Over the course of the past few weeks, I’ve talked quite a bit about partage. I mentioned that some believe partage should be reinstated.
James Cuno is one of the most outspoken proponents of reinstating partage. He is in favor of what he terms “encyclopedic” museums; museums that allow the visitor to view objects from all over the world in one place. This creates a deeper understanding of our similarities and differences as people, and can help breakdown close-minded views. These museums can show that our culture is not the shining ideal, but is rather one among many. In order for such places to exist, museums must be able to acquire objects from other countries. An updated version of partage might be a way to facilitate this, while giving the source nation a choice, and valuing the archaeological process.
Yet, as David Gill points out in his blog Looting Matters, there are other ways of sharing cultural heritage. Long or short term loans, for example. Is there an inherent good to museums owning artifacts, rather than just having them on loan? In terms of research, I can see some benefit in actual ownership, although loans can certainly also include research components.
Cultureboyy also has a fantastic essay here. He outlines especially well why partage may be thoroughly outdated, and even seen as institutionalized looting. He also offers some alternative suggestions.
Should countries be able to control all of their own national cultural heritage, or should we work towards and international understanding of “world” heritage? Or, would partage be a way of getting the best of both worlds?
Now it’s time for you to tell me your thoughts on the matter!
Museum Meddlers 
December 2nd, 2011 at 7:18 am
My answer: Conflicted, but leaning towards no.
One of my critiques of Cuno’s argument is that these “encyclopedic museums” are usually only in powerful and wealthy nations. These museums – such as the British Museum and the Louvre – began in a colonial context explicitly as a way of demonstrating cultural superiority and dominance (precisely the opposite of what he says encyclopedic museums are so good at doing). While I do think this sort of museum can be incredibly important and humbling, it worries me that Cuno so thoroughly ignores their beginnings. He paints all encyclopedic museums, which are mainly in wealthy ‘buyer’ nations, as having pure, honorable, and scholarly intentions, while glossing poorer ‘source’ nations as being motivated by pure nationalism. While maybe not directly related to partage, this bias is still so prevalent and unquestioned that I feel it would probably impact any attempts to reinstate partage. This is not to say, however, that the idea of encyclopedic museums and cultural exchange is necessarily defunct. I just think there might be ways of facilitating it that can truly benefit *all* countries involved.
December 2nd, 2011 at 11:51 pm
Conflicted. I think that before we can look at whether or not we are going to reinstate the system, we need to examine the issues that it caused to begin with. The fact that we are still debating who “owns” what is a perfect example of the failure of the partage system as it existed. However, do I think that some iconic pieces belong to their source country no matter what? Maybe I’ve just been in Cairo for too long, but yes I do. It’s not just about nationalism, but it’s a real socio-economic concern when antiquities supply a source of major tourism. I also can see the advantage from a research point from my experiences dealing with people who want to study the ancient culture without ever setting foot in the modern country (not out of budget or security concerns either. purely out of not wanting to deal with the “hassle” of being in Egypt.)
A loan system would be ideal; that’s never going to happen when source countries are too afraid to loose what is left to them to loan anything else out ever again. However, I do think there needs to be a balance between the source country and the people who supply the monetary support as well as the scholars for a given excavation.
(Sorry, it’s 7 AM here in Cairo and I haven’t slept yet. But I adore you, Erica)