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Publications >
Snow and Fire in the Fourth World:
Perspectives on Western Preservation and Hopi Cultural Preservation
Initiatives
Philip Cryan Marshall [1],
Associate Professor, Historic Preservation Program
School of Architecture, Roger Williams University, Bristol, Rhode
Island
Marshall, Philip Cryan.
"Snow and Fire in the Fourth World: Perspectives on Western Preservation
and Hopi Cultural Preservation Initiatives," presented at Culture,
Environment and Heritage, United States / International Council
on Monuments and Sites (US/ICOMOS),
2nd Annual International Symposium, Washington, D.C., March 20-21,
1999
May I suggest we consider a profound change in the
way we approach preservation, whose very definition changes when
we consider our work in a broader context and — if possible —
through different world views. We often refer to preservation
as the physical result of our saving and interpreting a building
or a site. But preservation of cultures (here, indigenous, non-Western
cultures) extends beyond physical bounds to include much, much
more.
 |
| Hopi housebuilding, Oraibi Village. circa 1900. Along the
foundation (tukwàyni) and stone (owa)
has been stockepiled for constructing the wall above. The
walls (tu'kwa) are being rendered with plaster (palwitsöqa).
To the right, grass (wu'si) and brish (suuvi)
are stockpiled for use in constructing the roofing system.
Workers carry clay (nayavu) up the ladders (saaqa)
to place above the brush on the rooftop (kii'ami).
University of Southern California archive #1251. |
I am pleased that I have been allowed to share a
few images of Hopi, for, typically, such photographs may not be
taken — much less broadcast — by non-Hopi. I made
it brief because I did not want you to be lulled into a romantic
view of this world and this work with additional visuals that
might otherwise distract us from more important issues, which
can never be seen.
I apologize for preparing a written text: In deference to oral
tradition, I should probably speak unaided — as written words
can serve as an epitaph to cultures sustained by oral tradition,
song and ceremony. And our efforts of documentation, using images
and writing, can be seen as an epitaph to our respect for privileged
information and confidentiality.
All of us here, today, are indeed privileged, yet we barely know
its full meaning. Advances in information dissemination have empowered
many.[2] Yet, our information
age does not engender an "information sage." Remember T.S.
Eliot's query, "Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?"[3]
As mindful crusaders in this information age, we cannot be content
with the notion: I don't care how much you know until I know how
much you care. Knowledge, like seed corn, should not be consumed
or indiscriminately broadcast. For some tribes, knowledge is not
employed to wield power but to sustain a strength through the
interdependence of clans, each a keeper of privileged information.[4]
Here, a breach of confidentiality may be a breach of religious
duty.
So, in our efforts, consider seeking — and preserving — information,
knowledge and wisdom, tempered by care, confidentiality, and respect
for privileged information. I sincerely hope my efforts here today
meet this intent — for you, for Hopis.
Hopi may begin a conversation with the preface: "In my village."
Today, my words are "from my village." They do not necessarily
reflect the view of those on the Hopi mesas or of the Hopi Foundation.
As architectural conservator and associate of the Hopi Foundation,
and with reference to Western and non-Western worldviews, I wish
to address some principal preservation concepts relevant to today's
conference: (1) the act of preservation; (2) preservation standards
and charters; (3) economics and property values; and (4) conservation.
The Act of Preservation
Here, the act of preservation is not a treatment, but
a process whose workings must be considered in the greater context
of non-Western worldviews. Here, preservation of architecture
is not an end goal but a means to preserve culture at large and
to develop greater wisdom and capacity. In light of this broad
understanding, the act — the process and the meaning — of preservation
expresses principles of respect and care that extend well beyond
work on architecture — on "objects, buildings, and landscapes"
— to all that we do.
The Aristotelian worldview of Western civilization and its adherence
to an object-oriented view obscures a process- and systems-oriented
approach. As such, it is so very, very difficult to explain preservation
as a systems-oriented process within the framework of Western
culture, constrained by its Cartesian coordinates.
