The heritage ‘NGO’: a case study on the role of grass roots heritage societies in Iran and their perception of cultural heritage

This paper examines the activities of a group of heritage enthusiasts in Iran. Grass roots heritage activism is a relatively recent phenomenon that appeared in Iran since the late 1990s. They are increasingly operating collectively as cultural or heritage NGOs. They have diverse socio-economic origins and political views. However, as this paper argues, they share a common ground in their activities; one that maintains an ambivalent and critical relationship with the state and official definitions of heritage and identity. Referring to interview and other data collected during fieldwork in Iran, this paper traces and analyses the contours of that common ground and argues that there is a nascent heritage movement in the country. The impact and contribution of these emerging and self-reflective heritage movements to Iranian identity, which is reflected in their embracing of diversity and the notion of historical continuity, reveal the dynamism and complexity of the cultural and political landscape of contemporary Iranian society. They also reveal the importance of generating further scholarship in the field of Iranian cultural heritage. In conceptualising the characteristics of a nascent heritage movement in Iran, the paper makes a new contribution to the approach of existing scholarship in the broader field of heritage studies.     

The reproduction of heritage in a Chinese village: whose heritage,whose pasts?

The study investigates heritage practices in a Chinese village, by describing the tensions that have played out among different voices, meanings and understandings centred on the village’s heritage. In the process of ‘heritageisation’, stakeholders that include the state, the local government, the villagers and the principal lineage strive to negotiate different cultural meanings, values and the traditions. Consequently, three different heritage discourses coexist alongside each other in one locality. On the one hand, the ‘authorised heritage discourse’ is taken up by the government to weave and frame a narrative of nation-building around a Memorial Park. On the other hand, the village uses the past to foster local identity of the place in an attempt to attract tourists. For its part, the major lineage in the village uses the ancestral hall to continue the long tradition of remembering their ancestors via worshiping ceremonies. In between are a medley of heritage sites and artefacts existing in a state of flux and struggle over their conservation. The authors contend that, no matter how mundane, grand or hybrid, assemblages of rich and locally meaningful heritage, such as depicted in this article, should be cherished and utilised for the present agenda of cultural construction in rural China.     

The paradox of ‘Incompiuto Siciliano Archaeological Park’ or how to mock heritage to make heritage

During the last 50 years, and due to the dilapidation of public funds, hundreds of unfinished public works have been erected Italy. In 2007, the group of artists Alterazioni Video declared these ruins a formal architectural style – ‘Incompiuto Siciliano’ – and, in doing so, their aim is to change the buildings’ dark side and turn it into something positive. One of the tangible outcomes within the artists’ proposal is the eventual creation of the ‘Incompiuto Siciliano Archaeological Park’ in Giarre, a Sicilian medium-sized village that has the highest density of unfinished public works in Italy. This article analyses how such a provocative project contains serious implications in terms of heritage. It is stated that, in order to forge a positivized ‘unfinished heritage’, Incompiuto Siciliano Archaeological Park builds bridges between aspects that, in principle, seem to be the opposite of each other. This opens the possibility of putting traditional heritage assumptions in question through the production of a critical heritage whose novelty lies in the constructive use of irony, sarcasm and double meaning.     

Subject–object perceptions of heritage: a framework for the study of contrasting railway heritage regeneration strategies

A railway or any other form of heritage site may be perceived as a subject or an object-orientated experience. While the former invites an emotional reaction based on personal association, the later suggests a detached response grounded in a transfer of knowledge. This paper considers the role of heritage legislation in shaping such perceptions. Using archival research and site observations, the paper specifically examines the impact of different State-based heritage legislation on the adoption of contrasting redevelopment and site management strategies at two historic railway workshop complexes in Australia. The two sites are the Eveleigh Railway Workshops in New South Wales where an object-centred approach was adopted, and the Ipswich Workshops in Queensland where a subject-centred approach was employed. Although both sites are comparable in terms of their history, scale and cultural significance, the alternative approaches to redevelopment and management have resulted in different perceptual experiences for visitors. The paper reveals the subliminal impact of heritage legislation and suggests the need to consciously manage perceptual experiences, firstly, as a strategic objective in any redevelopment process and, secondly, as a means to integrating meaningful site-specific interpretation into the longer term management of cultural significance.     

