Review of “Heritage Politics in China: The Power of the Past” By Yujie Zhu and Christina Maags

Author(s):  
Yunci Cai
Keyword(s):  
The Past ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-23

Are there connections between security policies, peacebuilding, and heritage politics? The first aim of this paper is to discuss how heritage policies sometimes are used to add to and reinforce security policies and practices. This issue is largely unknown and remains to be researched. Secondly, it would also be of importance to try to better understand how security policies may be influenced by notions of heritage and certain interventions on heritage sites. It is argued that it has become necessary to move beyond the study of wars to better understand how heritage affects security and vice versa not only in conflicts but also in peacetime and in “afterwar” periods. The paper builds on a critical reading of previous research mainly on heritage studies and partly on security studies, and on a case study of Swedish-led heritage interventions in the Balkans following the Yugoslavian wars.


Author(s):  
Marieke Bloembergen ◽  
Martijn Eickhoff

The archaeological sites that the Indonesian Republic inherited from the past were not neutral. In this article we investigate the multilayered processes of signification connected to these sites – scattered all over Indonesia, and selected, uncovered, investigated, conserved and partly put on display by state archaeologists under Dutch and Japanese colonial regimes – and their meanings for the young Indonesian Republic in the 1950s. Taking a site-centred approach we focus on what we call ‘archaeological interventions’, and in particular on the reconstruction and conservation history of the ninth-century Śiwa temple at Prambanan (1910s-1950s), in the broader context of archaeological research (state supported as well as inter-Asian and internationally based) and colonial and postcolonial conservation politics. How did the Archaeological Services in successive colonial and post-colonial regimes in Indonesia contribute to the transmission of archaeological knowledge and to the skills and ethics of restoration politics over time? What was the effect of regime change on the development of archaeological sites into national sites? And how did post-independence national heritage politics relate to other, ongoing identifications with these sites – colonial/international, inter-Asian and local – that were stimulated by archaeological interventions taking place at these sites?


2007 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Eklund

The city of Newcastle commemorated two bicentenaries within the space of seven years. In 2004, the city marked 200 years since the permanent establishment of the settlement on 30 March 1804. But 2004 was not the city’s first bicentennial. In 1997, Newcastle celebrated the 1797 journey of Lieutenant John Shortland, who named and sketched the Hunter River and brought back samples of coal to Sydney. These anniversaries, and earlier ones such as Newcastle’s centennial in 1897 and its sesqui-centennial in 1947, were crucial moments of history making in the public sphere. History was evoked to celebrate progress, encourage civic loyalty and, more recently, to emphasise the city’s transition into a post-industrial era. This article will explore the way in which commemorative dates in Newcastle’s history were interpreted, utilised and presented to the general public. It will examine how history, heritage, politics and policy come together to use the past in a public way. Utilising US historian John Bodnar’s terms, the shift in the themes and tenor of public history in Newcastle over this period has been from an ‘official’ to a more ‘vernacular’ style. Official public history emphasised unitary notions of progress while vernacular styles presented more diverse and occasionally more critical versions of public history. By the time of the 2004 commemorative events there was more scope for active popular participation. Newcastle public history was being nourished by community groups often with conflicting notions of public history, generating a multivalent, multilayered sense of the past, though older themes persisted with remarkable durability. In a city where ‘history’ has such an ambivalent position, large-scale historical commemorations make for intriguing analysis. After a review of the principal themes in the Newcastle commemorations of 1897, 1947, and 1997, I consider the 2004 ‘Newcastle 200’ programme. In particular, I will be considering my own movement from an apparently objective historical analyst of the earlier commemorative events to a participant in the history-making process in the 2004 program.


2021 ◽  
pp. 265-283
Author(s):  
Knut Fageraas

Over the past hundred years we have seen a wide-ranging agricultural land abandonment process and land-use transformation with respect to the outfields of rural areas. In addition, large outfield areas have been protected as nature reserves and national parks, concealing their cultural legacy. Despite a shift in the landscape’s status and its diminished importance to rural livelihoods, we have witnessed a broadened interest in the cultural heritage of outlying fields. This is apparent not least in the fact that the historical remains and cultural landscape of outfield areas have come to the forefront of national cultural heritage policy, are targets for tourism initiatives, and have been at the core of local identity struggles. This chapter takes as its point of departure the growing field of heritage politics in present day society through a focus on the many actors’ engagement with different aspects of the past in relation to landscape characteristics and historical remains in outfield areas. The aim is to provide insight into ways the past is managed and engaged in certain political, economic and social contexts, as a background to reflect on diverse aspects of cultural heritage, social justice related to its management, and its value for local communities. Cultural heritage policy and practices contribute to the varying uses of outfield areas, affecting ways people perceive the landscape, dwell within it, and – despite the potential for conflict of interest – see future opportunities.


1967 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 405
Author(s):  
F. J. Kerr

A continuum survey of the galactic-centre region has been carried out at Parkes at 20 cm wavelength over the areal11= 355° to 5°,b11= -3° to +3° (Kerr and Sinclair 1966, 1967). This is a larger region than has been covered in such surveys in the past. The observations were done as declination scans.


1962 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 133-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold C. Urey

During the last 10 years, the writer has presented evidence indicating that the Moon was captured by the Earth and that the large collisions with its surface occurred within a surprisingly short period of time. These observations have been a continuous preoccupation during the past years and some explanation that seemed physically possible and reasonably probable has been sought.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document