Vincent Scully once asked, "How can we perceive the architecture
of the American Indian who has such an entirely different view
of men [sic] and nature than the one we hold? Here even
the apparent deficiencies of language serve our turn."[5]
The principles of 'linguistic relativism' help us understand
this profound difference and the need to preserve language, above
all.[6] As summarized
by Dell[7] , according
to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, "the nature of one's language significantly
affects what one can think, and, therefore, how one perceives
and orders 'reality.' Sapir, Whorf's mentor and colleague, claimed
that 'we see and hear and otherwise experience very largely as
we do because the language habits of our community predispose
certain choices of interpretation'."[8]
Importantly, Dell notes, "The essential notion of linguistic
relativity lies not in the words of a language, but in its grammar.
Grammar is inherently metaphysical because it delineates how aspects
of 'reality' are related. Western languages, for example, which
provide an analysis of phenomena into subjects and predicates,
lead their speakers to believe that this grammar objectively reports
the true structure of the world. Hopi language has a relational
grammar that describes the world in terms of process."[9]
The Aristotelian reality (a term that comes from the Latin root
res, or thing) is one of time, space, and matter. While,
as described by Dell, the Hopi world includes four parameters:
space-time (together), events (or, more properly, "eventing,"
because an "event" itself is too discrete), intensity, and preparing.
Dell notes, "The Aristotelian worldview creates dualism between
the material and immaterial, the discrete and the connected, the
real and the unreal, the instantaneous and the ongoing. From this
perspective, worldviews that emphasize process, connection, and
the immaterial can only be pejoratively labeled subjective, mystical,
or metaphysical."[10]
So, if we are to take a different, non-Western view of our culture
and heritage or — more importantly — that of others, we must
go beyond the idea of documenting, restoring and interpreting
objects of the past and beyond the concept of discrete historic
events. It's about time.
At times, we may consider preserving structures or sites to a
particular time, to a target date. Perhaps this is in response
to what Gombrich observed that "it is the rapidity of change which
increases the psychological needs for permanence." To non-Westerners,
this approach may be off target.
With preservation as a process, this Western concept of restoration
has little relevance. For preservation is the act of sustaining
the vitality and self-determination of a culture, whose many physical,
social, environmental, and spiritual traditions are so interdependent.
The metronome of this ongoing preservation process is the cycle
of seasons, the cycle of death and birth, and the nature of impermanence
and change.
This concept is to be found in many millennia-old traditions in
the Southwest and Mesoamerica. Robert Kaplan recently reviewed
Neil Baldwin's "Legends of the Plumed Serpent," which is a history
of Quetzalcoatl. Kaplan notes, "Quetzal (bird) and coatl
(snake) are metaphors for the sky and the earth in the Nahua language
of the Aztecs. But the myth of the Plumed Serpent — the snake
that rises upward, symbolizing rebirth after death and thus history
as a cycle rather than linear process — originated long before
the Aztecs, at the time hunter-gatherers became sedentary in the
New World and husbandry allowed maize to rise from the ground
in Spring."[11]
To paraphrase Ken Wilber, "When the woman hoes, there are Goddesses:
When the man plows, there are Gods."[12]
In a postmodern age, but grounded its horticultural roots, Hopi
engenders a hybrid vigor by combining gender equality with universal
equanimity. This spring, Hopi families wait for their blue corn
to germinate.
William Baer, at Goucher College's '97 conference on historical
significance, addressed the subject of Western time in relation
to its impact on the future. He notes the reflexive (or self-referencing)
activities of preservationists, who dwell in the present yet reflect
back upon the past, and of planners who "view the present in light
of the reflected-upon future." Represented as separate loops,
extending from the present to the past and future, respectively,
Baer suggests that this fails to represent the subtlety that occurs,
in which "our cognitive maps and reality become fused." He suggests
forming a mobius strip to represent the continuum of past and
future and the fusion of our cognitive maps and reality.[13]
However, Baer is quick to recognize that this modernist, cognitive
map considers history as linear, in which people and events (both
object-oriented) are unique. This is in marked contrast to traditional
cultures, including Hopi, which consider "history," or time as
a circular or recurrent process, and preservation as the act of
sustaining a culture, in careful balance with the environment,
which shares with us its cycles.