The caliphs’ last heritage: a review

EUROPE

The British Isles. By A. Demangeon. Translated and revised by E. D. Laborde, PH.D., F.R.G.s. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. xviii +434. 80 figs. 56 plates. London : William Heinemann Ltd. Second edition, 1949. 21s.

British Canals : An Illustrated History. By Charles Hadfield. 8 1/2 × 5 1/2. Pp. 259. 44 text illustrations. 8 plates. 17 sketch maps. London : Phoenix House Ltd, 1950. 16s.

The Scottish Countryside in Pictures. Foreword and Introductions by F. Fraser Darling. Illustrations described by Alasdair Alpin MacGregor. 9 3/4 × 7. Pp. 128. Illustrated. London : Odhams Press Ltd, 1950. Reprinted, 1951. 125s 6d.

Glossary of the most common Gaelic and Scandinavian Elements used in Place‐Names on Ordnance Survey Maps of Scotland. Compiled by The Royal Scottish Geographical Society. 8 1/4 ×5. Pp. 12. Chessington : Director General of the Ordnance Survey, 1951. 2s.

A History of Scottish Farming. By T. Bedford Franklin. 7 1/4 ×5. Pp. ix+194. 14 plates. Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd, 1952. 12s 6d.

Highlands of Scotland. By Seton Gordon. 8 1/2 ×5 1/2. Pp. 328. 49 illustrations. Map. [The County Books.] London : Robert Hale Ltd, 1951. 18s.

Kayak to Cape Wrath. By J. Lewis Henderson. 7 1/4 ×5. Pp.230. 21 photographs.

The Fame Islands : Their History and Wild Life. By Grace Watt, M.A., M.B.O.U. 8 1/2 ×5 1/2. Pp. 236. 4 figs. 33 photographs. London : Country Life Ltd, 1951. 30s.

Wanderings in the Pennines. By William T. Palmer, F.R.G.S., M.B.O.U., F.S.A. SCOT. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. 288. 31 illustrations by G. Douglas Bolton. End‐paper map. London : Skeffington and Son Ltd, 1951. 15s.

Cheshire. By Fred H. Crossley. 8 1/2 ×5 1/2. Pp. xii+376. 49 illustrations. Map. [The County Books.] London: Robert Hale Ltd, 1949. 15s.

Leicestershire. By Guy Paget, D.L., F.R.HIST.S., and Lionel Irvine, M.B.E., M.A.(OXON.). 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. xii+307. 49 illustrations. Map. [The County Books.] London: Robert Hale Ltd, 1950. 15s.

Forgotten Ports of England. By George Goldsmith Carter. 8 3/4×5 5/8. Pp. x+206. Photographs. 3 maps. End‐paper plan of Rye. London : Evans Brothers Ltd, 1951. 21s.

Dorset. By Eric Benfield. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. x+232. 49 illustrations. Map. [The County Books.] London : Robert Hale Ltd, 1950. 15s.

The Bailiwick of Jersey. By G. R. Balleine. 8 ×5 1/4. Pp. xxxi+170. 114 photographs. End‐paper sketch map. [The King's Channel Islands.] London : Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, 1951. 12s 6d.

Færoerne : Folk og Erhverv. By Aa. H. Kampp. 8 1/2×5 3/4. Pp. 112. 40 figs. [Geografkredsen.] København : Det Danske Forlag, 1950.

The West European City : A Geographical Interpretation. By Robert E. Dickinson, M.A., PH.D. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. xviii+580. 129 figs. 29 plates. [International Library of Sociology and Social Reconstruction.] London : Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd, 1951. 42s.

