16th April 2011, 07:02 PM
GnomeKing Wrote:Heritage, Connection and Belonging are deep Spiritual topics - our species is hard-wired to seek and respond to these cues - we react emotionally and bodily to them - this is the passion that has driven archaeologists
Indeed I think there might even be a case to be made for linking this observation to the concept of "localism" as well as mental health and the development of national identity. Have you come across the term "solastalgia"? It's problematic in itself, as these new terms often are, but I think it can be a useful concept here. To quote Wikipedia, which has a usefully short definition, it is "the distress that is produced by environmental change impacting on people while they are directly connected to their home environment". Losing out on heritage in both the generic sense of the actual objects, buildings, and places that comprise it as well as the detailed and nuanced understanding that you can get from the detailed study of pots/bones/soils/whatever is arguably very harmful in a wider social sense. In the original Australian study that led to the "solastalgia" term, the powerlessness of the local people and their inability to control the changes to their environment caused a measurable sense of harm. I think there is also a related case to be made that ordinary people would actually be interested in knowing more about the planning process, what really goes into it, and why certain things are material conditions in the first place. It ties into the whole "spiritual" aspects of a sense of belonging to a defined place, and feeling that you have a connection in some way to what is there.
Now, I can imagine a TAG paper on this but I'm not sure how to translate it into any kind of concrete action. But I do think that there is a very real way in which the stuff that comes out of developer-led archaeological projects can, and should, directly contribute to the general well-being of the locals (and the country as a whole, really).