Whorf suggests that a Hopi who only knows Hopi language "has
no general knowledge of time as a smooth flowing continuum in
which everything in the universe proceeds at an equal rate, out
of a future, through a present, into a past." Whorf continues,
"After long and careful study and analysis, the Hopi language
is seen to contain no words, grammatical forms, constructions
or expressions that refer directly to what we call 'time,' or
to past, present or future...either explicit or implicit."[14]
Whorf describes Hopi metaphysics, with two grand cosmic forms,
which we might approximate as manifested and manifesting, the
former being the sensory, historical, physical universe, "with
no attempt to distinguish between present and past, but excluding
everything we call future." The latter, manifesting, "comprises
all that we call future, but not merely this; it includes equally
and indistinguishably all that we call mental — everything that
appears or exists in the mind, or, as the Hopi would prefer to
say, in the heart, not only the heart of man...[but]...in
the heart of nature...[and]...in the very heart of the
Cosmos, itself."[15]
Some people think preservation is nostalgic. But, from a non-Western
perspective, preservation may not be just a longing for the past.
Here "nostalgia" becomes important — but not as a reference to
the past. Nostalgia comes from the Greek nostos, meaning
"a return home." Through preservation, we return home — as Hopis
return to their architecture as one means of preserving their
culture, today. In this context, preservation of architecture
becomes very important. Yet, traditionally, preservation — in
its greater sense — did not necessarily mean saving architectural
elements, or even entire rooms and clan houses.
To quote a passage from Kiiyamuy, from the stabilization
Guide, "Changes in our understanding of preservation during
the past century reflect a dramatic change in our approach to
traditional building construction. In the past, deteriorated houses
(kiihu) were seldom stabilized temporarily; they were taken
down. But during the process, many building materials were carefully
disassembled, to be reused for reconstruction done in response
to the ever-changing needs of clans and villages. In this way,
though a house might be destroyed, building materials and craft
traditions were preserved."[16]
Such actions preserve the capacity of Hopi to embrace impermanence
and partake in change as a means to preserve the Hopi Way. To
quote David Lowenthal "Destruction and preservation are, in the
most profound sense, bound up in a cyclical process."[17]
Today, national organizations proclaim their intent through slogans
such as "protecting the irreplaceable"[18]
or "it is no small thing to outwit time."[19]
Instead of responding as Gombrich has described, and saving the
material past as a psychological reaction to increasing change,
preservationists might embrace what Thich Nhat Hahn has advised:
"Long live impermanence."
Standards
Standards of preservation extend well beyond those developed
by the Secretary of the Interior, whose work largely affects the
physical fabric of a structure or site. These standards are a
valiant, worthwhile effort that, coupled with Federal funds and
legislation, provide a carrot and a stick, with the Standards
serving to both guide and limit the actions of property owners
in America: a nation dedicated to its declaration of independence,
rather than a declaration of interdependence.
From my experience in Hopiland, the Standards serve not so much
as a standard, but as a double edged sword; some standards are
helpful, while others deny the greater cultural context in which
building preservation must act especially as, in the Standards,
"Preservation is defined as the act or process of applying measures
necessary to sustain the existing [italics added]
form, integrity, and materials of an historic property."[20]
I feel that these do not embrace the process of greater cultural
preservation. The National Historic Preservation Act, as amended,
has provided an opportunity for tribes to augment their cultural
preservation programs by developing Tribal Historic Preservation
Offices to conduct and maintain their own cultural resource management
initiatives, assisted and funded, in part, by the NPS Tribal Historic
Preservation Office. In this context tribes can address this critical
issue of the Secretary's Standards.[21]
Leaving greater judgement to Hopi and other tribes, I will take
the "fifth," for the fifth standard references craftsmanship.
This craftsmanship should not be considered as a noun, representing
extant decorative elements, but as a verb describing the intentional,
sustained process of crafts tradition. In 1991, working on the
logistics of site assessment, conservation and training, I asked
a clan member how Hopi house-building was undertaken. The reply
was, "With blessing."