Belgium and Luxembourg. By Tudor Edwards. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. vii+128. 109 illustrations. 2 sketch maps. London : B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1951. 15s.

Luxembourg: Land of Legends. By W. J. Taylor‐Whitehead. 7 1/2×5. Pp. xiv+130. 17 illustrations. End‐paper sketch map. London : Constable and Co. Ltd, 1951. 12s 6d.

French Châteaux. By Henri Lemaître. 12 ×9 1/2. Pp. 39+224 photographs. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1950. 50s.

Mediterranean Background. By Bernard Newman. 8 1/2 ×5 1/2. Pp.286. 64 illustrations. 10 sketch maps. London: Robert Hale Ltd, 1949. 16s.

UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS

Geography of Russia. By N. T. Mirov. 9×6. Pp. xii+362. 34 maps. New York : John Wiley and Sons Inc. London : Chapman and Hall Ltd, 1951. 52s.

ASIA

The Scottish Himalayan Expedition. By W. H. Murray. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. xiii+282. 4 colour plates. 32 half‐tone plates. 11 sketch maps and diagrams by Robert Anderson. London : J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd, 1951. 30s.

The Far East: A Social Geography. By A. D. C. Peterson, O.B.E., B.A. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. 336. 43 illustrations. 25 and end‐paper sketch maps. London : Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd, 1949. 21s.

INDIAN OCEAN

Arab Seafaring in the Indian Ocean in Ancient and Early Medieval Times. By George Fadlo Hourani. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp.viii+131. 8plates. 7sketchmaps. [Princeton Oriental Studies, Vol. 13.] Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1951. $3.00. London : Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press. 20s.

Fourteen Men : The Story of the Australian Antarctic Expedition to Heard Island. By Arthur Scholes. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. x+273. 21 illustrations. 2 sketch maps. London : George Allen and Unwin Ltd, 1951. 15s.

AFRICA

Mauretania : Warrior, Man, and Woman. By Sacheverell Sitwell. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. 328. 21 photographs by Lady Alexandra Metcalfe. London : Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd. Third impression, 1951. 21s.

Ex‐Italian Somaliland. By E. Sylvia Pankhurst. Foreword by Peter Freeman, M.P. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. 460. 21 illustrations. 5 sketch maps. London : C. A. Watts and Co. Ltd, 1951. 12s 6d.

Congo Eden. By Mary L. Jobe Akeley, A.M., LITT.D., F.R.O.S. Foreword by Professor William King Gregory. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. xv+356. 13 illustrations. Map. London : Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1951. 18s.

South African Scenery : A Textbook of Geomorphology. By Lester C. King, Ph.D., D.Sc., F.R.S.(S.A.). 8 3/4×5 5/8. Pp. xxxi+379. 79 figs. 267 plates. Coloured map. Edinburgh and London : Oliver and Boyd Ltd. Second edition, revised, 1951. 45s.

Journals of Andrew Geddes Bain. Trader, Explorer, Soldier, Road Engineer and Geologist. Edited, with biographical sketch and footnotes, by Margaret Hermina Lister. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. xxxix+264. 19 illustrations. 4 maps. Cape Town: Van Riebeeck Society [Vol. 30], 1949. 20s.

ATLANTIC OCEAN

North Atlantic : Boat against Boat over 3,000 Miles. By Adlard Coles. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. 191. 9 figs. 30 plates. End‐paper chart. Southampton : Robert Ross and Co. Ltd. London : George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd. Second edition, 1951. 15s 6d.

AMERICA

The Westward Crossings : Balboa, Mackenzie, Lewis and Clark. By Jeanette Mirsky. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. xv+365+xiii. 21 illustrations. 3 maps. London: Allan Wingate (Publishers) Ltd, 1951. 21s.

