SMU to host conference on the ethics of antiquity collecting

Prepare for fisticuffs. (Or at least food fights.)

by PegNews wire

"The Future of the Past: Ethical Implications of Collecting Antiquities in the 21st Century" is the long-winded title bestowed upon a high-minded symposium to be held at SMU's Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 18 & 19.

Keynoting the conference will be Donny George Youkhanna, Ph.D., the former director of Iraqi museums who is credited with expediting the recovery of relics looted from the Baghdad Museum following the U.S. invasion. Dr. Youkhanna will speak during the first evening's dinner event; additional speakers will include art dealers, collectors, museum directors and curators, source culture representatives, archaeologists, art historians, legal scholars and ethicists.

Centering on the underlying ethics involved in the collection of historical relics, specific topics to be covered include current controversies over the collection of antiquities; the complexities of private collector and museum relationships; the fate of antiquities with unknown or problematic provenance; and the impact of national patrimony claims on the antiquities trade.

The interesting part of the conference will come when representatives with opposing interests meet in the same space to discuss their competing stakes in the outcome of these arguments: clearly, archaeologists and anthropologists will have a different view of the proper disposition of antiquities than, for instance, dealers and private collectors.

You can attend the conference by registering here, and you are advised to do so before noon on Monday (Oct. 15).

posted by JM