New matter for discussion in the Assemblages forum: Privatization and Nationalization.
Over the last decade, a primary thread of archaeological criticism has been to deplore the appropriation of various pasts by contemporary politics. These criticisms tended to focus almost exclusively nationalism and claims made by institutionalized political actors upon archaeological materials. So what are we to make of the move in Israel to privatize national parks, including archaeological and historical sites? In a quintessentially neo-liberal moment, the outsourcing of the past promises to lash interpretation not to governmental institutions that at least aspire to present a contemporary citizenry, but to corporations driven by private rather than public interests. How can archaeology simultaneously critique the insertion of the past into the political domain and decry its removal from the political domain without appearing hopelessly confused?