1st Edition

Heritage and Identity Engagement and Demission in the Contemporary World

Edited By Marta Anico, Elsa Peralta Copyright 2009
    208 Pages
    by Routledge

    208 Pages
    by Routledge

    Heritage and Identity explores the complex ways in which heritage actively contributes to the construction and representation of identities in contemporary societies, providing a comprehensive account of the diverse conceptions of heritage and identity across different continents and cultures.

    This collection of thought-provoking articles from experts in the field captures the richness and diversity of the interlinked themes of heritage and identity. Heritage is more than a simple legacy from the past, and incorporates all elements, past and present, that have the ability to represent particular identities in the public sphere.

    The editors introduce and discuss a wide range of interconnected topics, including multiculturalism and globalization, local and regional identity, urban heritage, difficult memories, conceptions of history, ethnic representations, repatriation, ownership, controversy, contestation, and ethics and social responsibility.

    The volume places empirical data within a theoretical and analytical framework and presents an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the representation of the past, invaluable for anyone interested in heritage and museum studies.

    Part 1: Place and Identity  1. What role can digital heritage play in the re--imagining of national identities? England and its Icons, Rhiannon Mason and Zelda Baveystock  2. Locating art: the display and construction of place identity in art galleries, Chris Whitehead  3. Place, local distinctiveness and local identity: ecomuseum approaches in Europe and Asia, Gerard Corsane, Peter Davis and Donatella Murtas  4. Representing identities at local municipal museums: cultural forums or identity bunkers? Marta Anico 5. Heritage according to scale, Llorenç Prats  Part 2: Remembering and Forgetting  6.Unsettling memories: intervention and controversy over difficult public heritage, Sharon Macdonald  7. Public silences, private voices: memory games in a maritime heritage complex, Elsa Peralta  8. The banalization and the contestation of memory in postcommunist Poland, Barbara Misztal  9. A landscape of memories: layers of meaning in a Dublin park, Kate Moles  Part 3: Domination and Contestation  10. Labor and leisure at Monticello: or repr.esenting race instead of class at an inadvertent white identity shrine, Eric Gable  11. The ancient city walls of Great Benin: colonialism, urban heritage and cultural identity in contemporary Nigeria, Flora Kaplan 12. The past in the present: towards a politics of care at the National Trust of Australia –WA, Andrea Witcomb  13. Yoruba identity and western museums: ethnic pride and artistic representations, Anna Catalini 

    Biography

    Marta Anico, Elsa Peralta