1st Edition

Dimensions of Heritage and Memory Multiple Europes and the Politics of Crisis

    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    252 Pages
    by Routledge

    Dimensions of Heritage and Memory is a landmark contribution on the politics of the past in Europe today. The book explores the meanings of heritage in a time of crisis, when the past permeates social and political divisions, identity contests and official projects to forge a European community.





    Providing an overview of the literature and an analysis of the assumptions, values and philosophies embedded within European-level policy, the book explores different dimensions of heritage and memory, from official sites, museums and policy, to party politics, historical re-enactments and the everyday ways in which people use the past to make sense of who they are. The volume explores how different understandings of and attachments to the European past produce different ‘Europes’ in the present, accounting for today’s tense social and political relations. The book also explores formative histories for European identities that are neglected or hidden because of political circumstances and non-official heritage. Contributors consider the meanings of interlocking crises, such as economic fallout, xenophobia and the fragmentation of the EU, for new understandings of Europe’s past in the present.





    Dimensions of Heritage and Memory will be of great interest to researchers, academics and postgraduate students in the fields of heritage and memory studies, museum studies, history, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology and politics. The book will also be interesting to practitioners and cultural heritage policy-makers.



    Chapters 1,3,4,9 and 10 of this book are available for free in PDF format as Open Access from the individual product page at www.routledge.com. They have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

    List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; 1. Dimensions of European Heritage and Memory: a Framework Introduction, Christopher Whitehead, Mads Daugbjerg, Susannah Eckersley and Gönül Bozoğlu; 2. Remapping European Heritage and Memory, Christopher Whitehead, Gönül Bozoğlu and Mads Daugbjerg; 3. The Instruments of European Heritage, Anthony Zito, Susannah Eckersley and Sam Turner; 4. Reversion and Reprisal: the Allure of Going Back and the Negotiation of Historical Identities, Mads Daugbjerg, Gönül Bozoğlu and Christopher Whitehead; 5. Edges and Centres: the Forcefields of European Heritage, Christopher Whitehead, Mads Daugbjerg and Gönül Bozoğlu; 6. Situating Belonging at the Intersection of Multi-scalar, Multi-dimensional, and Multi-directional Heritage: the Case of Post-industrial Communities in Gdańsk, Katie Markham, Rhiannon Mason and Ramona Ślusarczyk; 7. Difficult Heritage in Europe: Paradoxical Dimensions of Time, Place and Memory, Susannah Eckersley with Gönül Bozoğlu; 8. On the Politics of Selective Memory in Europe: Rethinking ‘National’ Histories in an Imperial Context, Gurminder K. Bhambra; 9. Who is Europe? Staging the Making of Europe in Creative Documentary film, Ian McDonald, Christopher Whitehead, Gönül Bozoğlu, Susannah Eckersley and Mads Daugbjerg; 10. Final Thoughts: Dimensions of Heritage and Collectivity, Christopher Whitehead, Gönül Bozoğlu, Mads Daugbjerg and Susannah Eckersley; Index

    Biography



    Christopher Whitehead is Professor of Museology at Newcastle University, UK, and Visiting Professor in Cultural Heritage Studies at the University of Oslo, Norway. He publishes on the theory and politics of museums heritage and memory to inform critical and innovative practice. He co-ordinated the Horizon 2020 CoHERE (Critical Heritagesof Europe) project from which this book arises.



    Susannah Eckersley is a senior lecturer at Newcastle University, UK, with expertise in museums and difficult heritage, in particular relating to the German past in the present. She was the deputy co-ordinator of the CoHERE project and will lead en/counter/points – a new collaborative research project on culture and integration in Europe from 2019–2022.



    Mads Daugbjerg is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University, Denmark. His main research concerns the contemporary practices and dynamics relating to cultural and natural heritage, social memory, national and transnational identity and cultural tourism, with a particular interest in performative, experiential and immersive approaches to heritage.



    Gönül Bozoğlu has a PhD from Humboldt University’s Centre for Anthropological Research on Museums and Heritage (Germany) and works on European and Turkish museums, heritage and memory. After working on the Horizon 2020 CoHERE (Critical Heritages of Europe) project, she has taken up a Leverhulme Fellowship at Newcastle University, UK, to study Greek-Istanbuli memory culture.