Gepopulariseerde cultuur, ritueel en het maken van erfgoed

Abstract

Abstract The global interest in the search for and rescue of the Thai youth football team ‘the Wild Boars’, or the nationwide interest in the non-stop fundraising swimming-tour of Dutch swimmer Maarten van der Weijden, are examples of what in this lecture is called high density events: intense, often emotional occurrences, of an almost entertainment-like character, followed continuously by many. High density events shape and articulate ideas about who belong or do not belong to the (national) community. During such events, cultural forms, objects and practices are popularized, transferred and exchanged at a high pace, processes in which virtually anybody may become involved. Taking high-density events as object of research implies a focus on the making of heritage. In the repetitious, ritualized contexts of such events, certain cultural forms, practices and objects may become magnified and sacralised, to become heritage. Although any object or practice may be made heritage, the analysis should situate this making in its societal context, asking such questions as who were involved in the selection process, and why certain practices or objects are self-evidently attributed a heritage status and others not. With cultural identity becoming an ever more explicitly political issue, research into the making of heritage is the more urgent.