To quote Albert Einstein, "The significant problems we face cannot
be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created
them." In the same spirit, we must develop and uphold new standards,
standards in the context of cyclical, process-oriented, non-Western
worldview. Standards that affect our human condition and its greater
unity with the environment. Standards of self determination, respect,
confidentiality, trust, and responsibility. These standards, or
guides as defined in Kiiyamuy, serve as the foundation
for building and for maintaining, where the bonds of "brick and
mortar" — or o'wa and tsöqa, stone and mortar
in Hopiland — where these bonds serve as a paradigm for the bonds
between families, communities, and our greater natural and spiritual
world.
The Burra Charter,[22]
with its wise emphasis on "cultural significance" and "place,"
and its emphasis on the conservation process — even though Western
— seems to have been tempered by the Australian reference (while
not quite deference) to Aboriginal needs. Preservationists, through
such efforts, may engender a greater consciousness. But, we cannot
do it alone. Fortunately, Australia may now be claiming such responsibility
nationwide. While Australia grapples with its Western cultural
identity — its choice of staying the monarchy or forming a republic — it
is actually more invested in a reconciliation with its Aboriginal
stewards. Recently, Prime Minister Howard observed, "As I go around
Australia, I find a greater unanimity of support for [constitutional
recognition of Aboriginal occupancy] than I do on the issue
of the republic."[23]
With such increased national consciousness, the Burra Charter
holds even greater potential. Yet we must recognize that "cultural
significance of place" is in the "I" of the beholder. It can not
be based on the visual perception of voyeurists seeking to experience,
if not appropriate, the integrity and authenticity of other cultures
— lacking qualities in their own. This "I" of the beholder must
be personified by a tribe's own understanding of its worldview
and its relation to preservation, not ours.
The Historic Scotland Guide to International Conservation Charters,
authored by Dr. D. Bell in 1997, surveyed over seventy statements
of conservation principles. Bell identifies one concept as "Rights
of the Indigenous Community." Dr. Bell, notes, "As yet, though
UNESCO and the Council of Europe refer to the problem, only ICOMOS
New Zealand has seriously tackled the issue." The New Zealand
Charter of 1992 recognizes, in part, that indigenous conservation,
"is conditional on decisions made in the indigenous community,
and should proceed only in this context."[24]
Guided by this respectful understanding, other nations must include
such language as a banner — no, a banner cry — to any standard
involving indigenous preservation.
Next October, the ICOMOS General Assembly should consider carefully
its adoption of the Principles of the Cultural Tourism Charter,
which states at the onset that natural and cultural heritage "...has
an important role in modern life and should be made physically,
intellectually and/or emotively accessible to the general public."
This intent unfortunately endorses a Cartesian modern life that
disrespects some cultures. At best, this is patronage, not partnership.
Otherwise, the charter appears to subordinate cultural self determination
to cultural tourism. [25]
Economics and Property Values
At times the economics of preservation is coopted and dictated
by the profit motive: dollars and cents. Instead we might profit
from the right motivation: common goals and common sense.
Consider this: the word economics comes from Greek, oikos,
which means house or home, and nomos, which means management.
Economics is, at its root, closely related to ecology. While ecology
is about the study of the home, economics is about managing it.
So, really, the economics of preservation is about the management
— the stewardship — of our home, our village, our global village.
James Howard Kunstler, in The Geography of Nowhere writes,
"American land law was predicated on the paramount principle that
land was first and foremost a commodity for capital gain."[26]
Kunstler then quotes Alexis de Tocqueville who, touring America
in 1831, wrote, "Individualism, at first, only saps the virtues
of public life; but in the long run it attacks and destroys all
others and is at length absorbed in selfishness."[27]
Enabled by the Land Ordinance of 1785, surveyors sectioned off
their newly claimed land, guided by the Cartesian coordinates
of longitude and latitude, their modernist, representational paradigm,[28]
and a demand for individual landownership. Eventually, surveying
teams came to Hopiland.
