About the WAC Ethics Forum

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WAC Ethics Forum: an International Dialogue, part of the Exploring WAC’s Approach(es) to Ethics Theme

Co-organisers:

Angela Labrador (USA) alabra@anthro.umass.edu
Jaydeyn Thomas (Australia) s4052400@student.uq.edu.au

Introduction

We invite participants from all over the world and from all levels of archaeological practice to take part in this workshop and public forum at WAC-6 as part of the “Exploring WAC’s Approach(es) to Ethics Theme” sponsored by the WAC Standing Committee on Ethics. Additionally, the event has the full support and is under the guidance of the President of WAC.

We envision a diverse set of participants, committed to articulating and negotiating different world/cultural views, working together to think through pressing ethical dilemmas. Considering ethical implications and complications within archaeological practice is an essential part of professional archaeological work. Explicit and implicit understandings of local, regional and international ethics codes and concerns and the ways in which they differ between stakeholder groups and within professional organizations need to be highlighted and discussed, particularly in early professional development.

Participants will form teams at their “home” institution, guided by at least one mentor. Teams will be given several ethical case studies to consider and ultimately present (in conjunction with other “home” teams) at a public forum at WAC-6. In addition to the joint public presentation, "home" teams will be responsible for documenting their process of analyzing and considering the ethical case studies. Please read on for further details.

Participants will have four main points of collaboration:

preparation with their “home” teams at their home institution
an online community where they can share resources prior to WAC-6
a mediated workshop at WAC-6 in which they will merge with other “home” teams and collaborate “cross-culturally” and prepare for presenting the ethical case dilemma
a mediated public forum open to the general WAC-6 audience at which they will present an ethical case dilemma, consider the contributions of guest commentators, and invite audience participation in an open dialogue.

Explicit Goals

Working together to articulate and negotiate different world/cultural views in order to think through ethical dilemmas.
Practicing and teaching a model of confronting ethical dilemmas that takes participants and listeners beyond cultural comfort zones.
Broadening and deepening knowledge of international laws and local relations with regard to archaeological practice and history.
Increasing the pervasiveness of the consideration of ethics at the meeting and beyond. Included in this is promoting an inclusion of ethics as part of archaeological pedagogy in undergrad and graduate/postgraduate programs.
Encouraging an ongoing discussion of case dilemmas presented with a follow-up goal of later hosting a grant-supported meeting in order to explore the processes developed during the forum, in collaboration with the WAC Ethics Committee.
Resolution is not our goal - rather, the focus is on exploring, laying open, and publicizing the various ways in which resolution may be achieved, in the optimum, or to clarify the hitherto unresolvable differences, so that conciliation may happen.

The Participant “Team”

We encourage interested parties to form “home” teams of at least 1 participant with at least 1 mentor (who will not be committed to taking part in the workshop or forum at WAC-6). Working in “home” teams during the months prior to the meeting will encourage thoughtful preparation.

These teams do not need to be based at an academic institution – but all teams are required to follow the mentorship model. Additionally, mentors do not have to be within the same institution as the team. All registered participants must give their mentor's name and affiliation in their profiles. Mentors will not participate directly in the workshop or forum at the WAC-6 Congress, but will be recognized on this website and in any publications to follow.

We ask that “home” teams not have more than 2 participants representing them at the WAC-6 workshop and forum. Since participants will be placed in a larger international team for the workshop and forum, limiting the number of participants per “home” team will contribute to a more democratic representation.

Example Teams (endless permutations possible and recognized!)

3 graduate students and 2 undergraduates elicit the support of 1 faculty member to mentor them while preparing for the ethics forum; 2 students travel to Dublin to represent the team and join other participants at the workshop and forum
2 coworkers elicit the support of a mutually-admired persona as their mentor; both coworkers travel to Dublin to represent their team and join other participants

Before the Congress: Networking and Preparing

Teams who commit to participating will be registered in our online community (we recognize the unequal distribution of technological access, and will work to find alternative methods of networking for teams facing this challenge - please let us know how we can help you). The online community will serve as a place to get to know each other and to share resources in the months prior to the meeting.

