17th March 2011, 12:56 PM
And a reply from someone who cares passionately but would like to remain anon (which I respect)
Let me preface it by saying that I don't mean to disregard or undervalue the great work done by so many friends around the world in so many ways, to keep archaeology alive. I am responding to a very specific set of current circumstances, and a great need for basically instant regrouping and paradigm-shifting in this country.
The problem with archaeology in this country is that there is no one in charge. No one is driving the bus. We have no real voice and don't matter in the national agenda because we are powerless - there is no point on our pyramid, no one to lead and pull everything in one direction. We CLEARLY cannot organise ourselves; despite the meetings upon meetings upon meetings with those that are well meaning and desperately want change, no one leaves meetings able to actually DO anything - because no organisation exists that empowers them to do so. This is basic organisational psychology.
Rhetoric from voluntary organisations constantly taking a touchy-feely party line are no good. What is the point of that? Promoting all the public good that they do is not helpful. In the end, who cares? This emphasis on doing public good and having public value at the heart of what we do is sop to the powers that be, to apologise for ourselves and try to display some benefit so that we will continue to be allowed to play with our 'contaminant'. If archaeology was profitable, if we were making real money in the same way as other professions, who would actually stop to build community projects, reach out to youth, care about local museums, etc? I know this is massively cynical, but it's the truth. Because the world at large of people who are in business, in self-regulated professions that don't worry about sustainability, do not understand the value or practical need for archaeology - we have take the softest, most apologetic road imaginable and in doing so have made ourselves look disposable, along with everything else in that vein like libraries and leisure centres. The list goes on.
Until there is a chartered organisation, until there are enforceable standards, until there is one set of rules that we must all sign up to, uphold, adhere to, believe in, that sets us on the same path together - and in direct relation to other, similarly skilled but more prestigious professions (engineering, architecture, etc) - it's all just pissing in the wind. But a chartered organisation isn't the full answer: it has to be run by people with drive, with backbone, who live in the real world and understand that in order to join it, we have to kick up our game about a million notches. Archaeology is not in step with the way the world works; this might have been OK for Mortimer Wheeler and the people of that ilk who started archaeology in this country, because they were the kind of people who MADE the rules, had their own money and came from the upper classes, and had pull where it counted. I can think of a few people among my acquaintances, people who are doers, who understand the word DELIVERY, who would be perfect to take on a task like this, and I only hope that they make their way to positions of influence in the very near future.
Let me preface it by saying that I don't mean to disregard or undervalue the great work done by so many friends around the world in so many ways, to keep archaeology alive. I am responding to a very specific set of current circumstances, and a great need for basically instant regrouping and paradigm-shifting in this country.
The problem with archaeology in this country is that there is no one in charge. No one is driving the bus. We have no real voice and don't matter in the national agenda because we are powerless - there is no point on our pyramid, no one to lead and pull everything in one direction. We CLEARLY cannot organise ourselves; despite the meetings upon meetings upon meetings with those that are well meaning and desperately want change, no one leaves meetings able to actually DO anything - because no organisation exists that empowers them to do so. This is basic organisational psychology.
Rhetoric from voluntary organisations constantly taking a touchy-feely party line are no good. What is the point of that? Promoting all the public good that they do is not helpful. In the end, who cares? This emphasis on doing public good and having public value at the heart of what we do is sop to the powers that be, to apologise for ourselves and try to display some benefit so that we will continue to be allowed to play with our 'contaminant'. If archaeology was profitable, if we were making real money in the same way as other professions, who would actually stop to build community projects, reach out to youth, care about local museums, etc? I know this is massively cynical, but it's the truth. Because the world at large of people who are in business, in self-regulated professions that don't worry about sustainability, do not understand the value or practical need for archaeology - we have take the softest, most apologetic road imaginable and in doing so have made ourselves look disposable, along with everything else in that vein like libraries and leisure centres. The list goes on.
Until there is a chartered organisation, until there are enforceable standards, until there is one set of rules that we must all sign up to, uphold, adhere to, believe in, that sets us on the same path together - and in direct relation to other, similarly skilled but more prestigious professions (engineering, architecture, etc) - it's all just pissing in the wind. But a chartered organisation isn't the full answer: it has to be run by people with drive, with backbone, who live in the real world and understand that in order to join it, we have to kick up our game about a million notches. Archaeology is not in step with the way the world works; this might have been OK for Mortimer Wheeler and the people of that ilk who started archaeology in this country, because they were the kind of people who MADE the rules, had their own money and came from the upper classes, and had pull where it counted. I can think of a few people among my acquaintances, people who are doers, who understand the word DELIVERY, who would be perfect to take on a task like this, and I only hope that they make their way to positions of influence in the very near future.