Concern was expressed in March 1894, in a Hopi petition to the
"Washington Chiefs," and signed by 123 clan and village leaders
from all three Hopi mesas; the leaders asserted the following,
in response to Federal land allotment initiatives. I quote:
 |
| "A Hopi (Moqui) petition signed by all the Chiefs and
headmen of the tribe asking the Federal Government to give
them title to their lands instead of individually allotting
each tribal member," 03/27/1894 - 04/10/1894. Old Military
and Civil Records LICON, Textual Archives Services Division
(NWCTB), National Archives Building. ARC identifier: 300340.
(Full page) |
"The family, the dwelling house, and the field are inseparable
because the woman is the heart of these, and they rest with her.
Among us the family traces its kin from the mother, hence all
its possessions are hers. The man builds the house but the woman
is the owner, because she repairs and preserves it; the man cultivates
the field, but he renders its harvest into the woman's keeping."[29,
NAIL
copy of petition reference]
In Hopiland, the concept of real estate — alone, much less as
a commodity upon which we can place a monetary value — is meaningless.
There is no individual land ownership as we know it, nor any capitalist
economic investment intended to increase property values.[30]
As stewards of harmony and balance in the Universe, Hopi is not
an economically underdeveloped third-world nation, but of the
fourth world — the same world referenced by other indigenous
tribes — a rich world whose currency extends far beyond our limited
investment in property and time, physical fabric and target dates.
Conservation
Quoting Kiiyamuy, "Today, deteriorated houses are still
torn down. Except now, historic materials are discarded off the
cliffs and replaced with concrete block and other off-reservation
material. Meanwhile our centuries-old houses have assumed so much
more significance; for their intact preservation is seen as a
means of preserving the Hopi Way. Now, contemporary stabilization
and protection practices are valued as a means to safely preserve
our traditions through the process of preserving our houses."[31]
Today, the Hopi Nation and other indigenous, millennia-old cultures
worldwide, seek to maintain their ways, at times considering Western
conservation treatments, technology, and materials. But, however
great the intention, contemporary preservation practices should
never be introduced at the expense of the culture within which
these traditions belong.
In preservation, we speak of "minimum intervention," referring
to our efforts to sustain the integrity of a structure or site
— with as little physical change as possible.[32]
More importantly, our efforts at "minimum intervention" must extend
to our effect on culture at large. Otherwise our preservation
efforts may be accomplished at the expense of the very culture
in which they exist.
With reference to the origins of Modernism, Anderson notes, "looking
through his telescope...Galileo epitomized the new Cartesian self,
which could stand back from the world and study it."[33]
Conservators should not sustain this modernist paradigm by replacing
Galileo's telescope with a microscope, whose objective lens is
obscured by our object-oriented view of preservation and of the
world.
Summary
By considering preservation as a means, not an end; by considering
preservation as a process, not simply a tangible product; by considering
preservation as ever-changing and impermanent, not fixed in time
and space, we broaden our capacity to understand, and we strengthen
the capacity of those cultures in which, and with which, we work.
By including standards that encompass the human condition, not
only the physical condition, we will be less likely to have a
disruptive effect and more able to consider contemporary preservation
practices in keeping with traditions.
Here, preservation exemplifies the Hopi teaching of Itam naap
yani — which means "doing the work ourselves." Here, preservation
includes self-preservation through fostering self-reliance, self
determination, and a commitment to helping others help themselves.
This is the process of preservation: at home, in the fields, at
the table, through spoken work and song, in ceremony and custom.
In a society of nanoseconds and nanomanagement, it is easy to
respond quickly to perceived preservation needs with the latest
in techniques and technology. But, preserving millennia-old cultures
takes hard work, a long time, and — critically — trust, respect,
confidentiality, and understanding — the very values that we
seek to preserve.
This is the foundation — the Hopi foundation — upon which we
preserve. The Hopi Foundation's name — Lomasumi'nangwtukwsiwmani
— "signifies the process of furthering unity of aspiration
blossoming into full maturity over time." I hope we can all share
in this unity of aspiration.