An Introduction to the Geography of the Canadian Arctic. By J. L. Robinson, N. L. Nicholson, J. K. Fraser, B. V. Gutsell, and D. Leechman. 9 1/4×6. Pp. xiii + 118. 18 maps and diagrams. 17 plates. [Canadian Geography Information Series No. 2.] Ottawa : Geographical Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, 1951. $0.50.

Chile. An Outline of its Geography, Economics, and Politics. By Gilbert J. Butland. 8×5 1/4. Pp. vii+128. 7 figs. London and New York: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1951. 12s 6d.

OCEANIA

The Pacific Islands. By Douglas L. Oliver. 9 1/2×6 1/4. Pp. xi+313. Decorations and sketch maps by Sheila Mitchell Oliver. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 1951. $5.00. London : Geoffrey Cumberlege, Oxford University Press. 32s 6d.

Beyond the Southern Lakes : The Explorations of W. G. Grave. Edited by Anita Crozier. Foreword by Sir T. A. Hunter. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. 124. 11 illustrations. End‐paper sketch map. Wellington, N.Z. : A. H. and A. W. Reed, 1950. 12s 6d.

POLAR REGIONS

I married an Explorer. By Miriam MacMillan. 8 1/4×5 1/4. Pp.238. 31 illustrations. London : Hurst and Blackett Ltd, 1951. 15s.

BIOGEOGRAPHY

Zoogeography of the Land and Inland Waters. By L. F. De Beaufort. 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. viii +208. 10 figs. [Text‐Books of Animal Biology.] London : Sidgwick and Jackson Ltd, 1951. 30s.

A World Dictionary of Breeds, Types, and Varieties of Livestock. By I. L. Mason, B.A. (CANTAB.). 9 3/4×6 1/4. Pp. 272. [Technical Communication No. 8 of the Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Breeding and Genetics, Edinburgh.] Farnham Royal : Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, 1951. 30s.

EDUCATIONAL

Geography in the Secondary School, with special reference to the Secondary Modern School. By E. W. H. Briault and D. W. Shave. Foreword by Leonard Brooks. 9 1/2×6. Pp. 36. Sheffield : The Geographical Association, 1952. 2s. post free.

Outlines of General Geography. By E. O. Robinson, m.a. 7 1/2×5 1/4. Pp. xi+239. 101 photographs, diagrams, and maps. London : Macmillan and Co. Ltd, 1951. 7s 6d.

The Earth's Crust : A New Approach to Physical Geography and Geology. By L. Dudley Stamp, C.B.E., B.A., D.Sc. Foreword by Isaiah Bowman, 9 3/4×7 1/2. Pp. viii+120. 74 figs. 32 coloured plates. London: George G. Harrap and Co. Ltd, 1951. 18s.

Physical Geography. By Arthur N. Strahler. 11×J 1/2 Pp. ix+442. Illustrated. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc., 1951. $6.00. London: Chapman and Hall Ltd. 48s.

France : A Regional and Economic Geography. By H. Ormsby, D.Sc.(ECON.). 8 1/2×5 1/2. Pp. xiv+525. 103 figs. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co. Inc. Second edition, revised, 1950. 25s.

A Regional Geography of Ceylon. By S. F. de Silva, B.A. Foreword by L. McD. Robison. 8×5 1/2. Pp. xi+264. 97 figs. Colombo : The Colombo Apothecaries’ Company Ltd. Revised edition, 1949. Rs 4.

Exploration and Adventure. By Clifford Collinson, F.R.G.S. 7 1/2×5. Pp. 151. Illustrated. Decorative end‐paper maps. London : George Alien and Unwin Ltd, 1951. 3s 6d.

GENERAL

Vergleichende Länderkunde. By Norbert Krebs. 9×6. Pp. xx+484. 18 maps. [Geographische Handbücher.] Stuttgart : K. F. Koehler Verlag, 1951.

Geography, Justice, and Politics at the Paris Conference of 1919. By Charles Seymour. Introduction by Roland L. Redmond. 8 3/4×6. Pp. iv+24. [Bowman Memorial Lectures, Series One.] New York : The American Geographical Society, 1951. $1.50.

