Death and Burial Customs in Wiltshire.

Lavanis (ballads in the Kannada language) produced a vast body of discourse about the colonizers in Karnataka. They offer us glimpses of colonial relations, perceptions, and representations from the Indian side of the relationship. Such discourse ultimately allowed the British officials and the folk narrators to represent and legitimize both themselves and ‘the other’ simultaneously.     

Whose logic? Reflections on gender in the history of ideas

The paper challenges Bevir's failure to engage with issues of gender in his attempt to establish a logic of the history of ideas. It argues that this exclusion both compromises his claim to have articulated a comprehensive (and inclusive) logic, and suggests the limitations of his model as a way in which we might bring greater subtlety and texture to the understanding of history.     

Francophone Theater of Western Canada: Dramatic Tales of Disappearing Francophones

One recent innovation in the Francophone theater of western Canada is the use of narrativized dramatic monologues. The monologue form has a long history in Quebec, so it should come as no surprise that western Canadian playwrights have also been drawn to it. What I argue in this article is that the monologue form may signify differently in minority Francophone theater, which has previously been a site for collective expressions of memory and identity. I focus on two works written by playwrights with Saskatchewan roots, but first performed in Alberta – Il était une fois Delmas, Sask … mais pas deux fois! by André Roy and Claude Binet (2006) and Elephant Wake by Jonathan Christenson and Joey Tremblay (1999). I chose these two because they both recount stories of Francophone villages founded, built, and then gradually abandoned or overwhelmed by Anglophones. They are both tales of the missionary zeal of settlement, community cohesion based on church and French heritage, and the slow disintegration of once vibrant rural villages. While the first was written in French with occasional use of English, the second was written in English with occasional use of French.     

Borrowed Robes: The Educational Value of Costumed Interpretation at Historic Sites

Pressure to develop vulnerable historic sites into competitive commercial operations has led to controversial interpretive techniques being introduced by aggressive marketing managers. Scarce resources have been invested in largely unproven technological and other innovative methods of presentation. This paper looks at the employment of costumed interpreters at historic sites, what they claim to offer visitors, and whether their services match visitors' needs. It reports the findings of an investigation into what visitors want from historic sites and the extent to which costumed interpreters contribute to their experiences. The study reported here compared the performance of 12 historic sites in four countries: two European (Sweden and the UK) and two North American (Canada and the USA); with the participation of 589 visitors. The study provides clear recommendations for site managers as to the value of costumed interpretation and offers guidelines on the levels of investment (in reproduction costume and staff training) that guarantee visitors an educational experience during their visits to historic sites.     

Conservation as Psychology: Ontological Security and the Built Environment

This paper outlines a theoretical approach to the rationale for conservation of built environment that suggests that psychological factors may be as important as political or aesthetic issues. Within the context of conservation of historic buildings and townscapes, it examines the notion of ontological security and the importance of the physical world in its construction and takes case studies from post‐war Europe and contemporary South Korea to illustrate its propositions.     

The red line over European colonialism: comparison of the Macao museum and Hong Kong museum of history after their return to China

Hong Kong and Macao were once European colonies. A unique, hybrid culture of East and West now flourishes in these two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of China. Both cities opened new history museums in 1998, but they adopted remarkably different approaches in their representation of their complicated and politically sensitive history. The Hong Kong Museum of History (HKMH) represents history by closely following the orientation of traditional Chinese nationalism. The postcolonial characteristics adopted by the Macao Museum to reproduce history, in contrast, are likely amongst the richest of all history museums in China. What are the reasons behind the different historical representations by Hong Kong and Macao, which were both promised a ‘One country, Two systems’ policy by the Chinese central authority? This paper argues that both museums reveal two faces of a rising China; the one in Hong Kong emphasises national dignity, and the people’s identification with and loyalty to the nation when it is engaged in state building. The one in Macao emphasises the multiple roles in finding a balanced position to coexist with superpowers, forging friendships with developing countries and building an idealised image of a (re-)rising nation through historical construction. The difference between these two museums indicates the exceptional flexibility of China’s postcommunist regime in engaging in soft power diplomacy.