programmes. We need to inspire kids, and if they are only seeing white faces, it is certainly going to have an effect.

++ i spend my days rummaging around in dead people ++

[leg11aug]

Quite. the media is the problem. as far as on-screen representation goes anyway. Is it really as simple as a under-representation of ones own ethnic group though? I'm pretty sure that my own interest in the past was fuelled by a fascination with people generally, ethnic background was really never a factor. I find it hard to believe that a generation of children/people is so dependant on the media, that the media forms the yardstick by which it measures its its own life choices. Well, I hope it doesn't anyhow, maybe I'm showing my age. There really IS something wrong though, as attested by my earlier post regarding the ethnic make-up of the uni course I'm on; that and 15 odd years in the field, during which I may have met as many as 2 non-white personnel. Can't be right.

When the going gets weird...

[disheartened]

Are we talking about ethnic minorities in archaeological populations or in today's archaeological workplace? Or both? And are we restricting ourselves on the basis of colour here? And in the digging world, or outside the commercial digging world? My personal experience is that I've met at least as many non-Irish as Irish diggers, at every level from the bottom to the top. The last site I worked on had French, German, Polish, Swedes, Brits, an American cowboy, a Finn, as well as Irish. I've also worked with New Zealanders and Aussies, a couple of Canadians, Danes, Spaniards... I see a change when you try to move into non-commercial, government-type stuff. They prefer Irish degrees, which generally tends to mean they will employ an Irish person, as very few people come to Ireland to study archaeology.