Cultural heritage and memory: untangling the ties that bind

Today in heritage studies memory looms larger than ever, there are memory parks, memory politics, and memory wars, there is discussion of ‘dissonant’, ‘dark’, and ‘difficult’ heritage linked to memories of traumatic past events. But what to we mean when we use the word ‘memory’ in the field of heritage? How is the divide between its social and individual realms bridged? This article theorizes the intimate relationship between heritage and memory by focusing on three areas. First, it maps out the vocabulary that has emerged from the heritage-memory dyad including how notions of collective memory and lieux de mémoire have been used, and occasionally misused, as well as the metaphors employed in the process. Second, the emergence of memory studies is considered, providing a brief overview of its foundations as well as assessing how it differs from, overlaps with, and contributes to heritage research. A third section offers a brief review of recent developments in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology relating to memory and how this might inform heritage studies. The concluding discussion provides a synthesis of the theoretical and empirical contribution of memory research to furthering out understanding of cultural heritage and proposes directions for future work on the area of confluence between the two.The work leading up to this paper and its writing was carried out as part of research project made possible by a British Academy Post-doctoral Fellowship (2011-2014) for which the author is ever grateful

Heritage and the (Re)shaping of Social Identities in Conflict Cycles: Anchor or Quicksand?

Introduction: Culture, heritage, conflict -- Heritage and the (re)shaping of social identities in conflict cycles : anchor or quicksand? / Dacia Viejo Rose -- Napoleon, savants, and the description de l'Égypte : capturing history / Andrew ..

Gernika - Gernika from Lumo 1

unpublished PhD thesi

Memorializing Pearl Harbor: unfinished histories and the work of remembrance

While other scholars have examined the cultural memory of difficult pasts and war memorials in the last fifteen years, White’s research stands out for the length of time he has dedicated to one site. Since 1991 he has been a participant-observer of the commemorative events at the USS Arizona Memorial, Pearl Harbor, which is the burial site for most of the 1,177 sailors and marines who died there on 7 December 1941. hite has followed its transformation from a national memorial to an expansive landscape known as the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, a new entity of the National Park Service that includes submarine and aviation museums, as well as the USS Battleship Missouri Memorial. Combining history and anthropology, White dubs his approach ‘memorial ethnography’

Mostar Bridge

Old Bridge Area ofd the Old City of Mostar, UNESCO World Heritage Site reconstructed with support from the International Community after its destruction during conflict in the 1990s.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] under grant agreement n° 217411

Gernika - Gernika from Lumo 1

unpublished PhD thesi

Gernika - Lumo from Gernika

unpublished PhD thesi

Cultural violence against heritage: process, experience, and impact

The deliberate destruction of cultural heritage during armed conflicts has grabbed headlines worldwide in recent years, as in the highly mediatised targeting of the Mostar Bridge and the Bamiyan Buddhas, Timbuktu, the Baghdad Museum and Palmyra, to name but a few. In response, the rhetoric used to denounce such acts has become increasingly fiery. UNESCO’s then Director General, traditionally temperate in tone, denounced acts of ‘cultural cleansing’, and declared heritage to be ‘extremism’s new target’. 1 This rhetoric and its frequent reference to barbarians departed from the organisation’s previous efforts to counter Samuel Huntington’s clash of civilisations theory. 2 The linguistic hyperbole belies a complex underbelly however, for the motivations, immediate consequences, and medium to long-term impacts of these dramatic acts are far from straightforward. Understanding what underlies attacks on heritage is further complicated by the insistence on applying moral values to heritage, good, and its destruction, bad, that has resulted in an inadequate appreciation of the violent political instrumentalisation of heritage in the buildup, evolution, dénouement, and aftermath of armed conflict

Selimiye Mosque, Nicosia

The Selimiye Mosque in Nicosia, formerly the the Saint Sophia Cathedral.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] under grant agreement n° 217411