Heritage Processes Research Articles

Memory and Enculturation

It may be safely stated at present that the triad of past, tradition and memory has accelerated at an incredible pace. Memory seems to keep the events of the past alive for ever shorter periods of time. Rites, memories and remembrance are now handed down as written sources in the form of textbooks. How does the narrative of the teaching aids that have emerged in the 21st century then evolve and what are/have been their achievements in the construction of national identity? How do hon- és népismeret [Our homeland and its people] textbooks function as tools for building a national community? The subject hon- és népismeret taught in grade schools examines and discusses national culture and the processes of cultural reconstruction in a rather specific cross-section. Beyond exploring the interdependence and interlocking of the context and practice of ‘knowledge creation’/‘knowledge transmission’ in primary educational institutions, this paper aims to explore some salient observations on its generational relationship to memory. The importance of this subject and textbook is/has been undeniable, both as a tool for national and social community-building on the one hand and as a tangible archive of the process of heritage transmission/patrimonization on the other hand.

Looking Back When Moving Forward: Researching Sites of Former Disability Institutions

This article discusses an inclusive research program where colleagues and co-researchers (with intellectual disability) guide and inform future research practice to ensure research is targeted to areas of significance and relevance to them. The research program is about sites of former disability institutions. Many people with intellectual disability in Australia were segregated and forced to live in disability institutions until deinstitutionalisation efforts became mainstream in the late 20th Century. We are a team of four people based in New South Wales, Australia. Our team includes disability advocates and researchers who have contributed to a program of research exploring connections between sites of former disability institutions and contemporary disability rights. In this article, we reflect on conversations about our research undertaken so far and where the research goes from here. We explore five pillars of action informing how research relating to disability institutions can progress: 1. Current use: research exploring erasure of experiences of institutionalisation communicated through educational resources and maps about current use of sites of former disability institutions; 2. Reparative planning processes: research developing frameworks for alternative approaches to planning and heritage processes supporting alternative uses of former sites of disability institutions; 3. Official recognition and redress: research exploring perspectives on governments formally recognising and remedying experiences of people with disability who were institutionalised; 4. Community-led repair and remembrance: research identifying practices for both celebrating advocates with disability and reckoning with and repairing familial and social bonds broken through institutionalisation; 5. Community-inclusive practices: research exploring endurance of institutional practices in disability accommodation in community settings. These five pillars are underpinned by three foundational layers: advancing disability human rights; reckoning with intersections between disability institutions and settler colonialism, other dynamics of oppression, and eugenics; and using inclusive practices.

Productos alimentarios “patrimonializados”

Nowadays, discourses about food and about food production and distribution in particular proliferate. A good part of them revolves around agribusiness and the food industry, its benefits and potential and its unwanted, even perverse, effects. A wide diversity of arguments are mobilized, defended and refuted by proponents and opponents, from often polarized perspectives. In the first part of this article, some of these discourses are presented, as well as the arguments used, the actors who utter them, their objectives, and their strategies. We will briefly summarize the discourses critical of the current forms of food production and their proposals for change, which take the form of a series of alternatives, considerably different from each other. Within the broad spectrum of proposals for change, which are distributed on a continuum that goes from the radical transformation of the forms of food production to the occupation of small niches complementary to it, are the strategies for the patrimonialization of food products. The second part focuses on this heritage process, the discourses it mobilizes, the agents that intervene and the strategies that are used. The third part focuses on the role of citizens and consumers in this patrimonialization, and on the meanings that patrimonialized food products adopt for them, as well as the uses to which they are given and the place they occupy in dietary patterns.

The omitted variable: musical bamboos, environmental sustainability, and the ecological implications of an intangible cultural heritage in the Bolivian Andes

ABSTRACT This article examines the heritagization process of the highland flute-making community of Walata Grande, focusing on the environmental sustainability of native woody bamboos used in flute making in the Bolivian Andes. It explores how Aymara flute makers’ involvement in national cultural heritage politics intersects with broader ecological issues of resource use and environmental sustainability from an ecomusicological perspective. Through ethnographic fieldwork among flute makers, bamboo traders, and cultural heritage state officials, I analyse how Walateño flute makers view their cultural heritage as a means of decolonisation, economic protectionism, and tourist promotion. Simultaneously, they avoid discussions about musical bamboos due to concerns over losing autonomy in the management of an essential resource. I conclude that the intangible cultural heritage initiative in highland flute making offers only a limited solution to the challenges of sustaining musical bamboos. Although UNESCO’s Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) advocates for the constant recreation of ICH by heritage communities, it is crucial to consider the material economic structures in which these cultural recreations are embedded and their ecological and environmental implications, especially given the current context of musical bamboo unsustainability.

