UNESCO Professor Robin Coningham r.a.e.coningham@durham.ac.uk
Professor
UNESCO Professor Robin Coningham r.a.e.coningham@durham.ac.uk
Professor
Nick Lewer
Kosh Prasad Acharya
Kai Weise
Ram Bahadhur Kunwar
Anie Joshi
Sandhya Parajuli Khanal
The earthquakes which struck Nepal’s capital in 2015 were humanitarian disasters. Not only did they inflict tragic loss of life and livelihoods, they also destroyed parts of the Kathmandu Valley’s unique UNESCO World Heritage site. These monuments were not just ornate structures but living monuments playing central roles in the daily lives of thousands, representing portals where the heavens touch earth and people commune with guiding deities. Their rehabilitation was also of economic importance as they represent a major source of tourist income and employment. Unfortunately, the social and political desire for rapid reconstruction resulted in the swift removal of many traditionally constructed foundations and their replacement with modern materials without assessments of whether they contributed towards the collapse of individual monuments. These actions, combined with the wholesale removal, mixing and dumping of modern and historic debris, contributed to a second, equally destructive, cultural catastrophe – irreversible damage to Kathmandu’s Medieval fabric, in a process which frequently excluded local communities and custodians. This case study draws from our collective reflections and lessons learned from our attempts to enable equitable and ethical research partnerships between UK and Nepali colleagues as well as local communities in the debris of the Kasthamandap, Kathmandu’s eponymous monument. After briefly describing the potential of mobilising archaeologists in post-disaster contexts and outlining the challenges of undertaking research in such a setting, our case study utilises the TRUST Code to assess the character and success of our multidisciplinary collaboration in a time of crises.
Coningham, R., Lewer, N., Acharya, K. P., Weise, K., Kunwar, R. B., Joshi, A., & Parajuli Khanal, S. (2024). Enabling equitable and ethical research partnerships in crisis situations: Lessons learned from post-disaster heritage protection interventions following Nepal’s 2015 earthquake. Research Ethics, https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161241234502
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Acceptance Date | Feb 4, 2024 |
Online Publication Date | Mar 4, 2024 |
Publication Date | Mar 4, 2024 |
Deposit Date | May 28, 2024 |
Publicly Available Date | May 28, 2024 |
Journal | Research Ethics |
Print ISSN | 1747-0161 |
Electronic ISSN | 2047-6094 |
Publisher | SAGE Publications |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1177/17470161241234502 |
Public URL | https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2466627 |
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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
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