Once teams are registered and networked, case studies will be distributed. Teams will then think “through” and “around” the issues presented and are encouraged to document how they do that. We expect that teams will have different approaches to grappling with the ethical dilemmas in question, and that documenting those approaches gives valuable insight into the myriad ways that ethical issues can be addressed. Teams will be asked to submit this documentation (in the form of an essay, flowchart, bulleted list, short narrative, powerpoint, video, etc.) to the forum and theme organizers. Such information will provide a valuable resource for the WAC Standing Committee on Ethics in light of the theme, “Exploring WAC’s Approach(es) to Ethics.” In keeping with the stated goal of increasing awareness of ethics in archaeological pedagogy, the organizers would also be interested in compiling a classroom package from these process papers and reports of the event.

Teams should prepare to be able to outline and frame the cases; present supporting ethical guidelines, moral principles, relevant laws, etc.; and consider possible outcomes, points of mediation, and potentially un-resolvable dimensions.

Ethical Case Studies

The case studies will be based upon real ethical dilemmas that are unresolved. The organizers, in consultation with the WAC Standing Committee on Ethics, believe that this should be extremely rewarding on a number of fronts. Using real case studies lends professional legitimacy to the event for participants. It raises expectations from a “student event” level to a truly “real” world congress level. Using cases that are real world events allows participants to gain experience in complicated ethical situations and experience in interpreting international law. Real cases have the weight of history and richness of context that is so central to really struggling with the many dimensions of ethical case studies. Having a real place to reference will enable participants to consider “real world” aspects such as local politics, historical background, possible conflicts between archaeological conservation and immediate economic needs, etc.

Stakeholders

Because our cases will be based upon real events, we are extremely sensitive to the real people involved in these dilemmas. The organizers will be contacting the stakeholders in the real case studies we consider using to inform them of the event, get requisite permissions and invite them to produce a statement that can accompany the case study text (if they wish). Stakeholders will be asked to recuse themselves from attending the public forum and speaking to participants directly. However, as stated above, we’d invite them to provide position statements for the teams, and we’d offer to report back to them after the forum.

We understand that there’s a lot at stake – professionally and personally – for stakeholders. We are fully committed to, as much as possible, avoiding any further pain for these stakeholders while also helping to move the cases “forward” by thinking through them in this focused, international context. We think that a respectful public forum with a bit of distance from the cases would best benefit certain cases that are particularly tricky and unresolved.

Our goal is not to adjudicate any single case, but to provide a forum for careful consideration and discussion about complex cases. Nonetheless, we value any “real” impact that such a forum may have and hope that the documentation and reports we make to WAC and to the “real” stakeholders can constructively be of help.

At WAC-6: The International Team Workshop

“Home” teams will come together to form a larger “international” team at the Congress. The international team will be responsible for presenting the case study, and will attend a moderated workshop during the Congress.

The purpose of the workshop is two-fold: first, the workshop provides “home” teams the opportunity to collaborate in person with other “home” teams from across the world on a particular ethical dilemma; second, the workshop is important preparation for the public forum in which the team will be participating. It’s in the workshop that teams will compare notes, strategies, and frameworks as well as decide who will present what information in the public forum.

Public Forum at WAC-6

Here we will present OUR suggestions to WAC, primarily to the WAC President, the WAC Executive, and the WAC Ethics Committee, but then also to anybody who cares to attend, about what WAC needs to do in the future to avoid severe ethical problems and to prevent antagonistic relations concerning ethics, what it should do to handle cases that will reach it in the future, and to intervene constructively in cases where we today know that WAC Ethics are sorely violated. This will NOT focus on either specific case study but will be process-oriented and future-directed (presenting lessons/ideas learned in general when considering ethical cases from the “real world”).

The public session will be moderated by Meg Conkey, with opening remarks by H. Martin Wobst and discussant comments by Larry Zimmerman.

After the Forum at WAC-6

We hope to get together as a group in an informal setting to unwind, reflect, and look forward to future collaborations.

And Beyond the Congress

The organizers will be reporting back to the WAC Standing Committee on Ethics on the event, and will encourage feedback from participants via the online forum. The final report and compiled resources will be shared with all participants.

We hope to work with the WAC Standing Committee on Ethics to organize future events where the issues presented can be discussed and perhaps mediated further. We will explore grants and other funding opportunities to support such events.

Finally, we are optimistic that this is only the first of such events to be held during a WAC Congress. We think that the structure will be engaging and educational for our participants and the audience and will also provide important resources for the WAC Standing Committee on Ethics. This event can lay a groundwork for encouraging more participation in future events as well as furthering the larger goal to advance more consistent consideration of process-oriented ethical studies in our field.