Who Owns the Past? Assignment 6

Instructions:

• Read Chapter 6, “How Do We Know about the Human Past?” (pgs. 169-199 in textbook)
• Read “The Archaeology of African American Life” by Theresa A. Singleton (pgs. 286-296 in Assignment 6 module)
• Read short article “The Looting of the Iraq National Museum and the Future of Cultural Property During Armed Conflict” by Corine Wegener (pgs. 28-30 in module)
• Watch the segments on the mining town and slave cabins (about 40 minutes) from Other People’s Garbage from the Odyssey series (https://archive.org/details/otherpeoplesgarbage/otherpeoplesgarbagereel1.mov)
• Watch the first segments on Montpelier (about 5 minutes) in the August 2015 episode of Strata at www.archaeologychannel.org (https://www.archaeologychannel.org/video-guide/strata-portraits-of-humanity/2261-strata-august-2015)

 Discussion Assignment-

Consider the different perspectives and descendant communities in the films you have watched and the readings in your textbook (and notice the way the information is presented in 1980 versus the 2010s).  Should some people have more say in how the past is presented than others?  If so, who and why?  Be specific with your answers by using examples. 150-200 words

Respond to this discussion- (3-4 sentences) 

Grace Allen posted:

In my opinion, I think the author, Corine Wegener, for Antiquities in Wartime, could have gave more information. She did give us links to go read more about the things but I feel she should have gave us a little bit about it besides saying, " A number of books and articles document the military planning process leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq (see Gordon and Trainer 2006; Ricks 2006;) Also, I do think most citizens don't understand what goes on over there and can't understand the soldiers perspective. If a soldier was interviewed or wrote this article it would probably be a lot different.