Surface weathering process of earthen heritage under dry-wet cycles: A case study of Suoyang City, China

Dry-wet cycle is a key factor in surface weathering of earthen heritage, which remains insufficiently explained. It involves the interaction of humidity, stress, and damage. Using the RFPA (realistic failure process analysis) numerical method, this study reproduced the processes of humidity diffusion, deformation, stress, and damage evolution under dry-wet cycles in the soil site of Suoyang City, China. The numerical results indicate that the drying phase following rainfall has the most significant deteriorative impact on the earthen heritage. The evaporation of surface moisture during this phase causes volume shrinkage, which in turn generates tensile stress and leads to the formation of numerous desiccation cracks. Desiccation cracks provide channels for moisture diffusion, which further exacerbates generation of the cracks, leading to a mutual promotion between the two phenomena. Furthermore, during the wetting phase, the model elements undergo hygroscopic expansion, resulting in a slight increase in strain and displacement. Previously formed cracks may exhibit temporary narrowing or closure, but will revert during the subsequent drying phase. Ultimately, the overall displacement increases with the number of dry-wet cycles. The findings provide a theoretical foundation for protection against surface weathering and other damage in earthen heritage in arid regions.

야외박물관으로서의 경주 남산 만들기 : 1950-90년대 지역문화공동체의 유산 실천을 중심으로

This article examines the heritagization process of how the performances and practices of local communities and people in Gyeongju contributed to the creation of Mt. Namsan in Gyeongju as a natural and cultural open-air museum through a historical geographical approach to cultural landscape. During the Park Chung-hee regime, Mt. Namsan was a space organized around selected points and the lines connecting them, i.e., ruins that were considered important in the construction of national history and the roads that connected them. In 1985, the entirety of Mt. Namsan was designated a historic site, which led to the transformation of this point- and line-centered spatial organization into an area-centered one. In addition to the institutional change, the activities of local cultural communities and local people played an important role in the spatial reconfiguration of Mt. Namsan. They were the main actors who carried out and practiced the heritage of Mt. Namsan from the 1950s to the 1990s. Their activities laid the foundation for the transformation of Mt. Namsan into an “open-air museum” that bears the imprint of Silla, a multifaceted and multilayered pilgrimage site where points, lines, and planes intersect.

The Divergent Fates of Wartime Israeli and Gazan (Palestinian) Cultural Heritage: A Preliminary Inventory and Conceptual Analysis of Heritagization Processes in GLAMs on Separate Sides of the Israel-Hamas War

ABSTRACT Divergent fates are befalling Israeli and Gazan cultural heritage during the continuing Israel-Hamas war. This article conducts a case study of the war’s implications for both Israeli and Gazan (Palestinian) cultural heritage sectors, represented by galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAMs), to help establish a preliminary account and overview of the state of cultural heritage over the war’s first half-year. A tripartite typology of heritagization processes is further furnished in which to situate, examine, and contrast the case study. Specifically, this tripartite typology involves: heritagization that creates or designates phenomena as cultural heritage; re-heritagization that reaffirms, revalidates, or reinforces existing cultural heritage; and de-heritagization that damages, demolishes, or destroys cultural heritage. Foregrounding the case study of wartime Israeli and Gazan cultural heritage within this typology serves two purposes. First, it spotlights the parallel processes of heritagization, re-heritagization and de-heritagization, to help describe, interpret, and understand them within this volatile setting. Second, it enables a conceptual and practical mapping of the convolutions regarding the war’s productive (heritagization/re-heritagization) and destructive (de-heritagization) effects on cultural heritage on separate sides of the conflict. Ultimately, parallel heritagization processes related to the war are simultaneously unfolding within and between Israel and Gaza, resulting in contrasting consequences on their respective cultural heritage sectors and contexts.

