cultural property

This volume is all about defining cultural appropriation and giving readers the tools to fulfill it.

"As the most destructive war in history ravaged Europe, many of the world's most cherished cultural objects were in harm's way. The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History recounts the astonishing true story of eleven men and one woman who risked their lives amidst the bloodshed of World War II to preserve churches, libraries, monuments, and works of art that for centuries defined the heritage of Western civilization. As the war raged, these American and British volunteers--museum curators, art scholars and educators, architects, archivists, and artists, known as the Monuments Men--found themselves in a desperate race against time to locate and save the many priceless treasures and works of art stolen by Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Robert M. Edsel, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Monuments Men, brings this story to young readers for the first time in a sweeping, dynamic adventure detailing history's greatest treasure hunt"--.

Examines the notion of cultural appropriation and argues that it is always a bad thing in spite of context or intent. Offers readers advice for how to apologize for cultural appropriation if they should feel they have committed it. Includes a glossary.

"When Muhammed swept victorious into the city of Mecca in 630 C.E., one of his first acts was to destroy all of the idols at the Kabbah, one of the holiest sites in the Islamic world. ISIS is taking the prophet's idea to the extreme, attempting to raze art and architecture they deem un-Islamic from their domain. Ancient cities have fallen beneath bulldozers and clouds of dust, while priceless artifacts have been looted from museums and destroyed. Students will be challenged to ask why ISIS is so bent on destroying artifacts of the past and what power the preservation of these objects gives those fighting against the Islamic State"--Amazon.

For the past two centuries and more, the West has acquired the treasures of antiquity to fill its museums, so that visitors to the British Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris, and the Metropolitan in New York -- to name but a few -- can wonder at the ingenuity of humanity throughout the ages. But all this came at a huge cost. From the Napoleonic campaigns that filled the Louvre with Egyptian artifacts, to the plunder that accompanied British imperialism across the globe, the amazing collections in the West's great museums were wrenched from their original context by means that often amounted to theft. Now the countries from which they came would like them back. The Greek demand for the return of the Elgin Marbles is only the tip of an iceberg that includes a host of world-historical artifacts, from the Benin Bronzes to the Bust of Nefertiti. In the opinion of many people, many of these items are looted property -- and should be returned immediately.

The development of new digital technologies has led to fundamental changes in the ways that cultural institutions fulfill their public missions of access, preservation, research, and education. Many institutions are developing publicly accessible Web sites that allow users to visit online exhibitions, search collection databases, access images of collection items, and in some cases create their own digital content. Digitization, however, also raises the possibility of copyright infringement. It is imperative that staff in libraries, archives, and museums understand fundamental copyright principles and how institutional procedures can be affected by the law. "Copyright and Cultural Institutions" was written to assist understanding and compliance with copyright law. It addresses the basics of copyright law and the exclusive rights of the copyright owner, the major exemptions used by cultural heritage institutions, and stresses the importance of "risk assessment" when conducting any digitization project. Case studies on digitizing oral histories and student work are also included.

Tells the stories of iconic cultural objects that were stolen, smuggled or sold, and eventually returned back to their original owner. Author and reader encounter a cast of fascinating characters from the underbelly of the cultural world: unscrupulous grave robbers, sinister middlemen, ruthless art dealers, venal Nazis, canny lawyers, valiant academics, unstoppable investigative reporters, unwitting curators, and dedicated government officials.