Exploration and Discovery. By H. J. Wood, B.Sc., Ph.D. 7 1/2×4 3/4. Pp. 192. 10 figs. End‐paper sketch maps. London : Hutchinson's University Library, 1951. 8s 6d.

ATLASES AND MAPS

The Oxford Atlas. Edited by Brigadier Sir Clinton Lewis, O.B.E., Colonel J. D. Campbell, D.S.O., with the assistance of D. P. Bickmore and K. F. Cook. 15 1/2×10 1/2. Pp. 96+xxvi (Distribution Maps) +90 (Gazetteer). London: The Oxford University Press, 1951. 30s. School Edition, 25s.

A Palaeographical Atlas of the British Isles and Adjacent Parts of Europe. By Leonard J. Wills. 8 1/2×11. Pp.64. 22 plates. Glasgow and London : Blackie and Son Ltd, 1951. 21s.

Atlas von Niederösterreich. Issued by the Kommission für Raumforschung und Wiederaufbau der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, and Verein der Landeskunde von Niederösterreich und Wien. Edited by Dr ERIK ARNBERGER. 16×22¼. Part I, 20 map‐sheets. Wien: Kartographische Anstalt Freytag‐Berndt und Artaria, 1951.

Main Areas of Tea Production. 18×28. Prepared by Geographia Ltd. London: The Tea Bureau, 1950.     

Universal heritage meets local livelihoods: ‘awkward engagements’ at the world cultural heritage listing in Bali

In 2012 the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added to its World Heritage List the ‘Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the subak system as a manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy’. Barely a year later, UNESCO had become sufficiently concerned about reports of various problems that it advised the Government of Indonesia of these concerns. Through ethnographic study of the initial implementation of the listing, this article reveals problems of uncontrolled development, and disputes over the allocation of benefits to local communities, and challenges to effective governance. It focuses on two key locations of the site, offering an analysis of problems, their causes and effects. Beginning with the premise that the gulf of understanding between the global World Heritage system and local communities often creates a range of unintended consequences, this article reveals the many ‘awkward engagements’ that have emerged ‘on the ground’ in Bali as local agencies of government are left to their own devices to manage the World Heritage site.     

Scaling heritage. The construction of scales in the submission process of alpinism to UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list

ABSTRACT

For the last two decades, the polysemous notion of ‘scale’ has drawn an increasing amount of attention among scholars studying heritage policies and practices, often with regard to UNESCO conventions. Significantly, in many of these works, terms such as ‘global’, ‘national’ and ‘local’ are connected to categories of ‘scale’ or ‘level’ that are taken for granted by the scholars who use them to guide their analysis. This paper, in contrast, promotes a different, constructivist understanding of the notion of scale. From our perspective, there is an added value to be found in focusing—without using any preconceived or external conception of scale—on the ways in which stakeholders conceive of and use scale throughout the processes of heritage making. Using the case of alpinism and the creation of its file for submission to the Intangible Cultural Heritage list, we show that the interest of this approach lies in its comprehensive ability to highlight how people define, elaborate and use scale in order to qualify their practices or to achieve specific goals.     

Making digital heritage about people’s life stories

Abstract

Actively creating new digital heritage content about people’s life histories is part of the democratisation of heritage engagement with the public. The approach of documenting unofficial histories is supported by a growing literature. Unofficial stories contribute new perspectives on the heritage identity of a region. The case study of the ‘Local People’ exhibition, curated by the author in 2013 in the North West of Ireland, is used to discuss the methodology of a digital curatorial process, www.localpeopleireland.com. This article argues that gathering and presenting unofficial histories of individuals' life experiences, can disrupt official narratives of The Troubles and challenge a regional identity based on conflict and division. The making of digital history is analysed as a curatorial process, rather than the ease of use of technology. The methods used included: filmed interviews, new portrait photography and the digitisation of family photograph albums. A virtual exhibition was produced and new digital historical sources were created that transform intangible heritage by crystallising people’s voices and images into ‘tangible’ digital objects. ‘Local People’ utilised Facebook https://www.facebook.com/localpeopleproject/?fref=ts and Vimeo https://vimeo.com/album/2518991. It is argued that the digital space provides a ‘virtual contact zone’ in which diverse, unofficial and personal narratives can be presented together.     

