Update on King's College London

Last month, I blogged about the threat to the Chair of Palaeography at King's and the wider implications for humanities subjects. The threat has not gone away; indeed there has been an international outcry about it.

UCU members at King's College vote for strike action - UCU 22 March 2010
Members of UCU at King's College London have today voted overwhelmingly in favour of both strike action and action short of a strike in their fight to save jobs.

The Engineering department is to be closed after 170 years at King's, the Equalities and Diversity department has been scrapped and there are threats to Philosophy, Information Resources, American Studies and the only Chair of Palaeography in the UK.

Ancestral heritage (guest post)

A guest post by Anne Griffith Evans, a member of Pagans for Archaeology:

After watching the debate with Nick Griffin on Question Time, I have been trying to crystallise my own views on national identity, the connected concept of ancestral heritage, and the related archaeological record.

As a British Pagan, I wish to understand the ancient past, and the manner of worship in these lands before Christianity. I want to know and honour the gods of my land. But I am not a racist or a right-winger. Like the guy in the audience who spoke up during Question Time (and the Folk against Fascism Facebook group), I do not want my love of my country or its traditional/ancient cultures to be subverted to indicate support for views of the BNP.

In attempting to reclaim my ancestral heritage, am I a racist? Today I saw a 1999 TV programme (Hitler's Search For The Holy Grail) which described how Hitler and his minions undertook archaeological research into the origins of the German 'Volk' and their old myths and gods, to inform what they considered to be their holy war and attempt to purify the Aryan race. Like me, they were searching for their origins to inform their present.

Oh dear.

Have I fallen into a trap? Various people have pointed out the parallel between Pagan reconstructions of the past and fascist attempts to rediscover origins. I wonder if the Nazi rationale explains why some leading Pagan thinkers emphasise the 'neo' part of neo-paganism, as a way of avoiding the entire dialogue about ancient roots and origins?

A quote near the end of 'Holy Grail' points out a non-engagement with the issue of racism by archaeologists, and also points to a way forward for me.

Professor Colin Renfrew of the University of Cambridge (1999) says that what had to be laid at the door of archaeologists and anthropologists, is that:

"at the end of the Second World War, they didn't sort out the issues of ethnicity. The holocaust was so ghastly that they walked away from the issue and didn't analyse it carefully. That ethnicity, the notion of who a people is, is very much what a people wants to be [my emphasis] and is not to be demonstrated or proved from something deep in prehistory.... Archaeologists were very late in saying this and have only been saying it very recently. Academics did not grasp the nettle with sufficient vigour."

I take the Professor's words to mean that ethnicity is not about genetics or race; it's about collective cultural identity. This makes absolute sense to me, and takes away the stigma of potential accusations that my enthusiasm about heritage is race-related.

Watching the Question Time audience, composed of people of many different ethnic groups (who were collectively though not exclusively against the stance of BNP and Mr Griffin) I was proud to be British and to be one of those opposing the BNP. And I have yet to find examples of racial imperialism in the customs or deities of my pre-Christian ancestors. I like to think I'm out of trouble.

Note: if you feel strongly about the appropriation of Pagan and Heathen symbols by the extreme right, please visit the Heathens against Hate website, which is a long-standing campaign against the misuse of Heathen lore and symbols by fascists.

Pagans for Archaeology is opposed to racism, sexism, homophobia and all other forms of hatred.

CafePress shop

I've set up a Pagans for Archaeology shop on CafePress with T-shirts, a mug and a bag. I will soon be adding new designs and badges, fridge magnets and car stickers, so watch this space.

If anyone has designs that they would like to donate, or ideas for witty captions, please let me know.

Let's get active

At the weekend, I went to a conference about community archaeology - that's archaeology done by and/or for the community. All very inclusive.

So, if you would like to get more involved in archaeology, here are some ideas for stuff that we could do under the banner of Pagans for Archaeology - because part of the aim of this group is to raise awareness among archaeologists that there are moderate Pagans out there, in fact we're the majority.

T-shirts: I am thinking of getting some T-shirts via Café Press but would like to know that people would buy them. Also, suggestions for motifs and slogans would be welcome.

I would like to create a list of volunteers and skills - perhaps on the PFA Yahoo group, as that is more private than Facebook.

I think it would also be good if people could invite archaeologists from their local university to give talks at Pagan moots, and do a bit of awareness-raising. Also, PFA members could offer to speak at county archaeological societies about Paganism and Pagans for Archaeology (if you would like to do this, I have Powerpoint slides you could use).

If you want to try your hand at experimental archaeology, digging, potwashing, recording, drawing etc, join your local county archaeology society. Don't forget to mention that you are a member of Pagans for Archaeology and explain what it is. If you message me with your email address, I can supply you with a leaflet to print out and distribute - either at your local moot or at the county archaeological society.

There are also opportunities to take part in archaeological research on an informal basis (on your own if you like) in to landscapes and their archaeology, which can result in a deeper connection with the site.

Another idea is to start a collaborative website of Pagan sites of interest, both ancient and modern, and hopefully walking trails to join them up (like a Pagan version of JTrails).

You could also collect some oral history from the older members of your local Pagan community, and take photographs of Pagan altars, costumes and artefacts (with permission from the owners of course).  You can post them in the Pagans for Archaeology Flickr group.

Please post a comment if you are interested in taking part in any of these initiatives.