Instrument, Policy or Strategy? The Ambiguity of Popular Culture

This article examines the various ways reflexive or “knowing subjects” (Giddens) negotiate, perform and generally use popular culture today. Therefore, the article, following the idea of asymmetrical comparison, discusses three case studies from very different fields – a local protest movement against a furniture store, a Gothic festival in Leipzig and the pageant for a new national anthem in Switzerland – in order to find and deconstruct parallels and differences in the ways popular culture is constructed and conceptualized. Finally, the article discusses whether popular culture, which can be interpreted as polyvalent, is a powerful instrument, a means of policy or a target-oriented strategy.This article examines the various ways reflexive or “knowing subjects” (Giddens) negotiate, perform and generally use popular culture today. Therefore, the article, following the idea of asymmetrical comparison, discusses three case studies from very different fields – a local protest movement against a furniture store, a Gothic festival in Leipzig and the pageant for a new national anthem in Switzerland – in order to find and deconstruct parallels and differences in the ways popular culture is constructed and conceptualized. Finally, the article discusses whether popular culture, which can be interpreted as polyvalent, is a powerful instrument, a means of policy or a target-oriented strategy

Between Imagined Communities and Communities of Practice - Participation, Territory and the Making of Heritage

Community and participation have become central concepts in the nomination processes surrounding heritage, intersecting time and again with questions of territory. In this volume, anthropologists and legal scholars from France, Germany, Italy and the USA take up questions arising from these intertwined concerns from diverse perspectives: How and by whom were these concepts interpreted and re-interpreted, and what effects did they bring forth in their implementation? What impact was wielded by these terms, and what kinds of discursive formations did they bring forth? How do actors from local to national levels interpret these new components of the heritage regime, and how do actors within heritage-granting national and international bodies work it into their cultural and political agency? What is the role of experts and expertise, and when is scholarly knowledge expertise and when is it partisan? How do bureaucratic institutions translate the imperative of participation into concrete practices? Case studies from within and without the UNESCO matrix combine with essays probing larger concerns generated by the valuation and valorization of culture.Community and participation have become central concepts in the nomination processes surrounding heritage, intersecting time and again with questions of territory. In this volume, anthropologists and legal scholars from France, Germany, Italy and the USA take up questions arising from these intertwined concerns from diverse perspectives: How and by whom were these concepts interpreted and re-interpreted, and what effects did they bring forth in their implementation? What impact was wielded by these terms, and what kinds of discursive formations did they bring forth? How do actors from local to national levels interpret these new components of the heritage regime, and how do actors within heritage-granting national and international bodies work it into their cultural and political agency? What is the role of experts and expertise, and when is scholarly knowledge expertise and when is it partisan? How do bureaucratic institutions translate the imperative of participation into concrete practices? Case studies from within and without the UNESCO matrix combine with essays probing larger concerns generated by the valuation and valorization of culture

Reflections on the Metacultural Nature of Intangible Cultural Heritage

One of the most central findings of recent heritage research in cultural anthropology points to heritage as a social process and as the result of a metacultural operation. This article discusses the metacultural nature of heritage by focusing on the history of heritage both as a concrete social practice and as a powerful concept of cultural policy. For heuristic reasons, the article tends to put the conceptualisation of heritage as a metacultural product in question and proposes to translate concepts from ritual studies into heritage research

Zwischen „school work“ und „Augenlust“. Zum Ort der Muße in der Schule

Zenke CT. Zwischen „school work“ und „Augenlust“. Zum Ort der Muße in der Schule. In: Tauschek M, Wilke I, eds. Muße und Arbeit. Mohr Siebeck; 2020: 229–245

Between Imagined Communities and Communities of Practice: Participation, Territory and the Making of Heritage

International audienceCommunity and participation have become central concepts in the nomination processes surrounding heritage, intersecting time and again with questions of territory. In this volume, anthropologists and legal scholars from France, Germany, Italy and the USA take up questions arising from these intertwined concerns from diverse perspectives: How and by whom were these concepts interpreted and re-interpreted, and what effects did they bring forth in their implementation? What impact was wielded by these terms, and what kinds of discursive formations did they bring forth? How do actors from local to national levels interpret these new components of the heritage regime, and how do actors within heritage-granting national and international bodies work it into their cultural and political agency? What is the role of experts and expertise, and when is scholarly knowledge expertise and when is it partisan? How do bureaucratic institutions translate the imperative of participation into concrete practices?Case studies from within and without the UNESCO matrix combine with essays probing larger concerns generated by the valuation and valorization of culture

Auf den Spuren der Konkurrenz. Kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven

Bürkert K, Engel A, Heimerdinger T, Tauschek M, Werron T, eds. Auf den Spuren der Konkurrenz. Kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven. Freiburger Studien zur Kulturanthropologie . Vol 2. Münster; New York: Waxmann; 2019

Between Imagined Communities and Communities of Practice - Participation, Territory and the Making of Heritage

Community and participation have become central concepts in the nomination processes surrounding heritage, intersecting time and again with questions of territory. In this volume, anthropologists and legal scholars from France, Germany, Italy and the USA take up questions arising from these intertwined concerns from diverse perspectives: How and by whom were these concepts interpreted and re-interpreted, and what effects did they bring forth in their implementation? What impact was wielded by these terms, and what kinds of discursive formations did they bring forth? How do actors from local to national levels interpret these new components of the heritage regime, and how do actors within heritage-granting national and international bodies work it into their cultural and political agency? What is the role of experts and expertise, and when is scholarly knowledge expertise and when is it partisan? How do bureaucratic institutions translate the imperative of participation into concrete practices? Case studies from within and without the UNESCO matrix combine with essays probing larger concerns generated by the valuation and valorization of culture

Form und Typen der Konkurrenz

Werron T. Form und Typen der Konkurrenz. In: Bürkert K, Engel A, Heimerdinger T, Tauschek M, Werron T, eds. Auf den Spuren der Konkurrenz. Kultur- und sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven. Freiburger Studien zur Kulturanthropologie. Vol 2. Münster; New York: Waxmann; 2019: 17-44