Whom does heritage empower,and whom does it silence? Intangible cultural heritage at the Jemaa el Fnaa,Marrakech

Since the 2001–2005 Proclamations of Masterpieces and the highly successful 2003 Convention, the UNESCO paradigms of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) and safeguarding have become influential concepts in international, national and local cultural policy. But the thinking employed in the ICH model – where practitioners are ‘bearers’ of reified, bounded heritage practices – neglects the lived realities of practitioners, ultimately safeguarding little and potentially exacerbating existing inequalities. While the ICH model contains promises of community empowerment, its actual execution can in fact disempower many, merely replicating existing inequalities in the new context of ICH management. While existing literature addresses the theoretical shortcomings of UNESCO’s approach, the purpose of this article was to examine the ways in which they unfold in real life. As a practical case study, it is based on fieldwork among the performers at the Jemaa el Fnaa Square in Marrakech, a site addressed in the earliest rounds of the UNESCO ICH project. Using this case study, I discuss ways in which the issues of power inherent in the ICH paradigm have real consequences for those affected and implications for the success of the projects developed under its umbrella.     

Benefits of visiting heritage museums: Chinese parents’ perspectives

Abstract

The family, as a leisure unit, is an important museum consumer group. The literature on family leisure in museums concentrates on the cognitive and the learning aspects in science museums and art galleries in western contexts. It provides limited explanation of the leisure outcomes acquired from visiting museums. This work addresses this lacuna by exploring the benefits perceived by Chinese parents who take their children to a cluster of museums along China’s Grand Canal, a world heritage site in Hangzhou. A review of museum and heritage research, combined with 17 on-site, in-depth interviews, generated information on a range of benefits which was used to design a questionnaire that was completed by 450 respondents. Five perceived benefits were identified using factor analysis. In order of significance, they are family bonding, community attachment, cultural awareness, restoration and personal growth. These perceived benefits have implications for museums and other public facilities catering to the family leisure market, as well as for governments, community organisations, the heritage sector and other stakeholders that are charged with managing cultural heritage.     

Negotiating German colonial heritage in Berlin’s Afrikanisches Viertel

Abstract

Conceptualising heritage as a contested process of past-based meaning production in the present, this paper analyses the ongoing dispute over street names in Berlin’s Afrikanisches Viertel. In 1899, Berlin named two of its newly-built streets Togo Street and Cameroon Street. Togo and Cameroon had been proclaimed the first German colonies in 1884. By 1958, 22 Berlin streets had been named after African regions that had been colonised by the German Empire or after German colonial protagonists. In 2004, several NGOs called for the renaming of some of these streets, igniting a fierce dispute over the heritage status of the German colonial past. Drawing on guided interviews and document analyses, we analyse this debate on three levels, showing how the NGOs and their claims have been marginalised on each level. While the level of agency can be traced back to the different positioning of the actors in the political field, the levels of temporality and spatiality belong to the realm of ideas about the world and one’s place in it. By exploring the authoritative power of traditional notions of permanence, and of place and space, this paper seeks to bring temporality and spatiality into the focus of those studying heritage-making practices.     

