Politics of the Past

Peter Gathercole, Darwin College, Cambridge. David Lowenthal, University College London.

'This book deals with ideas about cultural control and ownership and the reconstruction of past reality...Anyone who still thinks the past is, or can be, apolitical would do well to read it, whether their interest is in portable objects, in monuments or in abstract ideas.' - Antiquity`An anthology containing vital material' - Tim Megarry, Greenwich University'The essays in this volume are valuable and thought-provoking. - American Antiquity'...these volumes retain their contemporary relevance and their value as collections or related papers.' - Harry Allen, Anthropology Department, University of Auckland.'Well worth reading' - Man

• Introduction THE HERITAGE OF EUROCENTRITY 1 The Western world view in archaeological atlases 2 Public presentations and private concerns: archaeology in the pages of National Geographic 3 American nationality and ethnicity in the depicted past 4 Afro-Americans in the Massachusetts historical landscape 5 Black people and museums: the Caribbean Heritage Project in Southampton 6 ‘Volk und Germanentum’: the presentation of the past in Nazi Germany RULERS AND RULED 7 Maori control of the Maori heritage 8 Nga Tukemata: Nga Taonga o Ngati Kahungunu (The awakening: the treasures of Ngati Kahungunu) 9 God’s police and damned whores: images of archaeology in Hawaii 10 Aboriginal perceptions of the past: the implications for cultural resource management in Australia 11 Search for the missing link: archaeology and the public in Lebanon 12 The legacy of Eve 13 Museums: two case studies of reaction to colonialism POLITICS AND ADMINISTRATION 14 Cultural education in West Africa: archaeological perspectives 15 The development of museums in Botswana: dilemmas and tensions in a front-line state 16 A past abandoned? Some experiences of a regional museum in Botswana Sandy Grant 17 Archaeology and museum work in the Solomon Islands 18 Fifty years of conservation experience on Easter Island (Rapa Nui), Chile ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE PEOPLE 19 Didactic presentations of the past: some retrospective considerations in relation to the Archaeological and Ethnographical Museum, Lódz, Poland 20 Reconstruction as interpretation: the example of the Jorvik Viking Centre, York 21 Fort Loudoun, Tennessee, a mid-18th century British fortification: a case study in research archaeology, reconstruction, and interpretive exhibits 22 Conservation and information in the display of prehistoric sites 23 The epic of the Ekpu: ancestor figures of Oron, south-east. Conclusion: archaeologists and others