The Uses of Corporate Heritage: A Critical Approach

ABSTRACT Corporate enterprises have long embraced their historical legacy, preserving not only documents in their archives, but also buildings, and old equipment from their past operations. Scholars in management and marketing studies have dedicated attention to exploring the heritage of business organizations since the 2000s, primarily interested in how firms leverage their historical legacies to enhance performance, build identity, and ensure long-term success. This has, however, developed independently from the interdisciplinary field of cultural heritage studies, which largely overlooks how corporate enterprises deal with what they see as their own heritage. The paper bridges this divide by reviewing existing heritage approaches in management and marketing studies literature and exploring the potential of addressing this corporate heritage discourse in the field of critical heritage studies. It argues that since socioeconomic interests invariably influence heritage processes, engaging with this corporate heritage discourse may enhance our understanding of the complex interplay between organizations, heritage, and societal dynamics in the broader context of heritage studies.

Research on narrative design of handicraft intangible cultural heritage creative products based on AHP-TOPSIS method

To address the issues of subjectivity and bias that designers face in selecting and constructing narrative cultural themes when introducing narrative design methods into the design of handicraft intangible cultural heritage cultural and creative products, a model incorporating quantitative analysis methods into the narrative theme selection process is proposed. First, based on the theory of cultural levels and semiotic structure, a new narrative text structure is developed to enrich the narrative cultural themes of handicraft intangible cultural heritage. Second, a process model for constructing narrative texts of handicraft intangible cultural heritage is established using kansei engineering, factor analysis, and the TOPSIS method, to minimize the impact of subjective factors in the narrative theme selection process. Finally, using the design of Huangmei Cross Flower cultural and creative products as an example, the feasibility of the model is validated. This method model effectively reduces the transmission bias of cultural features in the narrative design process of handicraft intangible cultural heritage, providing a theoretical foundation for further design practice of handicraft intangible cultural heritage products.

Memorial agency, heritage dissonance, and the politics of memory in the preservation of Rio de Janeiro’s Valongo slave wharf

The article aims to understand the tensions inherent to the commemoration of a difficult and conflicted past and the conservation of dissonant heritage. It explores the politics of memory and identity, and the power struggles that underscore the heritagisation process through a study of the transformation of Rio de Janeiro’s port in preparation to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics. The paper uses the notion of heritage dissonance to shed light upon contemporary struggles over the interpretation of the port’s contested history and explores the debates that have surrounded the 'discovery' of archeological remains, which exposed a controversial past marked by collective amnesia. The paper identifies various actions, instruments, and strategies used by various actors to either support or undermine the project, from inertia and obstructionism to memorialisation and ritual agency. The analysis of these findings reveals the transformative potential of heritage, as an instrument of empowerment in the ideological battle over collective memory, and a tool of resistance against historical denial. It discusses the way debates over heritage have stimulated public debate, inflected the official historical narrative, and allowed the legacies of slavery to infiltrate collective consciousness. The paper concludes with a discussion of how heritage dissonance can engender actions leading to conflict mediation, thereby promoting reconciliation and dialogue, and, ultimately, societal change.

Archival Challenges for the Van Nelle Factory

Marking the anniversary of the redevelopment of the Van Nelle Factory in Rotterdam, the related project archive was formally transferred to the Rotterdam City Archive in order to enable proper archival conservation and public accessibility of this essential documentation. This article sheds light on the documentation and redevelopment process of a modern World Heritage (WH) site and on the role of archives as an example for other protected heritage projects or sites.

