Tradition and innovation: building the conservation discipline in Australia

© 2016 Dr. Marcelle Marea ScottThe modern discipline of cultural materials conservation can trace its practice-based roots to the artist-restorer’s workshops of the Renaissance. Its theoretical roots lie in Enlightenment thinking and the treasure house museum collections built in that time. Its cultural and philosophical roots, and the desire to leave an authentic record of our actions, beliefs, and values go back millennia. Yet, despite being recognised as a socially relevant and technically advanced field, conservation has recently been problematically viewed through a crisis lens, evidenced in a crisis in conservation education. This thesis reconsiders that analysis, showing that crises in conservation are a normative part of disciplinary development. Thomas Kuhn’s ‘essential tension’ between tradition and innovation provides a conceptual device through which to locate the essential interdisciplinary nature of conservation and restoration as its unique strength; one that draws on and maintains a sense of pride in its traditions, and embraces innovation through the incorporation of new knowledge domains. An overview of the history and development of cultural materials conservation, from a craft-based practice to an interdisciplinary academic discipline, provides evidence of the ways in which various essential tensions and crises in conservation have led to disciplinary and professional growth. Drawing heavily on the literature and adapting a number of theoretical models, the thesis applies case-based Situational Analysis methods to identify the scientific, cultural, philosophical, intellectual, and pedagogical shifts that have driven this transition. This detailed explication of the discipline and praxis of conservation identifies the opportunity for a wider, more expansive role for conservation. Kuhn’s concepts of ‘paradigm shifts’, ‘normal science’, and ‘extraordinary science’ are then used to show how this new role can be operationalised within a post-normal, community-informed model of conservation. On the basis of this research an integrated, research-led pedagogical framework is proposed, and articulated as a Conservation Education Charter. The Charter provides a unifying framework of curricular and extra-curricular learning to enhance and expand students’ knowledge, skills, networks, and workplace experience. Neither a definitive statement about how to teach conservation, nor a prescriptive curriculum map, intended to be both forward looking and familiar, traditional and innovative, the Charter and its five platforms provide a theoretical and pedagogical schema for conservation teaching, learning, research, and practice