Kwak whai. Thank you.
Endnotes
1. Philip Cryan Marshall, Associate Professor,
Historic Preservation Program, School of Architecture, Roger Williams
University, One Old Ferry Road, Bristol, Rhode Island 02809, Tel.
401.254.3061, Fax 401.254.3501, E-mail <pcm@alpha.rwu.edu>,
Web <http://gamma.rwu.edu/users/pcm>,
Publication © 1999 Philip Cryan Marshall [return]
2. The Getty Information Institute's October
21-23, 1998 conference entitled Communicating Culture addressed
"the important role of culture in today's evolving information
society." As reported in NCPTT News, "Peter Schwartz of the Global
Business Network urged institutions to deal with an apparent 'fear
of homogenization and trivialization of culture by digitization.'"
This fear is particularly acute for cultures who value confidentiality
and privileged information. "Communicating Culture" in NCPTT
Notes, February 1999, Number 29:5. Conference summary provided
at http://www.ahip.getty.edu/c98/summary.html.
[return]
3. Skolimowski, Henryk. Ecoyoga: Practice
and meditations for walking in beauty on the earth. London:
Gaia Books Limited, 1994: 102 [return]
4. As noted in the recommendation number eight
in the Executive Summary of the Senate Report No. 101-85, developed
by the National Park Service, "Tribal needs for confidentiality
of certain kinds of information should be respected." Keepers
of the Treasures Website, <http://www2.cr.nps.gov/tribal/keepers.html>,
3/12/99 [return]
5. Scully, Vincent. "Men and Nature in Pueblo
Architecture" in American Indian Art: Form and Tradition,
Walker Art Center and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1972:
35 [return]
6. As noted in the Executive Summary of the
Senate Report No. 101-85, developed by the National Park Service,
recommendation number six affirms, "Federal policy should recognize
the central importance of language in maintaining the integrity
of Indian tribal traditions and the tribal sense of identity and
well-being. National efforts to assist tribes to preserve and
use their native languages and oral traditions should be established
in conjunction with the amendment of the National Historic Preservation
Act recommended below." Keepers of the Treasures Website, <http://www2.cr.nps.gov/tribal/keepers.html>,
3/12/99 [return]
7. Dell, Paul F. "The Hopi Family Therapist
and the Aristotelian Parents" in Journal of Marital and Family
Therapy, April 1980: 123 [return]
8. Spier, L. Language Culture, and Personality:
Essays in memory of Edward Sapir. Menasha, Wisconsin: Sapir
Memorial Publication Fund, 1941: 123 [return]
9. Dell, Paul F. "The Hopi Family Therapist
and the Aristotelian Parents" in Journal of Marital and Family
Therapy, April 1980: 124 [return]
10. Dell, Paul F. "The Hopi Family Therapist
and the Aristotelian Parents" in Journal of Marital and Family
Therapy, April 1980: 125 [return]
11. The New York Times Book Review,
February 7, 1999: 19 [return]
12. Wilbur's reference reads, "Where females
work the field with a hoe, God is a Woman; where males work the
field with a plow, God is a Man." Wilber, Ken. A Brief History
of Everything. London: Shambhala, 1996: 51 [return]
13. Baer, William C. "The Impact of 'Historical
Significance' on the Future" in Preservation of What, for Whom?
