Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted Access (SIA Only)
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
Art Business
Abstract
This dissertation asks: retained for whom? It examines how the third Waverley Criterion (‘Criterion 3’ or ‘Waverley 3’)—which considers an object’s “outstanding significance for the study of some particular branch of art, learning or history”—operates in practice, and how its language shapes the legitimacy of UK art export control decisions where colonial provenance is salient. Using a discourse-analytical case-study design, this dissertation analyses official adviser reports, applicant submissions, and Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art (‘RCEWA’ or ‘Committee’) recommendations across five high-profile cases, complemented by semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in the art trade.
Findings are threefold. First, Waverley 3 is not a neutral test but a value-shaping device: recurring textual formulas expand or contract “…study of…” to privilege British-centred narratives while down-weighting colonial contexts. Second, the Waverley architecture is resolutely expert-led, leaving little room for non-technical, community-grounded articulations of significance, sitting uneasily with the rhetoric of saving ‘for the nation’. Third, the democratic deficit created is one of reason-giving. Case notes report outcomes, but neither explicitly disclose how evidence was weighed nor intra-Committee dissents, leaving evaluative trade-offs invisible.
This dissertation proposes four implementable reforms: (1) publish brief, anonymised minority reasons alongside decisions; (2) run targeted consultations where colonial provenance or living significance is material; (3) pilot a time-bounded citizens’ jury to review the clarity and sufficiency of reasons in selected cases; and (4) clarify scope by introducing a fourth Criterion recognising community significance in colonial-connected cases. Together, these steps minimally adjust the Waverley framework while improving reason-giving, participation, and legitimacy. The contribution is to show how the language of Waverley 3 constructs cultural value in export control decisions, and how modest procedural and criteria-level changes can make those decisions more transparent, with better alignment to contemporary ethical practice. Keywords: Waverley 3; Waverley Criteria; UK art export controls; colonialism; legitimacy; discourse analysis; public reason-giving; cultural property.
Recommended Citation
John, Nicole, "Saved for Whom? Language, Legitimacy, and Colonial Histories under the Third Waverley Criterion" (2026). MA in Art Business Dissertations. 35.
https://digitalcommons.sia.edu/ma_art_bus/35