Title: Cultural heritages as reflexive traditions /
Authors: Kockel, Ullrich.; Nic Craith, Máiréad.
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan,
Year: 2007
Subjects: Oral tradition Case studies.; Cultural property Case studies.; Ethnology Field work Case studies.; Ethnology Fieldwork Case studies.; SOCIAL SCIENCE Folklore & Mythology.; Cultural property; Ethnology Fieldwork; Oral tradition; tradition orale études diverses.; culture études diverses.
Abstract: In a world increasingly perceived as culturally fragmented, the recovery of a sense of the past constitutes an industry in itself. Cultural Heritages as Reflexive Traditions explores anthropological definitions of and contributions to the study of heritage and tradition at an international scale. Drawing on anthropological fieldwork, contributors present case studies illustrating the invention or re-conceptualisation of heritages and traditions in selected locations in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe. They review the importance of stories as markers of identity and evaluate the generation of narratives within and about stories. Authors consider competing quests for heritages in post-colonial societies and assess the role of the heritage industry in the reclamation of lost histories. Since the heritage industry has developed as a resource with significant economic potential, several contributors query the impact of the commodification of heritage on the integrity of custodians and their cultural traditions.
Contents: Cultural heritages : process, power, commodification / Máiréad Nic Craith -- Reflexive traditions and heritage production / Ullrich Kockel -- Tradition as development strategy / Gabriella Aspraki -- Honouring stories : performing, recording and archiving Yolngu cultural heritage / Fiona Magowan -- Tradition as reflexive project in Norway and Malaysia : witch, whore, madonna and heroine / Anne Kathrine Larsen -- Challenging heritage in a South African town / Anna Bohlin -- Heritage and the production of locality in North Namibia / Ian Fairweather -- The changing role of British cultural traditions in South Africa / Hana Novotná -- The transmission of Islamic heritage in Northern Ireland / Gabriele Marranci -- Heritage narratives on the Slovenian coast : the lion and the attic / Irena Weber -- Globalizing heritage : marketing the prehistoric built environment in Ireland / Kelli Ann Costa -- Culture, heritage and commodification / Heather Gill-Robinson -- Heritage as a commodity : are we devaluing our heritage by making it available to the highest bidder via the Internet? / Barbara Hewitt.