Who you calling Conservationist?
One of the earliest things you learn when you enter the conservation field is that those who do “conservation” of objects/artefacts are referred to as “conservators” and are not ever, on pain of ridicule, to be called “conservationists”, because, that term refers to the environmental ‘conservation movement’.
Lately I have really begun to consider the, well to be honest, foolishness of such a distinction. It seems in some ways that the cultural conservation world wishes to distance itself from a ‘movement’, it’s as if having international support from ordinary people is a bad thing! I had come to think that in fact the cultural heritage conservation world has a lot to learn from the natural heritage conservation world, particularly in relation to thinking holistically and thinking big picture.
I recently became a member of the Forum Unesco University and Heritage Network (FUUH), and found that to my pleasant surprise and interest, there appears to be the beginnings of a melting away of such distinctions that is occurring within the writings of this network, and the development of what is to my mind the essential idea of a holistic approach to cultural and natural heritage management. A network that, it should be noted, includes professions and universities interested in the conservation of both cultural and natural heritage.
In fact a recent declaration document from the FUUH had the following to say:
“Heritage management, which is not separable from the notion of habitat, should be an integrated management including all components of society, with the same qualitative and quantitative objective.”
With this interest in mind I was very pleased to stumble upon, whilst searching Jstor for papers to do with ethics, several papers from the natural heritage conservation world that were addressing exactly the ideas that were kicking around inside my head. This interested me, and it’s an idea I would like to explore further at some point, I think such interesting parallels have the potential to be explored further especially as the conservation of cultural heritage world continues to be looking for ways to green conservation, I shall attempt to return to these issues when the British Museum publishes the papers of their conference on ‘Going Green’ in conservation.
So to close for those with access to Jstor here is an example of one of the papers I found (I apologize to those readers without access to Jstor, however, the abstract that the link goes to will give you an overview of the paper):
Author(s): Bruce A. Byers, Robert N. Cunliffe, Andrew T. Hudak
Source: Human Ecology, Vol. 29, No. 2 (Jun., 2001), pp. 187-218
Published by: Springer
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4603393
Reading this excites me!! I am currently a student majoring in both Human Ecology and Natural Ecology. I have also always seen the link between natural and cultural conservation. First world countries have been entering third world nations and attempting the conserve the wildlife with no consideration of the impact this would have on the people’s culture — and frankly our conservatione efforts are not working all too well.
I believe it is because we are missing something. We are missing the fundamental link between the culture and the nature that all species inhabit. Still being in the university setting, I have seen serveral professors and studies that are starting to become multidisciplinary and incoperate both of these ideas. I hope to see more. It is nice to know that there are others out there who think the same way!
I will check out the rest of your blog and look forward to more entries!
Thanks for the comment, and I think you’re exactly right. To put it simply I think natural conservation can only be undertaken in light of cultural conditions, and cultural conservation in light of natural conditions. I think this big picture interdisciplinary thinking is really exciting too.
Glad you got something from the post!
All the best, Dan
If you have a chance it would be great to know the titles of the other articles you found! Thanks
I will do asap… they’re on a different computer, and that one was the only one I had on this computer. So when I get a chance I’ll locate them.
Cheers, Dan.
Apparently this is the only other one I saved… hope that helps.
The Catch-22 of Conservation: Indigenous Peoples, Biologists, and Cultural Change Author(s): Flora Lu Holt Source: Human Ecology, Vol. 33, No. 2 (Apr., 2005), pp. 199-215 Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4603566
Cheers, Dan.
Great that you mention this, we just talked about this with friends in March! One of them is working on environmental conservation, and his wife happens to be an architectural conservator. They used to work together. I am sure they have lots to say about it. I will forward your blog to them.
O- and I liked my avatar! I am a unicorn bacteria with perplexed rainbow eyes!
I look forward to hearing their thoughts… and if they happen to know any other papers that might discuss such issues.
Cheers, Dan.
Thanks Dan! And yes Ozge have your friends share their thoughts! We need more discussion on these topics!
This is another article I found that is interesting…
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/02/0206_040206_tvasmatgps.html
“Their culture and their environment are two sides of one coin. If one is destroyed, the other is jeopardized,” said John Burke Burnett, IPCA founder and director.