A Critical Look at Historical Significance, Conference Proceedings,
Goucher College, March 20-22, 1997: 1-2 [return]
14. Carrol, John M., ed. Language, Thought,
and Reality, Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge:
M.I.T Press, 1956. Pages 57-64, reprinted in Tedlock, Dennis and
Barbara Tedlock, eds. Teachings from the American Earth,
Chapter 8, "An American Indian Model of the Universe,"New York,
Liveright, 1975: 121 [return]
15. Carrol, John M., ed. Language, Thought,
and Reality, Selected Writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf. Cambridge:
M.I.T Press, 1956. Pages 57-64, reprinted in Tedlock, Dennis and
Barbara Tedlock, eds. Teachings from the American Earth,
Chapter 8, "An American Indian Model of the Universe,"New York,
Liveright, 1975: 124-125 [return]
16. Kiiyamuy: Technical Guides on the Preservation
and Maintenance of Hopi Clan Houses, Technical Guide No.7:
Stabilization and Protection Hotevilla, Arizona: The Hopi
Foundation: Lomasumi'nangwtukwsiwmani, 1997: 6 [return]
17. Lowenthal, David. "Material Preservation
and its Alternatives" in Perspecta: The Yale Architectural
Journal, 1989 [return]
18. National
Trust for Historic Preservation [return]
19. Employed by the National Institute for
the Conservation of Cultural Property until it changed its name
to Heritage Preservation
[return]
20. Weeks, Kay D. And Anne E. Grimmer. The
Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic
Properties with Guidelines for Rehabilitating, Restoring and Reconstructing
Historic Buildings, Washington, D.C.: Heritage Preservation
Services, National Park Services, U.S.D.I., 1995: 17 [return]
21. As noted in the Executive Summary of the
Senate Report No. 101-85, developed by the National Park Service,
"Tribes have mixed experiences working with Federal agencies,
State Historic Preservation Officers, and other government entities
in historic preservation. Although they want to participate in
the national historic preservation program, they want to do so
on a government-to government basis, in a manner that recognizes
the breadth of their preservation interests and that does not
attempt to impose standards, guidelines, and priorities on them
that are foreign to the very cultural values they seek to preserve."
Recommendation number three affirms, "Federal policy should require
Federal agencies, and encourage State and local governments, to
ensure that Indian tribes are involved to the maximum extent feasible
in decisions that affect properties of cultural importance to
them." Keepers of the Treasures Website, <http://www2.cr.nps.gov/tribal/keepers.html>,
3/12/99 [return]
22. Marquis-Kyle, Peter and Meredith Walker.
The Illustrated Burra Charter: Making good decisions about
the care of important places, Australia ICOMOS, 1994: 69-81
[return]
23. Walker, Ruth "Australia split on monarchy,"
The Christian Science Monitor, March 5, 1999: 9 [return]
24. The full reference reads "[Indigenous
conservation] is conditional on decisions made in the indigenous
community, and should proceed only in this context. Indigenous
conservation precepts are fluid and take account of the continuity
of life and the needs of the present as well as the responsibilities
of guardianship and association with those who have gone before.
In particular, protocols of access, authority and ritual are handled
at local level. General principles of ethics and social respect
affirm that such protocols should be observed." Bell, D. The
Historic Scotland Guide to International Conservation Charters,
Edinburgh: Historic Scotland, 1997: 32
ICOMOS New Zealand's 1992 Charter for the Conservation of
Places of Cultural Heritage Value sections are quoted below:
- 2. Indigenous Cultural Heritage
The indigenous heritage of Maori and Moriori relates to family,
local and tribal groups and associations. It is inseparable
from identity and well-being and has particular cultural meanings.
The Treaty of Waitangi is the historical basis for indigenous
guardianship. It recognises the indigenous people as exercising
responsibility for their treasures, monuments and sacred places.
This interest extends beyond current legal ownership wherever
such heritage exists. Particular knowledge of heritage values
is entrusted to chosen guardians. The conservation of places
of indigenous cultural heritage value therefore is conditional
on decisions made in the indigenous community, and should proceed
only in this context. Indigenous conservation precepts are fluid
and take account of the continuity of life and the needs of
the present as well as the responsibilities of guardianship
and association with those who have gone before. In particular,
protocols of access, authority and ritual are handled at a local
level. General principles of ethics and social respect affirm
that such protocols should be observed.
- 12. Records
Records of the research and conservation of places of cultural
heritage value should be placed in an appropriate archive. Some
knowledge of place of indigenous heritage value is not a matter
of public record, but is entrusted to guardians within the indigenous
community.
- 14. Non-intervention
In some circumstances, assessment may show that any intervention
is undesirable. In particular, undisturbed constancy of spiritual
association may be more important than the physical aspects
of some places of indigenous heritage value.
