ABSTRACT

There is within the arts and archaeological communities a growing interest in the proliferation of the international trade in plundered antiquities. There are many constituencies involved in the attempt to limit this trade, for example, archaeologists want to preserve the integrity of their sites, national politicians want to protect their heritage, and curators want to assure the propriety of their collections, among others. Sociologists and criminologists may play a role by providing analyses which allow a full understanding of how this trade functions as a complex, interwoven set of "market" activities. A first task of the present paper is to show how such a market analysis might be constructed, and how such markets share similarities and differences with other kinds of criminal markets (for examples, the trade in goods taken from burglaries, international drug markets, and the markets for faked and stolen art works). A major purpose of such analyses is to make clear what the policy options might be for restricting the trade in illicit antiquities. For example, draconian, prohibitionist policies aimed at restricting the destruction of sites in the source countries (where the local populations are often very poor) would seem to be of limited effect as long as the demand remains from the destination countires (where ultimate purchasers are very wealthy). Prior sociological analysis has suggested that care must be taken with such notions as the idea that one "can't legislate morality", and the impacts of possible legal options are assessed in terms of the potential impact on moral views of the problem of the illicit traffic in plundered antiquities.

It has been estimated in Greater China alone the illegal trade in antiquities and the trade in fake antiquities currently exceeds $500 million USD per annum and rivals that of better known illegal activities. In some S.E. Asian countries the loss of cultural artefacts through theft and smuggling has been incalculable leading to the wholesale destruction of ancient and pre-modern sites of great cultural and historical interest. Alongside these destructive "robberies" of the art of previous generations the highly developed trade in reproduction, forged antiquites and "lost" masterpieces both stimulates and threatens the legitimate market. In this symposium specialists address the many problems relating to Art Crime, including its detection and prevention.

Porfessor Kenneth Polk is based in the Criminology Department at the University of Melbourne.  He was Professor of Sociology  at the University of Oregon before coming to Melbourne.  A major focus of his recent research has been on violence and homicide, but he also has examined issues of crime prevention, juvenile justice, white collar crime, and most recently on art crime.

Date: Thursday June 22, 2000
Time: 6:00-7:30 PM
Venue: Senior Common Room, 14th Floor,  KK Leung Building, The University of Hong Kong