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Lowenthal Fabricating Heritage

Lowenthal Fabricating Heritage. Discussion. 1. Lowenthal gives a case study as an example of 'fabricating heritage'. Give comparable examples from your knowledge and discuss the following: the heritage myth itself the occasion at which its origin can be traced infer the purposes

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Lowenthal Fabricating Heritage

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  1. Lowenthal Fabricating Heritage

  2. Discussion 1. Lowenthal gives a case study as an example of 'fabricating heritage'. Give comparable examples from your knowledge and discuss the following: • the heritage myth itself • the occasion at which its origin can be traced • infer the purposes • what individuals/institutions are promulgating this myth • what are the mechanisms by which this myth is recycled within popular imagination • the changes that it has undergone over time • your sources

  3. Discussion 2. If heritage today has the nature of popular cult, with unwavering public devotion in spite of realities that show its contradictions, what are the vehicles by which it is maintained? How does this process differ from say medieval cults of relics (of which Lowenthal gives an example)?

  4. Discussion 3. What are the benefits of heritage myths for societies? What are the dangers? Who are the potential myth debunkers in the society? 4. What is the role of the memory institutions in relation to myth-building (fabrication)? Give examples that show how the worship of the past may become a secular religion in the society and the role of these institutions in maintaining such legacies. Is it possible for memory institutions to avoid "morality" in interpreting the past?

  5. Discussion 5. "Heritage thrives on historical error!" // "Tribulations are crucial to identity" // (Lowenthal, p. 11). Explain these paradoxes! 6. "We want the Smithsonian to reflect real America and not something that a historian dreamed up." (Lowenthal, 11). How does this statement relate to building library collections, archival practices, and the museum work.

  6. Discussion 7. "Time makes liars of all of us!" (Lowenthal, 16). Do you agree? How does this statement relate to the role of memory institutions in society? How does this relate to how they manage the relation of records and memory access to written past? 8. Heritage and history are both built upon the knowledge of the past. The readings and misreadings of the past, the correct and the false knowledge of the past are integral to both, but what is the difference in the process? You may use the example of Biblical textual tradition / scholarship to discuss this distinction, or use a comparable example.

  7. Discussion 9. Lowenthal identifies six points that distinguish heritage as a phenomenon: • HERITAGE IS NOT HISTORY (how heritage differs from history) • FABRICATION ESSENTIAL TO FEALTY (why heritage needs error and invention) • MODES OF FABRICATION (how heritage reshapes the past: upgrades, updates, jumbles, selectively forgets, contrives genealogies, claims precedence) • PUBLIC ENDORSEMENT (public approval of fabrication) • HERITAGE AND LIFE HISTORY (autobiographical analogies) • WHY HERITAGE MUST BE 'OURS' (need to own our own heritage) Briefly explain each of these aspects of 'heritage' and give your own examples that either agree or contradict Lowenthal's position.

  8. Library of Congress (AM) Based on the handout from the “Collection Finder” report on the following aspects of the emergent digital collection and think of the reasons for the representativeness of a particular type of collection, time-period, subject coverage: SCOPE (SUBJECTS) FORMAT OF ORIGINALS TIME PERIOD PLACE TOPICAL FOCUS

  9. Global Culture, Modern Heritage: Remembering the Chinese Imperial Collections(Hamlish 2000)

  10. Discussion • Chinese Imperial Collections and the Palace Museum(Beijing) • construction of collective memory in the Palace Museum • typical of the conceptual structure of museums • museums present polysemic possibilities (constructing various narratives from single collections) • visitors’ journey (controlled movement) along two pathways: YUAN ZHUANG CHENLIE (period rooms) & ZHUAN TI CHENLIE (exhibit halls)

  11. Discussion • YUAN ZHUANG CHENLIE (period rooms): functional grouping of objects; reconstruction only of Qing & Ming Dynasty period; visitors’ response & appropriation: palace intrigue, gossip, everyday life, popular imagery; extension of tourist trade and sensationalized accounts • ZHUAN TI CHENLIE (exhibit halls): objects grouped by type subdivided by chronology to demonstrate historical development in technology & aesthetics

  12. Discussion • How are these two displays complementary? How does each display contribute to the construction of the imperial past? • What is the function of collective representations? How is memory related to political legitimacy on the global and the local level (p. 150)? • What is the meaning of break dancers and their appropriation of the public space in Liu Yiran’s short story, ‘Rocking Tiananmen’? • What are the implications of the existence of UNESCO’s World Heritage Center for conceptualizing heritage at the global/local level? In that context, discuss the notion of universalizing rhetoric or erasure of difference (p. 157)?

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