ICOMOS New Zealand's Charter for the Conservation of Places
of Cultural Heritage Value, ICOMOS Website <http://www.icomos.org/nz_92charter.html>,
3/14/99 [return]
25. The full text of several principles follows:
- 1.1 The natural and cultural heritage is material and spiritual
resource, providing a narrative of historical development. It
has an important role in modern life and should be made physically,
intellectually and/or emotively accessible to the general public.
Programs for the protection and conservation of the physical
attributes, intangible aspects, contemporary cultural expressions
and broad context, should facilitate an understanding and appreciation
of the heritage significance by the host community and the visitor,
in an equitable and affordable manner.
- 4.2 While the heritage of any specific place or region may
have a universal dimension, the needs and wishes of some communities
or indigenous peoples to restrict or manage physical, spiritual
or intellectual access to certain cultural practices, knowledge,
beliefs, activities, artifacts or sites should be respected.
"Principles of the Cultural Tourism Charter" in Final Draft (8th
draft), International Cultural Tourism Charter, published
in US/ICOMOS Newsletter No.6, November 1998: 9-11 [return]
26. Kunstler, James Howard. The Geography
of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man Made Landscape,
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993: 26 [return]
27. Kunstler, James Howard. The Geography
of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man Made Landscape,
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993, page 27 [return]
28. In discussing the fundamental Enlightenment
paradigm Wilber notes, "And the fundamental Enlightenment paradigm
is known as the representation paradigm. This is the idea
that you have the self or the subject, on the one hand, and the
empirical or sensory world, on the other, and all valid knowledge
consists of making maps of the empirical world, the single
and simple 'pregiven' world. And if this map is accurate, if it
correctly represents, or corresponds with, the empirical world,
then that is 'truth'." Wilber. Ken. A Brief History of Everything.
London: Shambhala, 1996: 58-59 [return]
29. Reference provided by Terry Morgart, Associate,
The Hopi Foundation, Hotevilla, Arizona. [return]
30. On October 13, 1998, The Brookings Institution's
Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy hosted and cosponsored
a seminar on the economic impacts of historic preservation. The
National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, a cosponsor,
reported in NCPTT Notes, "George Treyz of Regional Economic
Models, Inc., discussed distinctive features of the input-output
model developed by his firm. Treyz refers to the REMI model as
an 'integrated and dynamic' model for two reasons. First, the
REMI model is unusual in that it attempts to quantify 'quality
of life' factors as well as measurable economic impacts. Second,
the REMI model also incorporates equilibrium factors — in essence,
the long-term consequences of spending on a given project as opposed
to only the initial impacts — and economic data, which are generally
compiled through the surveys. By accounting for such factors,
the REMI model attempts to provide more dynamic interpretation
of economic activity than comparable input-output models." Such
models, upon refinement, would clearly be helpful in developing
a method for assessing the broader impact of preservation investments
— if we are to raise our understanding of economics above the
bottom line. "A Seminar on Economic Impacts of Historic Preservation"
in NCPTT Notes, February 1999, Number 29: 6-7 [return]
31. Kiiyamuy: Technical Guides on the Preservation
and Maintenance of Hopi Clan Houses, Technical Guide No.7:
Stabilization and Protection Hotevilla, Arizona: The Hopi
Foundation Lomasumi'nangwtukwsiwmani, 1997: 6 [return]
32. ICOMOS New Zealand's 1992 Charter for
the Conservation of Places of Cultural Heritage Value section
14 is quoted below:
- 14. Non-intervention
In some circumstances, assessment may show that any intervention
is undesirable. In particular, undisturbed constancy of spiritual
association may be more important than the physical aspects
of some places of indigenous heritage value.
ICOMOS New Zealand's Charter for the Conservation of Places
of Cultural Heritage Value, ICOMOS Website <http://www.icomos.org/nz_92charter.html>,
3/14/99 [return]
33. Anderson, Walter Truett. "The Human Factor"
in Utne Reader, January-February 1998: 50 [return]
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