Touristification and urban extractivism in Latin American destinations: Heritage and conflicts in Antigua Guatemala (Guatemala) and Cartagena de Indias (Colombia)

ABSTRACT Tourism is linked to new dynamics of capital accumulation in a wide variety of destinations worldwide, boosting the attraction of real estate investments. In Latin America, the state promoted tourism, advocating for the commodification of urban land leading to the regeneration of different historical centers, and then to displacement and segregation of the local population. Heritage recognition policies were a necessary part of triggering this trend, articulated with other urban dynamics, such as gentrification. Visual dimension of built environment understood as an urban landscape is a key in tourist and residential practices, as well as in investment strategies. Following an instrumental multiple study case strategy based on primary and secondary sources, and by fieldwork including interviews and photographic record, this article analyzes touristification in Antigua Guatemala (Guatemala) and Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), drawing on the theoretical concept of urban extractivism, and its relation with heritagization and gentrification processes. Both cities were founded during the colonial period, went through a heritagization process and are now consolidated as international tourist destinations. As a conclusion, touristification is considered as an expression of urban extractivism based on the reification of the built environment, in turn rooted on heritage recognition policies, overlapped with gentrification.

The Contribution of Applied Folklore to Urban Tourism: The Case of Mardin

Cultural tourism has become one of the most preferred forms of tourism globally, along side summer, sea, and winter tourism. Keyelements in cultural tourism in clude places of cultural heritage, museums, markets reflecting the city's spirit, restaurants, baths, fountains, natural formations, and agricultural areas. Inaddition to cultural spaces, folklore materials such as rituals based on beliefs, dances, festivities, and culinary culture have gained prominence in recent years among cultural tourism venuesand activities. It is crucial for urban folklore to maintain its connection with the past while adapting to contemporary conditions and sometimes leveraging them for self-realization. Only through this process can tradition be carried forward to the present and future. Since the acceptance of the intangible cultural heritage Project contract in Turkey, significant steps have been taken nation wide to preserve an cestral traditions, customs, places, and practices. The positive developments in the intangible cultural heritage process in Mardin since 2002 are important for the preservation and subsequent promotion of the city's historical and cultural fabric. Public institutions continue the iron going efforts on thesubject. In this study, practical folklore examples from recent years are introduced, and existing orpartially inadequate practices are addressed. Recommendations have been proffered to facilitate there location of urban tourism to a distinctive paradigm by addressing non-existent practical folklore examples. This initiative aims to transcend the prevalent pursuits of silver and coppercommerce, as well as constrained historical site excursions. The arrangement of cultural spaces suitable for outdoor activities is also proposed among there commendations, in conjunction with the existing "living museum" where numerous activities are centralized in a single center within the city.

Ethics and aesthetics of adaptive heritage reuse in Europe: an introduction to what happens to territories when heritage is touched

PurposeThe paper introduces ethical and aesthetical implications emerging from participative forms of adaptive heritage reuse. Its aim is to depict the overall framework to contextualize the investigations explored in the Special Issue titled “Ethics and aesthetics of adaptive heritage reuse in Europe.” Therefore, the article confronts with potentialities and contradictions of “open” heritage processes, introducing key critical elements to recode heritage practices and planning in today’s conjuncture of global change.Design/methodology/approachThe paper drawn on a literature review, which combines different bodies of studies: heritage, urban studies, care studies and recent policy documents. A photographic essay, moreover, serves to “augment” the presented argumentations through a visual apparatus resulting from one of Gaia Ginevra Giorgi’s artwork, which develops in the intersection between performative art, participation and territorial reuse.FindingsThe author argues that for adaptive heritage reuse to be really sustainable, ethical and aesthetical heritage codes need to be reassessed and reoriented toward the present socio-ecological priorities, multiplicating the ways cultural heritage is conceived, valued and reused. The paper suggests proceeding along the creative paths of uncertainty, providing the first elements to develop political projects of abundance and enjoyment for current urban settlements.Practical implicationsThe presented argumentations can be used as a baseline by heritage managers and policymakers to experiment with participative processes of adaptive heritage reuse and to identify more environmentally and socially just trajectories of urban development.Originality/valueThe paper expands the concept of adaptive heritage reuse, considering the active participation of both human and non-human agents. Treating heritage in a laic way, namely free from absolute and preordered judgments of value, it deals with uncomfortable heritage materiality and contexts, illuminating the quality of unpleasant or odd forms of beauty.

