The British Steal Things--Revisited

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

The day started with a class session. We had a good discussion about WWII and the Blitz. There was some debate over whether the bombings of London built solidarity between boroughs, which had basically acted as separate villages beforehand, or did war force them into further separation with rationing and localizing? We had read several pieces on what life was like, and it appears that both are true. Especially interesting was Elizabeth Bowen’s article “London 1940,” which seemed to suggest how everyone who had survived the bombings could be said to have had a shared experience, and that the bombings even brought together the Londoners and Polish refugees, who had already been through bombings. Yet, at the same time, Bowen constantly mentions the boroughs as villages, neighborhoods virtually separate from each other, and that if one borough was bombed and another spared, then that caused more separation between them.

Another topic was the Empire. Most people seemed to notice what I noticed, which was that everything in the museums we’ve seen seems to have been taken from their places of origin during the Empire. The big question: Should these artifacts be given back? We used the Elgin Marbles as our starting point, and it was quite a heated debate. Can the original countries (Greece, for example) afford to take care of the artifacts better than the British can? What about artifacts that were gifts from one country to another? Does the giver have the right to demand that the recipient return the gift? My point was that many of the “taken” or “bought” artifacts from these former colonies have become just as iconic to the British as they are to the countries where they originated. Certainly it was unfair for the British to have taken them in the first place, but now, years later, they are such a part of British society and British pride that to take them away would leave a gaping hole in the fabric of British identity. Can you imagine the British Museum without the Rosetta Stone? What if Egypt demanded that the French return the obelisk that stands in La Place de la Concorde? Or, what if we gave back the Statue of Liberty to the French? I suppose the Elgin Marbles are a bit more complicated, since they are a piece of the Parthenon and should, ideally, be reattached to their original building, which still stands in Greece. In other cases, though, I don’t see why artifacts can’t rest where they are, held to one place but free to represent whoever wants to claim them.

Our afternoon was free, and I spent it in my room writing journals and researching for our Peter Pan tour. Overall, not very productive.

I decided to send emails to Moffat, Ness, and Johnston about receiving my ticket to the Milton Quartercentenary. They are, of course, the only three people who would actually care. All three sent back emails quoting Milton. I love the English Department.

Around 6p.m., Leah and I went out and bought cheese and bread for dinner. We were going, that night, to an event sponsored by the Dickinson Alumni Club of London and were told that there would be “heavy hors-d’oeuvres.” Not knowing exactly what this meant and, being vegetarians, we decided to stay on the safe side and eat beforehand. This turned out to be a good decision. There were vegetarian-friendly options, but there really wasn’t enough food to go around for twenty-five hungry college students, so we didn’t get to eat much. The reception was at a pub in Westminster and a handful of alumni actually showed up. I can’t say I did too much networking. I mostly talked with friends and tried not to get lost in the crowd of Conservative Party supporters who were in the room next door. Still, I was one of the last people to leave, talking with Will from the Science program and Abby. She and I took the Tube back to Goodge St. and, having nothing better to do, I went with her to Tesco so that she could find a very late dinner. I came back to the Arran House, talked to Fadi briefly online, and now I’m going to bed.