Endangerment-driven heritage volunteering: democratisation or ‘Changeless Change’

This article is the product of prolonged wrestling with the question of how heritage professionals and researchers can facilitate and sustain public agency in caring for heritage in the UK during austerity without exploiting volunteers or devaluing professionals. It offers critical perspectives on efforts made to democratise heritage in the UK by increasing public participation through a critique of neoliberalism and the rise of neoliberal approaches in the heritage sector. It argues that the adoption of neoliberal approaches, such as crowdsourcing, that profess to democratise yet reinforce existing power structures, is the inevitable result of insisting on protecting material culture from harm, despite the continuing accumulation of more ‘heritage’. Drawing on critical perspectives on participation from a number of disciplines, it is suggested that efforts to increase public participation in heritage cannot hope to avoid exploiting volunteers, devaluing professionals and marginalising traditionally underrepresented demographics unless they also let go of the perceived need to protect the materiality of the past. Drawing on Sarah May’s archaeology of contemporary tigers, this article argues that the application of endangerment narratives to heritage reinforces uncritical understandings of both heritage and volunteering that preclude heritage from fulfilling its potential function as a contemporary social process.     

Civil War heritage as American diplomacy, 1957–1965

This paper explores the role of Civil War heritage in U.S. public diplomacy during the Cold War era. Especially during the celebration of the Civil War’s centennial, between 1961 and 1965, the Americans endeavoured to harness the conflict’s heritage to promote U.S. interests in Europe. How they intended to do this is demonstrated primarily through an examination of Colonel Sidney Morgan’s mission to Europe to find how the commemoration of the Civil War could be used for public diplomacy. Additionally, by exploring how Civil War heritage was spread and used in the British public sphere, the paper examines and underlines the key role saved to unofficial cultural agents, such as Civil War re-enactment clubs and private people, in heritage diplomacy. The focus on unofficial agents and networks enable this study to show how heritage diplomacy works at the un-institutionalised level and to explore the interaction between the official and unofficial level in heritage diplomacy. The historical perspective and methodology cast new light on the use of history, historical memory and heritage for diplomatic ends and introduces both historians and heritage scholars with new avenues to explore, such as the role of memory and historical consciousness in shaping international relations.     

Marginal or mainstream? Migrant centres as grassroots and official heritage

Abstract

Migrant heritage, as a grassroots practice seeking to commemorate pre- and post-war migrant communities and their contributions, emerged in Australia from the 1980s. Since that time, its appeal has continued to grow. It now receives, in some form, state sanction and is policed by the same state and national legislation as other cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible. This article seeks to complicate understandings of migrant heritage as a marginal practice, specifically by interrogating the use-value of particular narratives in the Australian context – that is, how do individuals, communities and other groups (the grassroots) draw on sanctioned and publicly circulating narratives to mark their site as heritage-worthy? Ideas of what constitutes official and unofficial heritage can be mutually inclusive – a dialectical process. I analyse this in relation to the commemoration of former post-war migrant reception centres in Australia.     

All that we are – heritage inside out and upside down

Abstract

This article explores how the axis between heritage on the ‘inside’ and heritage on the ‘outside’ is imagined and produced, theoretically, politically and institutionally. It asks which outsider narratives are privileged and which are contained, and what the management of these boundaries inadvertently tells us about the politics and anxieties of the ‘inside’. It offers reasons for the pervasiveness of the border despite various initiatives to invite the outside in.     

The collision of heritage and economy at Uxbenká, Belize

The relationship between the Mopan Maya community of Santa Cruz and the Classic period Maya site of Uxbenká in southern Belize has had a lasting impact on archaeological investigation and conservation at the site over the last generation. Community members, long the ‘stewards’ of Uxbenká, believe they have an economic right to the ruins that translates loosely into ‘ownership’. Although they seek to maintain the relationship between Santa Cruz and Uxbenká, archaeologists with the Uxbenká Archaeological Project (UAP) challenge the legitimacy of the community’s claim via the power vested in them by the state to conduct scholarly investigations at the site. For both the UAP and the state‐affiliated Institute of Archaeology, Uxbenká belongs not to one village but to all Belizeans. This paper is a data‐driven analysis of the interactions and expectations of community members, archaeologists, and the state as they interact within the archaeoscape of Uxbenká.