Breaking with Our Heritage Mental Health – Empowerment

My article “identity and authenticity: breaking with our heritage for sustainable regional human development” [1] was motivated by a global academic encounter in the University of Urbino (Italy). It had been organized by the European SPES1 “Business and Spirituality” initiative. The meeting and related publications discussed “place-based approaches to sustainability.” This basically refers to the local sustainable development of municipalities and regions, as opposed to the general era of finance based globalization. In the paper I discussed two breaks with heritage processes: my own and that of the city of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. Interestingly, by letting go of the overarching behavioral mindset heritage, a new space of empowerment, meaning and purpose appeared. This gave a boost to our individual and regional mental health. Having said that, the question arises: “Do we know what ‘mental health’ is?” Currently we have the definition suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO): “Mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community. It has intrinsic and instrumental value and is integral to our well-being.” This definition in my view is incomplete. There are key elements missing that are inherent to mental health. Aspects such as `purpose`, a sense of responsibility, authentic self determination and existentialist awareness, need to be included. My own breaking example brought me on a totally new, positive and evolutionary path, including such mental boost. For the city of Eindhoven it evolved into a charismatic attraction for people and business development with a new boost of activities and growth. For me it had opened my mind to a new, previously hidden, unnoticed world of existential values. It introduced me to the complexity of human evolution, leading [2] eventually to a proposed society built on a set of five natural conditions (Figure 3) for our sustainable existence as a human species (referred to as a Sustainocracy). This whole and uniquely sensed experience developed my curiosity about this phenomenon of mental and behavioral breaking points or moral crossovers (Figure 2). I learned to see them as both an instrument for mental healing and human evolution through transformative adaptability. However, at this stage, in 1996, this “post breaking point reality” was only related to me. My surroundings were reasoning still in a totally different way, often even wondering about or disputing my choices. Could I find or even develop more proof of principle of my instrumental suppositions? I could not force people, institutions or entire societies to a breaking point, or even to try to understand me. What I could do is to create an environment related to the core human values and positively invite them to my “post personal breaking point” way of thinking with Sustainocracy. But would they (people and institutions) accept? And if so, would this have the expected mental health effect? And all the other societal and evolutionary effects that I was attributing to it all? That became a challenge for me to find out. 1 https://eurospes.org/our-mission-spiritual-based-humanism/

Impact of School Operational Assistance Funds (Bos) on Optimizing the Teaching Process and Cultural Retention of Pisangsambo 1 Tirtjaya Elementary School

This study aims to determine how much influence School Operational Assistance Funds have on Optimizing the Teaching and Learning Process and Cultural Heritage Can Be Saved at SDN Pisangsambo 1 Tirtajaya. The research method used is descriptive verification method by collecting data through field studies, questionnaires and literature study. In this research, the sample used was 32 teachers at SDN Pisangsambo 1 Tirtajaya. Based on the research results, it was obtained a correlation coefficient of 0.430 which stated that the influence of BOS funds on optimizing the teaching and learning process of Cultural Heritage Can Be Saved at SDN Pisangsambo 1 is categorized as moderate because it is in the range of 0.40-0.599. The results of the t hypothesis test show that the amount of t count to t table is 2.612 > t table 1.697 which means that there is an influence between BOS funds on optimizing the teaching and learning process by saving culture. Based on the results of the calculation of the coefficient of determination, an R square of 18.5% is obtained, which means that the optimization of the teaching and learning process at SDN Pisangsambo 1 is influenced by BOS funds of 18.5%. The obstacles that occurred at SDN Pisangsambo 1 Tirtajaya were the lack of optimal communication received and the lack of knowledge of the recipients of BOS funds, which hampered the process of managing BOS funds implemented in the school. The suggested solution for schools is to increase effective two-way communication between the school and teachers and to disseminate knowledge about the management of BOS funds more intensely so that it can run well and systematically. Providing appropriate BOS can motivate schools to improve the quality of school education.

Centers of identity and cultural landscapes: perspectives for urbanistic heritage in Brazil, Cape Verde, and Mozambique

This paper intends to discuss the existing challenges in the field of patrimonialization of urban areas in cities with heritages of Portuguese influence in Brazil, Cabo Verde and Mozambique, taking into account their particularities, their potentials and their synergies. This discussion focuses on the urbanistic heritage of five cities that represent different urban phenomena and heritage processes in these countries: Island of Mozambique and Maputo, in Mozambique; Mindelo, in Cabo Verde; Ouro Preto and Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. It is proposed to question the way in which these urban areas have been protected, especially with regard to the use of the notion of “historic center” that is recurrent in these processes. This paper also intends to verify the viability of other approaches and concepts that can better translate the cultural values of the urbanistic heritage, such as “center of identity” and “cultural landscape”. Finally, it is expected that the contribution of this discussion lies, mainly, on new perspectives on the subject, based on an international south-south debate, in order to shareexperiences and lessons learned in these contexts.

