Professor Dr. Müller-Karpe offered an archaeological perspective on the topic of war and peace and provided rather detailed evidence, beginning in the paleolithic, that. - in stark contrast to the narrative used by altright, conservative and centre-right to centre-left political forces, even the greens worldwide and some of the left and extreme left- war is in no way necessarily a natural state. There is no evidence whatsoever of warfare for the most part of human history. The first evidence of weapons of warfare, i.e. stone maces, is found in the late Mesolithic and Neolithic. Warfare seems to be linked to the concept of immobile personal property. So, if you permit this abbreviation and summary, because this is only part of the culprit of this post, there is no way war would be a natural necessity, but a lot of evidence that war is linked to the accumulation of immobile personal property.
Now Professor Dr. Müller-Karpe, whose merits in examining central and near eastern archaeology might as well be one of tthe reasons that modern archaeology works the way it does. He might as well be the proverbial giant on whose shoulders the next generations of archaeologists stand.
I personally hold him in exceedingly high esteem for his kind, but firm way of teaching, his passion for the subject, and his firm scientific values.
He most certainly deserves his meriteable discharge and a life as a pensioner, and I feel obliged to thank him very much for his kind acceptance of my person into his lectures, and to wish him all the heartfelt very best for his leisure. Which might not be that leisurely at all, because of course, he will not stop investigating our history. Because you do not become a scientist, you are one.
The same applies to one Professor Dr. Rita Amedick. As head of the Institute of Classical Archaeology, she is one of the giants on whose shoulders the upcoming generations of archaeological scientists stand. Her merits for the subject have made the subject what it is and paved the way to important discoveries that would further our understanding, not only of our past, but also of contemporary challenges our society is faced with.
Enter the economists and presidial administrative employees, whose only concerns seem to be to render the humanistic sciences more cost-effective. Which is a contradiction. This shall be undertaken by removing both professoral positions, to replace them with lesser-qualified tutors in a position of half-employment.
Plus, personally, and please take note, that this is just my personal opinion, based upon the information I have, I cannot help but assume a rather dystopian political agenda behind the endeavour. Because, while officially and on paper, the subject will not cease to exist, the quality of academical tutoring and mentoring will suffer in such a way that dedicated studying
will be made difficult, if not impossible.
That said, please remember my referring to the emeritation lecture of Professor Dr. Müller-Karpe. Keep in mind the current atmosphere of political warmongering and the provided, rather commonplace, evidence, that the scientific evaluation offers quite the opposite of the narrative used by altright propaganda worldwide and you might come to similar assumptions as myself.
But enough of this. The Archaeological Institute in Marburg is in danger. If you want to help, I would like to propose you sign this petition.
That said, while researching potential international partnerships, we came across another rather disturbing development.
In the Netherlands, there is a current move by political forces and economical administration to axe e.g. the humanistic sciences at the university of Utrecht. This includes not only foreign languages like French, English and German, making Dutch studies mandatory, but also cultural studies like Celtic culture and language (https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14ttPKU5tb/).
If you want to protest this move towards a dystopian future, please consider joining this petition as well:
The thing is, that these developments are not limited to cultural and archaeological sciences. During the pandemic, an atmosphere of science denial and pseudomythology became part of public and political discourse. Antidemocratic forces from the entire spectrum of the political landscape are trying to acquire the sovereignity of discussion. And we are talking about heads of state suggesting drinking Chlorox in order to cure an infection with SARS-Cov.19.
I know that a lot of you guys might not be students or in any way part of the academical context, and you hopefully know that I have a lot of respect for every craftsman. I have learned a lot from masters of crafts, but also from professors, martial arts masters, hobos, bums, travellers, artists and musicians.
And this is my point. This is only possible in a society, where such an exchange is possible. Freedom isn't free.
A vast percentage (more than 40%) of people in leading political positions or leading economy are suffering from narcisstic or psychopathic mental disorder. The outcome can be barbarism as yet unheard of.
The foundation of democracy is humanistic education. Remove humanistic sciences and this education is no longer possible, removing one foundation of democracy.
Given the recent introduction of the "legal reason" in Germany, the removal of the benefit of doubt, and the invulnerability of home, as a context, this paints a rather worrying image. Add to this the current assaults on personal data security and the inflationary distribution of fake news, and you can only acknowledge that the time to act is now.
The good thing is, that not everything is lost...
yet.
I sincerely hope that you get my point. Maybe something I stated sounds a bit bold. But trust me- I would very much love being wrong. I would be grateful, whether you are 100% agreed with me or not, if you found it in you to support these causes by signing those petitions. It is not about preserving an ivory tower. It is about protecting a pluralistic, open, inclusive, humanistic and democratic society. About defending human society against fascism.
Thank you, and all the best.
