31st January 2009, 12:30 PM
Hi everyone,
I have focussed upon ethics as it is a thought process not currently considered within DCMS guidelines when considering a case for reburial. After writing a rough draft of ideas for reburial back in 1997, I spent the next 9 years contemplating various issues I came across while studing native american and australian aboriginal ideas. These tribes had a very strong case for reburial - the ancestors exhumed / displayed / researched did not belong to those who appropriated them. In England, the ancestors are indeed genetically linked to both Druids and archaeologists / curators allike. They are our ancestors - everybodies. My arguement for genetics (that simply supports ideas of ethics and belief - see the consultation on EH website for details), is important because it embodies within the self the idea of ancestry, and through belief, locates the ancestors within landscape familiar to us all. Genetics can be argued either side of the 'fence', but becomes meaningful when linked not only with place but with self. DNA is the physical link, and rebirth the spirityual. While genetics are physical proof of identity, rebirth is a system of belief we either understand / do not understand / agree with / disagree with. No one system of thinking should claim sole ownership or dominate another, and this point refers to my references to the Human Rights Act (articles 9 and 10 if I remember correctly), and these laws are much more powerful than guidelines, or the poorl;ly considered Human Tissues Act that permits retention and display.
I this way, my request for reburial is inspired from North America and Australia and the polemic is firmly balanced within modern thinking, and not an imagined past. The term Celtic can be taken as meaningful to many Druids (it is certainly romantic) or disregarded as imagined. I prefer the term 'imaginative processes through wich we create our own sense of identity in the world (Amy Remensynder 1996 speculum.) It's social and religious anthropology.
My articulation of reburial does not belong to me, CoBDO or any other group. It is an idea that should be shared equally, that no one group, individual or ego can ever own. (Keep a carefull watch to see who else tries to claim the ancestors as their own!) I seek only to promote eveness in such matters which is why I placed this idea in the public domain. My crucafix awaits, I'm sure. Excuse typos folks - im working from expensive internet cafes
Paul Davies /|\
Reburial Officer
Council of British Druid Orders
Genetics
Celtic
Modern not prehistoric
Our ancestors
Oddie
I have focussed upon ethics as it is a thought process not currently considered within DCMS guidelines when considering a case for reburial. After writing a rough draft of ideas for reburial back in 1997, I spent the next 9 years contemplating various issues I came across while studing native american and australian aboriginal ideas. These tribes had a very strong case for reburial - the ancestors exhumed / displayed / researched did not belong to those who appropriated them. In England, the ancestors are indeed genetically linked to both Druids and archaeologists / curators allike. They are our ancestors - everybodies. My arguement for genetics (that simply supports ideas of ethics and belief - see the consultation on EH website for details), is important because it embodies within the self the idea of ancestry, and through belief, locates the ancestors within landscape familiar to us all. Genetics can be argued either side of the 'fence', but becomes meaningful when linked not only with place but with self. DNA is the physical link, and rebirth the spirityual. While genetics are physical proof of identity, rebirth is a system of belief we either understand / do not understand / agree with / disagree with. No one system of thinking should claim sole ownership or dominate another, and this point refers to my references to the Human Rights Act (articles 9 and 10 if I remember correctly), and these laws are much more powerful than guidelines, or the poorl;ly considered Human Tissues Act that permits retention and display.
I this way, my request for reburial is inspired from North America and Australia and the polemic is firmly balanced within modern thinking, and not an imagined past. The term Celtic can be taken as meaningful to many Druids (it is certainly romantic) or disregarded as imagined. I prefer the term 'imaginative processes through wich we create our own sense of identity in the world (Amy Remensynder 1996 speculum.) It's social and religious anthropology.
My articulation of reburial does not belong to me, CoBDO or any other group. It is an idea that should be shared equally, that no one group, individual or ego can ever own. (Keep a carefull watch to see who else tries to claim the ancestors as their own!) I seek only to promote eveness in such matters which is why I placed this idea in the public domain. My crucafix awaits, I'm sure. Excuse typos folks - im working from expensive internet cafes
Paul Davies /|\
Reburial Officer
Council of British Druid Orders
Genetics
Celtic
Modern not prehistoric
Our ancestors
Oddie