Branding heritage in multi-cultural societies, with special references to preservation discourses

ABSTRACT Heritage is the platform of intangible attributes embedded within the physical urban values; it is the overlapping between urban forms and social history. Heritage can be a brand value proposition that creates a unique base of strong relationships between urban settings and users. The research is focusing on the idea of heritage preservation from a different perspective, adopting branding techniques and mechanisms to overlap the two disciplines in a study framework. Branding heritage re-introduces heritage values from the marketing perspective, in which the research reflects the idea of the place attachment and refreshes memories from the economic dimension. The research proposes a structural framework that accommodates the literature domains of heritage preservation as tangible elements, patterns, geometry … etc. and intangible values as spiritual, sense of place … etc. mapped with the branding approaches. The aim of this research is to trace the branding heritage tactics and examine the approach. The purpose is to preserve heritage from deterioration and use its values as economic assets. The research intends to validate the importance of marketing experience in branding heritage process, using the symbols of tangible and intangible meanings and its significance. The research anticipates studying marketing the heritage within multi-cultural societies, in terms of contributing the heritage of some urban setting within the heritage of others. The proposed structural framework reflects the mechanism of branding heritage. Finally, the research concludes its findings by offering interpretations of re-reading the users reflections and reviews to the concept of branding heritage upon an existing project setting.

Scientists and remaking heritage: the case of shiitake cultivation in a globally important agricultural heritage system in Japan

ABSTRACT A growing number of traditional agricultural systems around the world have been designated Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), as they are exemplars of the accumulated wisdom of human communities and their close relationship with the local ecology. Heritage inscription is a strategy used to conserve and increase awareness of this inheritance. However, the role of scientists in the construction and inscription of the agricultural heritage has been understudied. Through a qualitative methodology and participatory-observation research, this study examines biocultural heritage construction in a GIAHS in the Kunisaki Peninsula of Oita, Japan. Drawing on actor-network theory and based on the experience of scientists who specialise in traditional log-cultivated shiitake farming, this study demonstrates the role of non-human actors – a fungus-covered chip and shiitake, in particular – in the heritagisation process and the role of scientists in stabilising and destabilising the heritage network. I find that the heritage inscription process of the tradition of log-cultivated shiitake farming has created a new form of identity and moral capital associated not only with the conservation of Japanese food and agricultural heritage but also with the continued existence of local rural villages, protection of national food security and global environmental health.

Uncovering the sociomaterial assemblage of a culinary heritagization: The Wildschönauer Krautinger schnapps

In the search for geographical and historical distinctiveness, the issue of culinary heritage has taken an important role in agri-food studies for safeguarding local culinary knowledge and traditions of food cultivation and production practices. However, it remains unclear how salient culinary heritage emphasizes the intertwining of tangible and intangible elements, and how sociocultural values and notions of terroir, tradition, and identity enable or constrain community-driven heritagization processes. In this paper, we aim to shed light on the sociomaterial assemblage of culinary heritagization by focusing on the case of a distilled turnip schnapps from the Alpine community of Wildschönau in Austria. We demonstrate how the Krautinger schnapps transitions from a subsistence to a commercial product, and how increasing marketization and demand challenges the relationship between commercialization and preservation of cultural heritage. By combining relational perspectives, sociomaterial approaches, and assemblage thinking, we discuss the constituent intertwining of human and nonhuman entities in the process of culinary heritagization. We apply the sociology of translation as a conceptual framework and identify four decisive moments that highlight the progression and continuity of the Krautinger's sociomaterial assemblage. Our study reveals issues and challenges that may arise for the local community in these moments of heritagization, including the chance of internal reconsolidation by recognizing nonhuman agency and bridging potential risks.