key concepts in public archaeology: the archaeological profession and human rights

Human rights intertwine with archaeology around the work that is done, the material on which the work is done, the material that the work produces, the labourers who do the work and the communities amongst whom the work is done; equally, they intersect over the work that is not done, the material that is neglected, the narratives that are untold and the people who are marginalised.

I’m happy to say that I’ve contributed a chapter on the archaeological profession and human rights to key concepts in public archaeology, which is open access (OA), edited by Gabe Moshenska and published by UCL Press. (And he says that I don’t blog often enough, though he does have a proper job.)

‘Can someone who has either worked or who is working in the Heritage sector give me some advice and a straight answer?’

Someone has heard an anonymous would-be museum worker’s plea to colleagues to ‘stop pretending there are jobs when there aren’t’ and asked,

Can someone who has either worked or who is working in the Heritage sector give me some advice and a straight answer – I have just been accepted to start my MA in Sept for Heritage Management and secured a part time voluntary position with National Trust but despite this – I feel there isn’t enough or any at all full time positions available in this sector???

Cultural workers’ hunger strike in Turkey: averted or postponed?

Hyperallergic has published my update on the threatened hunger strike of cultural workers in Turkey. Thankfully, the government made last-minute concessions and the Association of Culture and Art Workers (Kültür Sanat Emekçileri Derneği) called off the strike. But if the concessions are not realised, the strike is back on, on the 18th of May 2015.

As I note in the article, the resistance (direniş) is ‘organising primarily around the hashtags #arkeologistihdamı (archaeologists’ employment), #sanattarihcilerkadrolarınınpeşinde (in pursuit of positions for art historians), and #arkeologlarvesanattarihcileraçlıkgrevinde (archaeologists and art historians are on hunger strike), though other telling ones are emerging, such as #duyunartıkbugençlerinsesini (hear these youths’ voice now)’.

Cultural Workers in Turkey Prepare for Hunger Strike over Underemployment

Hyperallergic have just published my news report on cultural heritage workers’ imminent hunger strike in Turkey. As I explain in the article, if the government does not show any sign of increasing cultural sector employment, at 1pm on the 9th of November, those workers (1) will begin to starve themselves in protest. Next, I’m going to try to explore the connections between archaeologists’ resistance, the Gezi Uprising and the policing of antiquities trafficking.

Word is spreading (update, 30th October 2014)

The Art Media Agency (AMA), artnet news and Arts Journal have picked up the story from Hyperallergic.

Notes

1: They are members of the Association of Culture and Art Workers, also known as Culture and Art Workers: the Association of Museum Employees, Archaeologists, Art Historians, Restorers and Visual Artists (Kültür Sanat Emekçileri Derneği (KSED) – Kültür Sanat Emekçileri; Müzeciler, Arkeologlar, Sanat Tarihçiler, Restoratörler ve Görsel Sanatçılar Derneği).

There is no such thing as a “Cider and Apple Juice Internship”. There is only unpaid manual labour.

I’ve got better things to do with my time than deal with this ridiculous bullshit (with which Doug Rocks-Macqueen @OpenAccessArch kindly infuriated me), so I’m going to be blunt. As Doug says, it is a new low – and that’s for the National Trust, which invented the Assistant Manager Intern.

There is no such thing as a “Cider and Apple Intern”, National Trust. That is manual labour, outdoors, in winter. Even the farms that exploit migrant seasonal workers pay them – but, of course, this ‘role is purely voluntary and this arrangement is not meant to be a legally binding one or an employment contract’.

‘the state has darkened archaeologists’ futures’: the employment campaign in Turkey

‘Archaeologists have enlightened Anatolian history… but the state has darkened archaeologists’ futures… [Anadolu tarihini arkeologlar aydınlattı… ama devlet arkeologların geleceğini kararttı…]’

As I will explain later today, from now on, I am going to be posting far less (even less) on unfree archaeology – though I will hopefully post some more about this particular subject. Indeed, hopefully, I will publish at least one article on resistance to unemployment in Turkey (and elsewhere).

Maney (Archaeology): unpaid internship in publishing

Maney Archaeology (@ManeyArchaeo) has advertised Maney’s (general) Leeds Graduate Internship Programme (ideally, in humanities publishing) and London Graduate Internship Programme (ideally, in science publishing).(1) I couldn’t immediately find Maney’s profit margin; but, for example, Elsevier makes 36% pure profit; and academic publishers in general are estimated to make about 20-30%; yet Maney’s interns are unpaid.

a gang extorted money from archaeologists for work in eastern Ukraine

An extortionist, who targeted archaeologists through their work, has been imprisoned for six-and-a-half years. The Mikolayev/Nikolaev District Court had previously convicted him of (and put him on probation for) ‘fraud [мошенничество]’. On the 29th of April 2014, the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction and sentence, which reflected the extortion and the violation of the conditions of his probation. This is not related to the crisis.

PIA Forum 2014: the experience of invisible, marginalised and undervalued labour in archaeology

Are you working/volunteering in archaeology, but feel your role/responsibility is *invisible* or under-valued? Get in touch! #PIAForum2014

— PIA (@piajournal) May 6, 2014

Volunteer, intern, worker? Invisible, marginalised, undervalued? The peer-reviewed, open-access Papers from the Institute of Archaeology (PIA @piajournal) want you to write about your experiences anonymously (or openly) for PIA Forum 2014 (#PIAForum2014). Contact senior editor Hana Koriech. This could be a step towards progress in the movement against free archaeology and other exploitation in cultural heritage labour.

Is it possible to protect public sources? Can it be ethical not to cite public sources?

Over on Conflict Antiquities, I’ve put up a note on the (open) question of how to acknowledge and/or protect public sources, who might be persecuted for statements on social media, and who might delete those statements in order to protect themselves. The problem is more one of unfree archaeology, so I’m not entirely sure why it’s over there, but there it is (in both senses).