17th June 2012, 12:08 AM
(This post was last modified: 17th June 2012, 12:10 AM by earthscraper.)
This is terrible news, coming right out of the blue and only a short time after the Birmingham field unit itself was decimated. I feel shocked that such an important and well-established institution could be so easily dispensed with. Having once worked for the unit before it was dismantled, that closure struck me then as an act of cultural vandalism. Now we have the sequel - to the great detriment of students as well as staff. The Institute is highly valued in the discipline and only a short time ago many of us were there for the most recent TAG conference. How has it come to this? What, one wonders, has been going on at Birmingham behind the scenes?
It’s worth following the link to the save the IAA campaign website at http://saveiaa.wordpress.com/
There,amidst details about the speed of the review and lack of consultation, you will find the (not entirely unexpected) revelation:
“The composition of the review panel consisted largely of senior members of the unit under review”
I take it from this that the people playing a large part in closing the Institute down are basically the same senior academic archaeologists who closed the field operations down. This isn’t just a case of powerful external forces putting the squeeze on archaeology. Some of the prime movers in the wave of destruction are archaeologists themselves, though clearly of high enough status and position for their own jobs not to be threatened.
Surely the archaeological community should hold them to account?
It’s worth following the link to the save the IAA campaign website at http://saveiaa.wordpress.com/
There,amidst details about the speed of the review and lack of consultation, you will find the (not entirely unexpected) revelation:
“The composition of the review panel consisted largely of senior members of the unit under review”
I take it from this that the people playing a large part in closing the Institute down are basically the same senior academic archaeologists who closed the field operations down. This isn’t just a case of powerful external forces putting the squeeze on archaeology. Some of the prime movers in the wave of destruction are archaeologists themselves, though clearly of high enough status and position for their own jobs not to be threatened.
Surely the archaeological community should hold them to account?