Heritage and reconciliation

Abstract

Applied cross-cultural archaeology must be recognized as an essential step in the development of a reflexive, multi-vocal interpretation of the past. Projects like Ian Hodder’s excavations at Catalhoyuk that actually address these issues, however, are still considered highly innovative, which is a fair indication as to how common they are. Instituting a dialogue about the past between archaeologists from two nations at war with each other would appear to be the ultimate experiment in multi-vocal archaeological practice. Reconciliation of our pasts inevitably becomes a further objective, but this requires a leap of faith and imagination premised on some degree of belief in the possible good faith of the other side – a quality rarely felt in the middle of a conflict. The common wisdom on how Israelis and Palestinians can deal with their intertwined and largely violent histories suggests that only through adopting a common narrative can understanding be achieved. The project that stimulated the following article, however, is based upon a different premise – that, to move toward a reflexive reconciliation, it is necessary to acknowledge the imperfections of our own narratives without fully rejecting them.